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Monday, October 08, 2007

Accidental semi freddo

Double chocolate mousse

I think that old age is finally catching up with me. LOL!

Ok, so I'm not that old. But, seriously, if I didn't know any better, I'd think that:
  1. I am going senile

  2. I am suffering from brain farts

  3. I am just having a bad day

  4. ALL OF THE ABOVE
especially after what happened to me last weekend. I must have offended the gods or something because for some reason or another, everything that could go wrong, went wrong on the weekend when I made this.

It started out fairly innocently, I wanted to make a 3 layer chocolate mousse 'cake' for dessert, but I couldn't find any fair trade white chocolate. So, I scratched the white chocolate layer and decided that I could make a raspberry jelly layer instead - like the strawberry mirror cake that Peabody had selected as the Daring Baker's challenge for July.

I had the image of Max Brenner's tear drop (triple layered mousse cake) in my mind when I decided on making this. To do that, I knew that I would need some rather special moulds. But when I went searching for these cake rings that I remember buying sometime ago, they were no where to be found. So in desperation, I had resorted to layering them in a loaf pan.

All went well until I got this "superb" idea to fast track the chilling process for the mousse by sticking them in the freezer for a little while. I somehow convinced myself that it would only take about half an hour. "It's only half and hour, it'll be fine and I'll just set up the timer on the microwave and I'll take it out after 1/2hr and it'll be a piece of cake to get it out of the cake tin." half an hour later.....
.
.
.

Now, would you like to take a stab at what happened after this "half an hour"?? I let you in on a little secret....

N.O.T.H.I.N.G

Suffice to say, I had FORGOTTEN about the mousse. The timer on the microwave was set, but it was never 'started'. Somewhere between the mousse going into the freezer and me brain floating in my "I'm a genious state", I had forgot to press the start button(!). So I happily went away pottering around the house doing bits and pieces here and there.

It wasn't until later that night when I was feeling peckish that it occured to me.. - "Oh Shit! My Mousse!" It was rock hard when I took it out from the freezer. :(

I could've cried. But I didn't. I stuck it back into the freezer and went straight to bed. Woke up the next day with an even better idea. The mousse that was not meant to be can now be a semi-freddo!

So I present to you, my Double Chocolate mousse that was not meant to be Semi freddo with Raspberry jelly. (I love Bill for this inspiration that gave me the idea to turn this into a semi freddo)

Double chocolate mousse

Kids, please don't try this at home.

To assemble this, you'll need:

2 x of your favourite mousse recipe (Milk & Dark Chocolate - I used Green & Blacks)
1 x strawberry jelly layer (you can use this recipe)
strawberry/raspberries
dessert glasses or bowls (trust me it will work better this way)
Melted dark chocolate for drizzling.


What is fair trade produce/chocolate?


Fair trade products refers to products made as a result of economical, ethical and environmental practices; meaning the key ingredients was not sold/purchased at a ridiculously low price, it was not produced using unfair labour practices such as using child labour and low wages were paid to those who harvested the raw ingredients and environmentally healthy farming methods were used in the growing of the crops.

Fair trade chocolates are chocolates produced by the above means.

Fair trade chocolates are not easily available in Australia. Brands like Dagoba, Cocolo, Alter Eco and Green & Blacks are generally only available in special ingredients stores, some delis and organic supermarkets. Though, there has been progress in the stocking fair trade chocolates in retail supermarkets. Some of the local Coles and Safeway/Woolworths stores now stock Green & Blacks in their confectionery aisles.

Links:

Rachel of Rkhooks.net is hosting a "Stop The Traffik" chocolate competition inviting bloggers to start becoming more aware of fair trade certified chocolates and submit a choctastic post with the key ingredients being fair trade chocolates.

I have to confess that I never knew that my favourite chocolates could/would/may have been made with produce that is not Fair Trade certified. It pains me to think that whilst I'm happily chomping down my favourite chocolate truffles, some kid out there is being worked to death in some horrible conditions just so I could keep having my favourite chocolates.

One good thing that has come out of knowing this is that I'm glad that I almost only exclusively buy Green & Blacks Organics chocolates. Especially since they started stocking them at my local retail supermarkets. Fair trade chocolates are hard to come by in Australia. I've decided that I will do my bit and buy fair trade certified chocolates whenever possible but if I can't find it, I may have to resort to other means of supplementing my chocolate fix. (*hides behind a rock*)

Support Stop The Traffik campaign and swing by Rachel's blog to see what it's all about.

G&B chocolates

11 comments:

Anh said...

This turns out so good in the end, I don't think you should complain at all! I just wanna eat all of them right now. Oh Chocolate Rules!

K and S said...

in my ring of friends we call them "senior moments". looks delicious! and yeah! for fair trade chocolates.

ilingc said...

Anh: I agree! I shouldn't have complained, but it was just heartbreaking when it didn't turn out the way I wanted to. But that said, passing it off as a semi freddo with the choc drizzle was such a splendid way out! :D

Kat: Hehe "senior moments" is a great term! I love it!

Anonymous said...

Beautiful semifreddo and pictures. I bet it was heavenly to eat. Thanks for participating in the Stop the Traffik chocolate competition. The round up is now up. Check out the entries and send me your vote.

Anonymous said...

I had the same problem finding white chocolate.
I love the way your dessert came out in the end, I bet it was delicious!

thanh7580 said...

Don't you love it when things go wrong and you discover some new recipe all by yourself.

I hate it when things really go wrong and no amount of rescuing and calling it a semi-freddo will stop it from tasting awful.

Anonymous said...

Mousse or semifreddo, a bit of a win-win situation, if you ask me.

But anyway, couldn't you just let the semifreddo thaw back to mousse-dom if you wanted to serve it as mousse?

ilingc said...

Rachel: Thank you for the lovely comments and thanks for being a great host!

Linda: I searched all the speciality stores in Melb and I couldn't find any. The semi freddo didn't turn out too bad in the end. Especially the jelly layer. It was a little weird at the start but it balanced out the sweetness of the milk chocolates.
I love your stop the traffik chocolate bar!

Thanh7580: Hi Thanh. I agree with your sentiments on disasters! Believe me, I've had worse ones. One of my green tea madeleines experiments went so wrong that I ended up with half a madeleine after every try, the other half stuck on the tray!

y: Hi Y. You're right, I was being a bit silly because in the end it was still yummy and full of chocolatey goodness :)

I took it out from the freezer when I got up in the morning and left it in the fridge to thaw, but I guess it needed more time than a few hours because when I served it after lunch it was still a bit hard in the middle.

Oh well, at least I know not to get any bright ideas next time! :D

Patricia Scarpin said...

I think your semi freddo is magnificent - send it over if you are not happy about it! :)

Anonymous said...

*drools*

Oh my god this looks delicious!!!

Jeanne said...

LOL - I thought it was only me that did this sort of thing! At least this was salvageable -it's when I leave stuff in the oven and forget about them that I really want to cry! Looks as if it turned out gorgeously in the end :)