Orange mousse

Orange mousse, a fresh, light dessert for any occasion

The days begin to get longer and even hotter. A fresh orange mousse can delight the palate of foodies and is a good compromise for those looking for something fancy, light and in line with the winter season.

To prepare the orange mousse, prefer the most subtle and edible fruit, suitable to be squeezed.

If you use the Sicilian Red Oranges PGI, your mousse will have a slightly more intense colour. For this recipe, we used blond oranges.

The recipe involves the preparation of a sponge cake, classic and not leavened, and is for about 6 servings in cups with a diameter of about 15 cm.

The sponge cake is the base of the mousse, which includes the preparation of an Italian meringue and an orange syrup.

For this preparation we used a food processor, which can be replaced with an electric mixer.

INGREDIENTS FOR THE ORANGE MOUSSE

For the sponge cake:

120g flour
butter
4 eggs
120g sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla sugar
1 pinch of salt
“Rumba” flavoured non-alcoholic liquid for desserts

For the Italian meringue:

3 eggs (egg white)
40g sugar

For the syrup:

40g water
160g sugar

For the mousse:

orange juice or 100 ml
grated orange peel (to be prepared first)
fresh liquid cream 300 ml
20g sugar
jelly in sheets – 7 g

PROCEDURE FOR THE SPONGE CAKE:

Preheat the oven to 180° C.
Grease a cake tin with a diameter of about 20 cm.
With the aid of a food processor or electric mixer, place the eggs and the two types of sugar together and mount them.
Add the flour and the pinch of salt.
Pour the mixture into the cake tin. Then bake for about 20/25 minutes.
Before preparing the meringue, put the gelatine in sheets soak in cold water for at least 10 minutes.

PROCEDURE FOR THE ITALIAN MERINGUE:

With the food processor or the whisk, whip the 40g of sugar and the egg white at medium speed.
Meanwhile, prepare the syrup: in a saucepan, bring to the boil the 40g of water and 160g of sugar. The syrup should not exceed 121 ° C, but if you do not have a kitchen thermometer, wait about 2 minutes after boiling and then turn off the heat.
While the whips continue to mount, add the syrup flush, slightly increasing the speed of the whips. Continue to assemble the mixture for about 8-9 minutes and until it has reached a frothy consistency.

PROCEDURE FOR THE MOUSSE:

Put aside the meringue and proceed with the preparation of the semi-whipped cream with the help of the electric mixer or the planetary machine.
Prepare the orange syrup. As before, pour the orange juice into a saucepan, add the sugar and the orange zest.

When the mixture is ready, pour it onto the meringue. For this not to be disassembled, proceed by hand, gently incorporating the syrup with gestures from bottom to top.
With the help of a spatula, gently add the cream to the meringue, always stirring carefully from top to bottom.

Squeeze and dissolve the gelatine in sheets in a saucepan, mix it very gently together with the mixture.
In the meantime, your sponge cake will have cooled. With the aid of a mould or a glass, cut 6 discs. If the disc is taller than necessary, cut it horizontally to make two layers.

In a shallow dish, pour a little of the non-alcoholic liquid for desserts. Lay each disc on the liquid so that it absorbs a part of it. Then, place each disc in the corresponding cup.