Peach Melba Mousse Food

PEACH MELBA

Steps:

• Put the water, sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla pod into a wide saucepan and heat gently to dissolve the sugar. Bring the pan to the boil and let it bubble away for about 5 minutes, then turn the heat down to a fast simmer.
• Cut the peaches in half, and if the stones come out easily then remove them, if not then you can get them out later. Poach the peach halves in the sugar syrup for about 2 to 3 minutes on each side depending on the ripeness of the fruit. Test the cut side with the sharp point of a knife to see if they are soft, and then remove them to a plate with a slotted spoon.
• When all the peaches are poached, peel off their skins and let them cool (then you can remove any remaining stones). If you are making them a day in advance then let the poaching syrup cool and then pour into a dish with the peaches. Otherwise just bag up the syrup and freeze it for the next time you poach peaches.
• To make the raspberry sauce, liquidize the raspberries, confectioners' sugar, and lemon juice in a blender or a food processor. Sieve to remove the pits and pour the puree into a jug.
• To assemble the Peach Melba, allow 2 peach halves per person and sit them on each plate alongside a scoop or 2 of ice cream. Spoon the raspberry sauce over each.

PEACH MELBA MOUSSE CAKE

Steps:

• Poach the peaches - heat the ½ cup caster sugar and cup of water in a pan wide enough to accommodate the halved peaches then plop in the vanilla bean and halved peaches. (Cut in half around their equator, leaving their skins and if they are firmly adherent, their stones - both slip out easily after poaching plus the skins give the syrup a blushing pink hue you won't want to miss out on.)
• Cover if the syrup reduces too quickly or the peaches need longer to cook through - simmer for 10-15 minutes, testing with the point of a knife to ensure they are plenty tender enough. Remove to cool on a plate and reserve the syrup for another day - it is fabulous over vanilla ice cream.
• Next make the sponges. Preheat the oven to 170°C and butter then flour three 20cm round, loose bottomed cake tins - line their bases with silicone or baking paper. I used two sandwich tins and one deep one as that's all I have so don't worry about the height of your tins.
• Whisk the eggs and sugar until extremely light and fluffy - this could take 10 minutes on full speed in a stand mixer and you should expect at the very least three times the volume. Whisk in the water then sift over the flour and ground almonds. Fold in with a spatula or large metal spoon. Note you will probably have some almonds left in the sieve; just tip them in and fold away, gently!
• Divide between the three prepared tins and bake for 10-12 minutes until they spring back and are golden in colour. Cool completely in the tin before running a knife around the edges of the tin and removing to stand on a baking rack.
• Make the mousse. Dissolve the gelatine sheets in 50ml cold water - when gloopy, zap in the microwave for 10-20 seconds until melted or heat in a small pan on the stove, whisking constantly. Peel away the skin and remove the stones from the peaches and puree in the food processor. Or push through a sieve or food mill. Beat in the dissolved gelatine. Add the peach liqueur if using.
• Whisk the egg yolks with all but 2 tbsp of the caster sugar until at least trebled in volume. Again, this may take a fair few minutes of high speed whisking.
• Whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form then sprinkle on and whisk in the remaining 2 tbsp of caster sugar until the meringue is thick and glossy.
• Whip the double cream to soft peaks only.
• Now, in a large bowl, fold the egg yolk mix into the peach puree, followed by the double cream then finally the egg whites, stopping as soon as no more streaks of egg white remain.
• To assemble clean out a deep 20cm round cake tin and line the sides with baking paper (again, I used strips of reusable silicone). Insert one of your cooled sponges. Spoon or pipe in a layer of peach mousse about 1cm thick. Stud with half the whole raspberries then top with a little more mousse. You will have used about half of the mousse at this point. Top with a second sponge and repeat step 11, topping with the remaining sponge. Cover with cling film and refrigerate over night. It is handy to save a little of the mousse and refrigerate so you can test this little pot for a set - if it has set, your cake will have set too so you can unmould it with confidence!
• When ready to serve, push out of your cake tin (this is why they must be loose bottomed) and peel away the baking paper from the sides of the cake. Smooth with a spatula if needed - my mousse was very well behaved. I left mine on the base to serve but if you are braver than me (or have a giant cake lifter) then feel free to transfer to a cake stand!
• To finish, dust the top of the assembled cake with icing sugar generously. Whip the double cream with the seeds from your vanilla bean. Pipe rosettes and stud with more raspberries to decorate as you please. It's quite nice to do 8-10 rosettes so each slice has a whole raspberry to serve. Pipe any leftover cream onto the plates as you serve.

