Black Forest Kirschen Mousse

We had this dessert recently in a restaurant in the Black Forest area of Germany. I loved the presentation and decided to try making it at home.

Personal note:

This may look complicated to make but most of the work is in the presentation.

I was making the dessert for friends who'd been in Germany with us and I wanted it to be as close the the real thing as possible. It was fun to make and I will make it again - perhaps for a dinner party or special celebration.

Alternately, you could spoon the mousse into dessert bowls or stemmed glasses and top with a few cherries cream and shaved chocolate.

It certainly would be easier and would still make an attractive dessert.

The hardest part of duplicating the presentation was trying to figure out how to form the mousse into a tube shaped "tower".

Apparently a person can buy special molds for this, however, there were none to be had in our town.

After a bit of brainstorming at a local cake supply shop,

this is what I came up with.

At the cake supply shop, I bought a mat used to roll fondant on. I think it is made of silicone. Any thin mat with a slippery surface would work as well. I cut it into 4 10 inch squares.

Then I went to my local building supply store and bought a length of 2" white PVC pipe. I was serving this to 19 people so my husband cut it into 5 9 1/2" pieces for me. Each pipe needs to be 1/2" shorter than the liner you put into it. I ended up using a piece of parchment paper to line the 5th tube which did not work quite as well as the fondant mat. After washing and drying the pipe lengths, I taped a square of waxed paper at one end and rolled each mat to fit snugly inside each pipe. 1/2" of the mat should be sticking out of the pipe. This will aid in removing the mousse from the pipes.After making the mousse (the recipe follows) I filled each pipe, tapping the bottom of the pipe on the counter two or three times to make sure there were no pockets of air between the spoonfuls. I then topped each with a square of waxed paper pressed lightly on to the mousse.

As you can see, I stood each pipe on end in a plastic cup and then refrigerated the mousse for 4 hours or so.

After the mousse firmed up and just before serving, I slid the mat out of the pipe and carefully unrolled it, using a bench scraper or spatula to remove the mousse "tower" from the mat. I then cut each into 4 2 1/4 inch lengths.
Standing each tower in the centre of a shallow soup or salad bowl we spooned the cherries and their juice around the mousse. Finally we piped whipped cream on the top and sprinkled the mousse and cherries with shavings of dark chocolate.
All the work was worth it - everyone loved it and were delighted to see their favourite dessert recreated.
Here's the recipe I came up with:

For the mousse: ( I doubled this recipe to serve 20)

• 1 100g. bar of good white chocolate (I used Lindt)
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 pkg. gelatin
• 1/4 cup cold water
• 1/2 pkg. (125g.) cream cheese
• 2 Tbsp. powdered sugar
• 1-2 Tbsp. Kirsch (you can buy this at the liquor store)*
• 1 Tbsp. Maraschino cherry juice
• 2 egg whites
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1/2 cup finely chopped dark chocolate, divided

*You could make this without the Kirsch, using a bit more cherry juice but if you want the authentic Black Forest dessert - you need to use the Kirsch.
Kirsch is also used in the famous Black Forest Cake.

For the Cherries

You will need 4-6 cups sour cherries if you are surrounding the mousse with them, fewer if you use them as a topping. You can buy these already canned or, as I did, use frozen sour cherries. If using frozen, cook them using a 1-3 sugar syrup and 1 Tbsp. of cornstarch mixed with a bit of cold water. Cook until the liquid turns clear. You don't want the cherry juice thick, so don't use too much cornstarch. When the cherries are cool, add 2 or more Tbsp. of Kirsch to the juice and refrigerate for several hours.

Directions for making the Mousse:

1. In a small saucepan over low heat, melt white chocolate in milk. Set aside
2. In another small saucepan, sprinkle gelatin over cold water and heat over low heat until gelatin is dissolved. Cool slightly before combining with milk/chocolate mixture.
3. Beat cream cheese with powdered sugar until smooth. Add Kirsch and Maraschino cherry juice and beat until well blended.
4. Slowly mix chocolate/gelatin mixture into cream cheese mixture.
5. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until foamy and add sugar a little at a time. Beat until glossy peaks are formed .
6. Fold egg whites into cream cheese/chocolate mixture.
7. Whip cream and fold into mousse.
8. Fold in 1/4 cup of the chopped dark chocolate.
9. Spoon mixture into prepared tubes and refrigerate for 4 hours or so.
10. See photos and instructions above to serve.