Cake #71 - Sea Buckthorn Mousse Cake

Friends First Friday Cake - Sea Buckthorn Mousse Cake.

To our friend Halloween for bringing brightness and colours in the middle of rain and darkness! 

Sea buckthorn is the perfect berry for Halloween for its colour and for its rich vitamin C content (darkness!). I have found frozen sea buckthorn berries in some of the Eastern European shops in Dublin and the price has been about 4 € / 500 g.

As the seeds in the berries are relatively big and hard (they are healthy, though), the best way to use sea buckthorn in a cake like this is to sieve the berries and then use the nectar you get.

Sea Buckthorn Mousse Cake

Crust
150 g Digestive cookies, crumbed
75 g butter, melted

Filling
8 gelatine leaves
500 ml fresh cream
150 ml granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla sugar
100 ml sea buckthorn nectar
3 egg whites

Jelly
4 gelatine leaves
300 ml sea buckthorn nectar
50 ml water
100 ml granulated sugar

1. Mix the digestive cookie crumbs and melted butter.  Press the mixture into the bottom of a Ø 23 cm springform pan, base covered with baking parchment. Let the crust cool and rest in the fridge while you make the filling.
2. Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water for 5 minutes.
3. Whip the cream together with sugar and vanilla sugar.
4. Heat up the sea buckthorn nectar and melt the soaked gelatine leaves in it. 
5. Let cool a little and then pour the smooth liquid into the whipped cream and mix well.
6. Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold them very gently into the cream trying to keep it ‘airy’.
7. Pour the filling on the crust and chill in the fridge for at least an hour.
8. In the meantime make the jelly for the cake.
9. Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water for 5 minutes.
11. Heat up 50 ml water and melt the gelatine leaves in it and mix in the sugar and sea buckthorn nectar.
12. Pour on top of the cake and put the cake back into the fridge for at least 2 hours so that the jelly is completely set.
13. Remove the firm cake from the pan very carefully and place on a serving plate. 
14. Enjoy - not only the taste but the colour therapy, too!