PEACH MELBA MOUSSE DESSERT

Steps:

• In a microwave, melt 1/3 cup vanilla chips with milk; stir until smooth. Cool to room temperature. Meanwhile, beat cream cheese and sugar in a large bowl until smooth. Beat in orange peel and melted chocolate. Fold in whipped cream. Set aside., In a blender, combine the raspberries and sugar; cover and process on high until smooth. Strain and discard seeds. Set aside. , Place diced peaches in dessert glasses. Spoon white chocolate mousse over the peaches; smooth top surface if desired. Drizzle with raspberry saute and sprinkle with nuts.

PEACH MELBA

Steps:

• In a medium saucepan, combine 1 cup sugar and 2 cups water. Bring to a simmer, and cook, stirring occasionally, until sugar has dissolved. Add lemon juice and peaches. Simmer until peaches are tender when pierced with the tip of a knife, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat, and let stand until room temperature. Carefully remove skins from peaches, and discard. Transfer to a bowl, and refrigerate until chilled.
• Place raspberries in a fine sieve set over a small bowl. Using a rubber spatula, pressing on the raspberries to extract as much juice as possible; discarding solids. Add remaining 2 tablespoons sugar to raspberry juice, and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Serve chilled peaches with vanilla ice cream and raspberry sauce.

PEACH MELBA

Steps:

• In a small saucepan, bring water and sugar to a boil. Stir in lemon juice and vanilla. Reduce heat to low. Place peach halves cut side up in pan; cook for 5-8 minutes or until tender. Remove from the heat. Cool peaches in syrup for 30 minutes. , Remove peaches with a slotted spoon and place cut side down in a shallow dish. Cover and refrigerate for 2-4 hours or until chilled., In a small microwave-safe bowl, heat raspberry jam for 20 seconds; stir until smooth. Place peach halves cut side up in dessert dishes. Top with ice cream; drizzle with jam.

PEACH MELBA CAKE

Steps:

• Place the the milk and vanilla in a pot over medium high heat. Heat until the milk is scalding hot, but not boiling.
• While the milk heats up, whisk together the eggs, 1/4 cup of the sugar (set aside the other 1/4 cup for the whipped cream) and the corn starch until smooth.
• Whisk the hot milk into the egg yolks, then return the mix to the heat. Cook the custard over low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens and just begins to boil. Remove from the heat and return to the bowl the eggs were in. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean and add them to the custard. Discard the pod or rinse it and set in a bin of sugar to make vanilla sugar.
• Refrigerate the custard for at least 1 hour (must be completely cooled) before continuing with the recipe. To speed up cooling you can set the bowl of custard over a bowl of ice water.
• Toss the peaches with 2/3 cup of sugar. Set aside for at least 30 minutes.
• When you're ready to assemble the cake drain the peaches. You should have about 1/2 cup of of juice. Combine the peach juice with 1 cup of water and the rum.
• To finish making the mousse, whip the cream with the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar. Fold the whipped cream into the chilled custard base.
• Split each cake in half horizontally so you have a total of 4 layers. Fill a piping bag fitted with a star tip with buttercream (or use a disposable bag with the tip cut).
• Set one layer of the cake, onto a cardboard cake round or a serving plate. Brush the layer generously with 1/4 of the peach syrup. Pipe a ring of buttercream around the edge of the layer to form a "dam" for the filling.
• Arrange 1/2 of the peach slices over the cake layer. Spread 1/3 of the vanilla mousse over the peaches, pressing so the mousse fills in the gaps between the peach slices.
• Place the second layer onto the cake. Brush with 1/3 of the remaining syrup and pipe a dam of buttercream. Arrange the raspberries over the cake layer. Spread 1/2 of the remaining vanilla mousse over the berries, pressing so the mousse fills in the gaps between the berries.
• Place the 3rd cake layer, brush with 1/2 the remaining syrup and pipe a dam. Arrange the remaining peach slices over the cake layer. Spread the rest of the vanilla mousse over the peaches, pressing so the mousse fills in the gaps between the peach slices.
• Top with the 4th layer and brush with the remaining syrup. At this point the cake is too soft to ice. Chill the cake for at least 1 hour to set the icing dam and to allow the cake to firm up.
• Ice the cake with a thin crumb coat of buttercream. Refrigerate the cake for at least 30 minutes to set the buttercream. Alternately, instead of smooth icing the cake you can do one swirly coating of icing at this point. This will give the cake a more casual look.
• Ice the cake with a final coating of buttercream. Use a piping bag fitted with a star tip to pipe a border around the top of the cake. Refrigerate for at least 3-4 hours to make sure the filling is completely set, preferably over night.
• Remove the cake from the refrigerator 1 hour before serving. Decorate the top of the cake with a few fresh raspberries and fresh peach slices.

