Salted Butter Caramel, Vanilla and Chocolate Mousse

By kmad

Ingredients

• For the caramel:
• 2 tbsp castor sugar
• 1/2 tbsp water
• 1/8 teaspoon Murray River Pink Salt Flakes
• 1 tbsp thickened cream
• 1/2 teaspoons unsalted butter
• For the chocolate:
• 30 g dark semisweet chocolate (I use Lindt's 85% Cocoa Content)
• For the vanilla mousse base:
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 tbsp castor sugar
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/8 tsp vanilla bean paste
• 1 tsp gelatine powder, sprinkled over 2 tbsp cold water
• 1/4 cup thickened cream

Preparation

Step 1

For the caramel:

Place the sugar and water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Continue to cook until caramel in color. Things happened very quickly here, if it is turning too brown, quickly remove from heat and shock over ice bath. When you see an amber colour of caramel, remove it from the heat and add the salt, heavy cream and butter. Stir with a wooden spoon until completely smooth and let it cool completely to room temperature.

For the chocolate:

Melt the chocolates in a microwave or use a Bain-Marie if you like but it's just 30g of chocolates. Cool it to room temperature. It should be flowy when needed.

For the vanilla mousse base:

In a small bowl, whisk the egg yolk and the castor sugar until very pale. Scald the milk in a milk pot and acclimatize it with the creamy yolk mixture, whisking vigorously while tempering. Pour the mixture back into the milk pot over medium low heat and cook until the cream coats the back of a spoon and thickened slightly. Constant stirring is required else you'll get scrambled eggs at the bottom of the pot. Turn off the heat and add the softened gelatin paste and whisk until it is completely dissolved into the cream. Cool that to room temperature before use.

While that is happening, whip the heavy cream with the vanilla bean paste to soft peaks and fold it into the cooled cream base. Divide the base into three equal portions. One portion that stays untouched will be your vanilla mousse layer.

To assemble, fold in one part of the base into the cooled caramel and mix until well combined. This is your salted butter caramel mousse layer. Pour that into your serving glasses and freeze for 5mins. Pour the plain base (your vanilla mousse) over the caramel mousse and freeze 5 mins again. Finally, mix the last part of the base with the melted but cooled, flowy chocolate and pour it into the glasses. This is your chocolate mousse layer. Chill overnight, covered with plastic wrap.

Upon serving, give it a light dusting if cocoa powder and a pinch of salt flakes and serve.



Assemble:
Add a couple of tablespoons of the base to the caramel to lighten it a bit and stir with a spoon. Gently fold the rest of the alloted mousse base into the caramel with a spatula.
Do the same for the chocolate portion.
Layer all three parts evenly into dishes or ramekins and refrigerate for an hour