Day 3 in Vienna: Climb Every Mountain ⛰ ⛰

For the penultimate day of our stay in Vienna, we decided to head to the neighbouring city of Salzburg – the location of ‘The Sound of Music’! 🎵🎶🎶 (Already can’t stop humming the tune! 😂) In order for us to get to Salzburg, we were up early and ready to aim for our train at 9:42. 🌅 (But not before I made my own waffle for breakfast first! ❤️)

First time I made my own waffle too, believe it or not! 😂

The return train ticket from Vienna to Salzburg costed just under €60 – a very reasonable price! And after we grabbed some snacks and drinks from the shop, it was all aboard and off we go! 🚈 The train journey to Salzburg lasted around 2 hours and 20 minutes – which gives me more than enough time to play games on my phone 📱 and nap 😴 in between haha! 😂

Glimpses of the Alps as we are approaching Salzburg

Upon arrival in Salzburg, we went immediately to the information centre to get a Salzburg card (costed €26) which allowed entry to all the major attractions here and also covering costs of buses – honestly if you want to spend a day sightseeing here you should definitely get one! 👍 👍

Our first stop of the day was the Untersberg cable car that travels to the top of the Alps. 🚠 Despite the rainy weather, the mountain views were still breathtaking to behold! ❤️❤️ (Rather than let me waffle in words, I will let the pictures and videos do the talking haha! 😉)

Breathtaking! ❤️

Starting the cable car… 🚠

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow! ❄️❄️

The poor weather today meant that the top of the Alps was covered by a raging blizzard. 🌨🌨 (Such bad luck! 😫 I only noticed on Instagram after that, on a normal day, the view is really spectacular. Such a shame…😕) The lady in the information office informed us that one can spend up to three hours there, but we didn’t even last more than 3 minutes outside! 😂

Blizzard attack! ❄️❄️

Let’s hurry back! 😂🏃‍♂️

After briefly trying to brave the storm, we went back inside and sat down in the restaurant to warm ourselves back up.🔥🔥 I thought the cold weather was perfect for a bowl of hot soup 🥣, and ordered Leberknödelsuppe – a beef broth served with a liver dumpling (which reminded me a bit of haggis!)

Leberknödelsuppe – doesn’t look that appetising, but it actually tasted great! 😋

After coming back down from the mountains, the awful weather continued 🌧🌧. However, we made the most of our day in Salzburg, visiting the Hohensalzburg Fortress, Salzburg Cathedral, Mozart’s Birthplace and Mirabell Gardens.

View of Salzburg from the fortress ❤️❤️ (Yes, it looks brighter than it should because I edited it! 😂)

It’s snowing! ⛄️❄️

Exploring the inside of the fortress 🔍

Inside Salzburg Cathedral 🤫🤫

Mozart’s Birthplace (no photography or videoing allowed inside unfortunately)

The teatime treat though was the thing I was looking forward to the most today. We visited Sacher Hotels (not the original one in Vienna but its branch) and tasted their world-famous Sachertorte. 😋😋 The 34-steps recipe of the Sachertorte is apparently a top guarded secret and kept in a safe for security! 😬 And the cake certainly did not disappoint as it was perfectly moist with a rich chocolate taste balanced with a slight tartness from the apricot jam. ❤️❤️ We also ordered two other desserts, including the classic Viennese apple strudel which was wonderfully flaky, which paired well with the light custard sauce. But the highlight for me was the pear mousse 🍐. It was light and slightly tangy with the sharpness of the pear coming through. Plus, I love the beautiful pear crisp it was served with on top. 😍💚

Viennese apple strudel served with cream sauce

Pear Mousse Cup with a beautiful pear crisp! 💚💚

After a rather long train journey back to Vienna, we headed straight back to the hotel for a quick break before finally going out for our last dinner in Vienna to conclude a jam-packed day… but the journey is not over! 😉

Beef roulade with polenta and Brussels sprouts

Another Wordless Wednesday

Away We Go

Finally, my summer holiday has officially begun! And as if my holiday hasn’t come quick enough, I am already packing for my trip to Paris tomorrow. 😉 I have always been very excited to visit the city again since the last time I was there when I was 4 years old, and now at last it’s happening! Hopefully, I will have plenty to share with you guys about it. 😊

One of the things I am most looking forward to now is to see all the amazing pâtissière in Paris, and I am hoping I will learn something more about them while I am there. So, meanwhile, here is a quick throw back to an entremet I did a while ago.

This entremet is composed of a raspberry mousse with a layer of vanilla sponge, sandwiching two layers of jellies, one blackcurrant and one clear strawberry. The entremet is topped with a tempered chocolate flower. For those of you who may have seen the recipe of my mango mousse cake, the recipes for the individual components follow almost the same method. (Here is the link 👉 https://tangosbaking.home.blog/2019/06/29/its-a-long-hot-summer/) To make the raspberry mousse, replace the mango purée in the recipe with a raspberry purée. The vanilla sponge is the same recipe without the desiccated coconut, and the blackcurrant jelly is made using blackcurrant juice. The glaze is made from raspberry purée. This entremet is also moulded using a silicone mould. Also a quick tip– when demoulding, dip the mould quickly in warm water to loosen the mouse up, then you should be able to get a clean finish when removing the entremet from the mould. 😉

Do you have any travel plans in the summer? Let’s share in the comments section! 👍

It’s a Long Hot Summer

The heat wave is finally here in London! ☀️ 🔥 🔥 Now that summer has officially begun, how many of you have planned your holiday already? Whether you’re spending time with friends, families or alone by yourself, summer is an important for one to unwind and enjoy the beauty of nature. For someone who loves exploring new places, you may be surprised to hear that I don’t actually travel abroad an awful lot during the holidays. However, I do dream about lying alone on a beach 🏖🏝 (or next to a hunky companion hehe), staring at the clear water or the bright blue sky, and snoozing under the sun with a cold, tropical drink in my hand…🍹

Meanwhile, I will imitate this tropical feeling at home by making my favourite mango mousse cake. This mango mousse cake is one of my more complicated dessert. Inside the mousses hides a layer of coconut sponge cake and strawberry clear jelly over a buttery digestive biscuit base. The cake is finished with a mango glaze and topped with a tempered chocolate nest filled with coconut white chocolate truffles. It does take a bit of time to make this but it’s well worth the effort!