PEACH MELBA MOUSSE

Steps:

• Puree peaches and raspberries with peach brandy in a blender or the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade (or use blender).
• Add sugar, gelatin, almond extract, salt and lemon juice, and blend well.
• Whip cream to soft peaks; fold into peach mixture and refrigerate for 1 hour or until just beginning to set.
• Beat egg whites until stiff.
• Stir half of whites into mousse, blending well.
• Fold in remaining egg whites, making sure there are no lumps.
• Spoon into individual dessert glasses or a serving bowl.
• Chill for 4 hours.
• To serve, drizzle a few drops of peach brandy over each portion.

PEACH MELBA PAVLOVA

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 120C/100C fan/gas ½. Line a large, flat baking sheet with baking parchment. Tip egg whites into a large bowl. Sift together the sugars. Blend the cornflour, vanilla and vinegar to a paste.
• Whisk the egg whites until stiff, then whisk in the sugars, 2-3 tbsp at a time, alternating with the paste. Continue whisking until the meringue is thick and marshmallow-like.
• Spoon the meringue onto the prepared baking sheet and spread to a 22cm round. Use the back of a metal spoon to make a shallow dip in the centre for the filling. Bake the meringue for 1½ hrs, then turn off the heat and leave it in the oven to cool. Transfer to a flat serving plate.
• Put half the raspberries in a pan with the sugar and 2 tbsp water. Bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar, then cook for a few mins until the raspberries are soft and pulpy. Tip into a food processor with the remaining raspberries and whizz to a purée. Press through a sieve into a bowl to remove the pips. Cool.
• Halve and stone the peaches, then cut each half into 4-5 slices. Whip the cream until stiff. Drizzle over half the raspberry sauce and fold in gently with a large metal spoon to make a ripple effect. Carefully spoon the cream into the centre of the meringue. Pile the peaches on top and scatter with the remaining raspberries. Drizzle with the remaining sauce and dust lightly with icing sugar. Serve without delay.

PEACH MELBA CREAM CAKE

Steps:

• 1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter two 9-inch cake pans. Line the bottoms with wax paper and butter the paper; dust the pans with flour.
• 2. Cream the 3/4 cup butter and sugars in a mixing bowl. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla, lemon zest, and juice.
• 3. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt; add to mixture in the bowl, alternating with buttermilk, to make batter.
• 4. Scrape batter into the pans. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 35 to 40 minutes. Cool the cakes in their pans on a rack for 15 minutes, then turn them out onto the rack, peel off wax paper, and cool completely.
• 5. Shortly before serving, peel, pit, and slice the peaches. Toss with lemon juice and 1 tablespoon sugar; set aside for 15 minutes.
• 6. Whip the cream with the vanilla and the remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons of sugar until it holds soft peaks.
• 7. Place one cake on a serving platter; spread with half the cream, then half the peaches. Cover with second cake, spread with most of the remaining cream and top with remaining peaches. Top with a dollop of cream and, if desired, a mint sprig. Serve immediately, with the Raspberry Melba Sauce on the side or drizzled over the cake.

PEACH MELBA CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• In medium mixing bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt, butter, egg, milk, and pudding mix. Mix until smooth, and pour into greased 9-inch springform baking pan. Place well-drained peaches, peach juice, macaroons and gingersnap crumbs over top of batter.
• In a small mixing bowl, mix cream cheese, egg, peach juice, and sugar, and pour over cake mixture. Top with gingersnap crumbs.
• Bake for 45 minutes, or until golden brown and center is done. When cool, spread raspberry jam over top.