Cherry mousse torte

Thin almond layer, topped with creamy cherry mousse, covered in chocolate and crispy caramelized almonds.
This mini cherry mousse torte is delicious, light and beautiful.

I can’t say that this recipe is quick, but it’s easy, plus, you can do the work in parts – you could bake the almond layer a day in advance and cook the cherries a day ahead, too. The next day you can finish the mousse and assemble the cakes. To additionally  ease your work, you can make one big cake instead of mini cakes, it’s up to you!
Bottom line is that these cakes deserve every minute spent in the kitchen, simply because they are heaven!
Enjoy, everyone!

Ingredients for the almond layer:
Adapted from The Healthy Foodie
1 large egg white (save the egg yolk for the cherry mousse)
A pinch of cream of tartar
1 table spoon powder sugar
3 medium eggs
75 grams (2,6 oz) granulated sugar
80 grams (2,8 oz) butter, at room temperature
130 grams (4,6 oz) almond meal
30 grams (1 oz) rice flour
20 grams (0,70 oz) all purpose flour
A pinch of salt

Ingredients for the cherry mousse:
1 large egg yolk
50 grams (2 oz) white granulated sugar (*for the egg yolk)
1 tablespoon cherry liquor
100 grams (3,5 oz) white chocolate
400 grams (14 oz) cherries, pitted and cleaned
2 table spoons sugar (*for the cherries)
1 table spoon cherry extract
100 grams (3,5 oz) heavy whipping cream
1 gelatin sachet (a small package of 10 grams)
20 ml. water

Ingredients for the chocolate ganache:
200 grams (7 oz) dark chocolate
100 ml. heavy whipping cream
1 tea spoon butter

Ingredients for the caramelized almonds:
40 grams (1,4 oz) sliced almonds
1 tablespoon sugar (20 grams)
1 tea spoon butter

To make the almond layer:
Preheat your oven to 180C, fan-forced (350F, fan-forced). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (I used 20×30 cm. rectangular baking sheet). I wanted to make the layer as thin as possible, so I used bigger baking dish, but in case you want to have the layer thicker, just use a smaller baking dish.
Beat the egg white with the cream of tartar in a medium bowl until soft peaks form. Add the powder sugar and continue to beat until meringue turns glossy and light and stiff peaks form. Set aside.
In another bowl beat the eggs with the granulated sugar until the mixture becomes light, fluffy and thickens a bit. Beat in the butter until all is combined.
Gently fold in the almond meal, rice flour, all purpose flour and a pinch of salt. Stir until all ingredients combine.
Gently fold in the egg white.
Pour the batter onto the baking sheet and even the top with a spatula.
Bake about 7-10 minutes or until the layer turns golden brown.
Remove from oven and set aside to cool completely.

To make the cherry mousse:
In a medium saucepan whisk the egg yolk and sugar until pale. Add cherry liquor and start cooking on medium / medium-low heat (depending on how strong your stove is). Whisk almost constantly until sugar dissolves and the egg yolk mixture is hot to the touch. Cook egg yolks on medium low heat until you temper them, then you can turn the heat up a bit and continue cooking until the mixture thickens. Make sure to whisk often to avoid curdling the eggs.
Once the sugar dissolves and the mixture is thickened, remove from the heat and add the white chocolate. Stir until it melts completely. Set aside.
In a small saucepan heat on medium heat cherries with two table spoons of sugar. Cook until cherries soften and sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and puree finely with a hand-held blender. Strain through a mesh, discard all pieces and save the juices from the cherries.
To the cherry juice, add a table spoon of cherry extract and pour over the egg-chocolate mixture. Mix well to combine.
In the meantime whip the cream until stiff peaks form.
Place 10 grams (1 sachet) of gelatine in a small heatproof bowl with 20 ml. water and let it sit for a few minutes. Place the bowl with the gelatine over a small saucepan with simmering water. Let the gelatine heats until liquid smooth, crystal clear like water, only little yellowish. Pour the gelatin over the cherry-egg-chocolate mixture and beat until all is well combined.
Fold in the whipping cream.
To assemble the torte:
You will need cooking rings for these mini cakes. Grease the rings with coconut butter or other unflavored oil/butter.
Using the rings, cut out of the almond layer enough circles, which will turn into base for your mini cakes.
Place all rings on a large serving plate. Fit in one circle in every ring, press to reach the bottom and stick to the plate. Fill the rest of the rings with the cherry mousse and put in the fridge to firm up for at least 4 hours.
***Before removing the rings, let the cakes sit for a few minutes at room temperature.
***If you don’t have cooking rings, you can use a cake springform with removable sides and make one large cherry mousse cake.

To prepare the caramelized almonds:
Add all ingredients in a small skillet. Start cooking on medium heat until butter and sugar dissolve and almonds start to brown. Remove from heat and set aside to cool completely.

To prepare the chocolate ganache: Heat all ingredients in a small saucepan on medium heat, until butter and chocolate melt. Let chocolate ganache cool off and starts to thicken, then pour over every mini cherry cake.
Note: Don’t wait too much before you cover the cherry cakes with the chocolate ganache – it firm ups as it stays, so if you wait too long it may harden too much and you will have to reheat it.