Vanilla Cream Mousseline Cake with Fresh Strawberries

This is also part of my Labor Day baking frenzy :) I made this cake for my dear friend's baby one month old celebration. His name is William Watson Lim and he is such a handsome baby! His little fingers were perfect and he has thick black hair. He was sleeping during most of his full month's celebration but he remained to be the center of attention that day.

This cake is actually the second cake I made for this occasion. I didn't have enough faith in the first cake that I made (I'll post this cake next) and so I went on to make another cake. :p

This cake is made of 2 layers of soft vanilla sponge cakes brushed with orange liquor, filled with vanilla cream mousseline, strawberries and raspberries, and then frosted with chantilly cream. I decorated the cake with more fresh strawberries and white chocolate walls. :) When this cake was done, I still didn't have enough faith in the second cake but I didn't have time to make another one. :( So I just went ahead and brought this one to the table.

This was also my first time making cream mousseline. I've never tasted it before and therefore I don't know how it's suppose to taste. All I know is that it's basically pastry cream mixed with butter. So when I saw Cannelle et Vanille's post with vanilla cream mousseline, I immediately tried it out.

Adapted from Cannelle et Vanille

250 g whole milk

1 vanilla bean --> I used 1 tsp of vanilla extract

3 egg yolks

40 g sugar --> I used 60 g of sugar

25 g cornstarch

125 g butter, cold and cut into small pieces

Place the milk, vanilla and half of the sugar in a medium saucepan and bring to a light boil. Whisk together the egg yolks, half of the sugar and cornstarch in a bowl. When the milk mixture comes to a light boil, temper it into the egg yolk mixture. Whisk to incorporate and then return this to the saucepan. Cook while constantly whisking until the custard thickens. Remove vanilla bean, if using, and transfer the custard to a clean bowl. Whisk to slightly cool the custard down and start adding the cold butter while whisking. This will cool it down and make it shiny and creamier. Place plastic wrap directly on top of the custard to prevent a skin from forming and chill.

I think the cake was quite well accepted by the crowd that day. I felt so relieved and I can finally breathe. :p The cream mousseline was actually really nice. I think I'll experiment with it more in the future.

Also, my dear friend Yenny Kuncoro sent an email a few days ago with a very beautiful note:

Our greatest pride should not be in never failing, but in always rising up again
every time we fall.

I hope that this will encourage you as well as you go about living your lives.