The beloved and I have a constant battle over the freezer (actually make that freezers). Our wartime-born mothers taught us that waste is a sin, so all left overs go in the freezer. The problem is they have a tendency never to re-emerge from them. A recent audit revealed some most suspect unlabelled objects that I insisted on throwing out, much against the desire of hubby.
The freezers are indeed jammed but the share of meal left overs and baking left overs is in fact pretty even. This Buche is also evidence of the virtue of not throwing out. All those left over bits of mousse and jelly from previous recipes have been poured into moulds in the hope they would come to hand. Add to that frozen biscuit and pastry dough and from time to time you have a very easy pudding to hand. This delight has 6 elements, 5 of which were dug out from the freezer. The only freshly made item was the white chooclate raspberry mousse which was made from scratch to use up some excess cream and raspberry puree needing to be eaten.
The occasion was a last minute dinner party we threw for friends in the village. It was a little unplanned as we had a visitor scheduled for the weekend who had to cancel at the last minute because of family illness. The food was bought and had to be eaten, so last minute invitations were issued.
10 bottles of wine and champagne between 6 of us, not to mention the gorgeous Beetroot Schnapps (yes you read that right, Beetroot a discovery on a recent trip to Berlin that we found on sale in a Shoreditch Off Licence) were evidence of a good night had by all, and this Buche was suitably appreciated – indeed photographed as if it was a catwalk model by one of the guests!
What is it made up off:
- Raspberry Chocolate Mousse – from a Christmas recipe and one of the easiest mousses to make from the many tried in the last few months
- Blueberries and hazelnuts dotted into the mousse
- A layer of custard vanilla mousse
- Joconde from the off cuts of my garden party extravaganza
- Short crust pastry left over form Christmas Mince pies
- Red Pepper Shortbread
- Red Mirror Glaze
The moulds were a
The Recipe
Well this one is a left over recipe, but the Buche Insert takes about 400ml of Mousse.
The adapted quantities of the Raspberry Chocolate Mousse are
- 160g Raspberry Puree
- 25g Caster Sugar
- 90g chopped White Chocolate
- 125g Whipping Cream
- 2 sheets of Gelatine
To make it follow the method in this recipe
The routine is the same for any of these kind of desserts
- make your slim insert mousse first and freeze it (or use left overs frozen many months before)
- make the raspberry mousse
- dot with berry fruit / nuts of choice
- place the frozen slim insert on top
- cover with a slim layer of raspberry mousse and smooth to top of mould
- cover with joconde coming slightly over the edge of the moulded area
- freeze overnight
- make your pastry base and allow to cool
- bake your shortbread biscuits to patterns of your choice
- reheat your mirror glaze and allow to cool to 35C
- demould your Buche and cut excess joconde off to get a smooth finish in line with the mousse
- glaze with mirror glaze
- put your pastry base on a serving dish and sprinkle with vanilla sugar (without breaking it like I did)
- place your buche in the centre of the pastry base
- decorate to your taste
- allow to defrost for 2 hours out of the fridge, or 5 hours in
- serve and enjoy!
The Cottage Loaf 
I would love to be your friend and come to tea often. Your cakes plus plus are just amazing. Where is that incredible talent coming from. You put all of us in the category of having tried but never succeeded.
I always look forward to the next one. Kindest regards to both of you
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