Tropical Mango Mousse Cake

Quantity: 1 cake

Ingredients:

For the clear strawberry jelly:

5g leaf gelatine

225ml lemonade

5-6 strawberries, chopped

For the digestive biscuit base:

200g digestive biscuit

70g unsalted butter, melted

For the coconut sponge cake:

2 eggs, separated

32g caster sugar

24g flavourless oil

28ml warm water

1 tsp vanilla extract

100g self-raising flour

20g desiccated coconut

For the mango mousse:

11g leaf gelatine

450g mango purée/pulp

50g caster sugar

400ml double cream

For the coconut white chocolate truffles,

100g white chocolate, chopped

30ml double cream

1 tbsp butter

Desiccated coconut

For the tempered chocolate decorations:

300g dark chocolate

For the mango glaze:

56ml water

47g caster sugar

1 lemon, peels only

16g leaf gelatine

175g mango purée/pulp

Other decorations:

Fresh mangoes, chopped

Desiccated coconut

Dark chocolate

White chocolate stars

You will also need at least a small cake tin and a larger cake tin (both should have a loose base) to create the layering effect.

Method:

1. Start the jelly first by soaking the leaf gelatine in cold water. Line the small cake tin with cling film.

2. Bring the lemonade to boil in a saucepan. Squeeze off any excess water from the soaked gelatine and stir it into the saucepan until fully dissolved. Take it off the heat, and add in the strawberries. Pour it into the tin and place it into a fridge for about 2-3 hours to set. Once the jelly is set, remove it from the cake tin with the cling film and continue to chill it in the fridge until use.

3. Prepare the digestive biscuit base by blitzing or grinding down the digestive biscuits to fine crumbs. Mix in the melted butter. Line the bottom of the larger cake tin with a cling film, and spread the biscuit mixture evenly at the base of the cake tin. Chill the biscuit base in the fridge for about 30 minutes so it can firm up.

4. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas 4. For the sponge cake, whisk the egg whites in a large bowl with half of the sugar until stiff.

5. In a different bowl, mix the yolk, oil, water, vanilla extract and the remaining sugar together until smooth. Sieve in the flour and add the desiccated coconut into it, and mix until well-combined. Fold this mixture into the whipped egg whites.

4. Grease the small cake tin and pour in the cake batter. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove the cake from the mould and cool on a wire rack.

5. To make the mango mousse, soak the leaf gelatine in cold water and whip the double cream to soft peaks.

6. Warm the mango purée/pulp with the sugar in a saucepan. Squeeze excess water off from the gelatine and stir it in until fully dissolved. Pass the purée mixture through the sieve. Pour and fold it into the whipped cream until smooth.

7. To assemble the mousse cake, pour in some of the mousse into the larger cake tin with the digestive biscuit base. Place the coconut sponge at the centre and flip the strawberry jelly on top of the sponge using the cling film. Fill up the sides with the mango mousse (ensure they are completely filled up, or else you will see gaps later on), and pour the remaining mousse on top and spread evenly. Place the mousse cake into the fridge to set for about 4 hours.

8. To make the truffles, place the white chocolate, cream and butter in a bowl and heat it a microwave in 20-seconds intervals until melted. (Take care as white chocolate is easy to get overheated and burnt.) Cover the bowl and chill the chocolate in the fridge until firm. Grease your hand with a bit of oil. Scoop and roll the cooled white chocolate in your hand to shape into balls. Roll the truffle balls in desiccated coconut to cover them.

9. For the tempered chocolate decorations, warm two thirds of the dark chocolate in a double boiler to 45-50C/113-122F until melted. Stir in the remaining chocolate to cool it to 31-32C/87-89F.

10. For the chocolate palm trees, pipe the tempered chocolate into shapes on baking parchment. For the chocolate sticks, cut out a rectangular strip of baking parchment and pipe diagonally across it to create a net effect, then carefully roll the paper into a tube shape and secure with tape. For the chocolate nest, flip a bowl upside down and covered with baking parchment, then similarly pipe the chocolate in a net pattern around the bowl. Leave the chocolate decorations to cool and set in room temperature before removing and use.

11. Once the mousse cake is set, remove it from the cake tin and pull out the cling film underneath. Keep the cake cooled in the fridge while preparing the glaze.

12. To make the mango glaze, first make a syrup by heating the water, sugar and lemon peels in a saucepan for 2-3 minutes. Remove the lemon peels.

13. Soak the leaf gelatine in cold water. Add the mango purée/pulp to the syrup and heat. Squeeze the excess water off the soaked gelatine and stir it in until fully dissolved. Pass the glaze through a sieve and let it cool slightly before use.

14. Place the cake on a wire rack over a tray. Pour the glaze over in a swirl motion to cover the cake evenly. Dust the sides with desiccated coconut.

15. While the glaze is still setting, decorate the cake with fresh mangos, truffles and the chocolate decorations. (Use a knife to cut open a small gap to insert the palm trees into the cake). Move the cake to a stand and keep in the fridge until serving.

Now, excuse me as I continue to stare upon the bright blue sky. 😉