White Asparagus Mousse Cake with Ginger Flavoured Rhubarb Jelly and Strawberry Foam

Finally, the local juicy and fragant strawberries are here! I have been waiting for so long to enjoy them and it was worth to wait! I could hardly save a small portion so that I could prepare some kind of sweet treat using strawberries. Sunday afternoon I took a pen and a piece of paper, nope, I did not want to write a poem, I just started to plan this cake I am going to post about now. However, it was a mistake to think, that everything is going to be made exactly just like I've planned.

Actually, I wanted to bake a simple sponge, but then I decided to bake on using almonds. On top of the sponge comes the first layer in form of a vanilla flavoured asparagus mousse, yep, you read it right. I was a bit afraid, but as they say no risk, no fun. Well, I had fun, indeed I did! In the middle of the mousse there is little ginger flavoured rhubarb mousse and it is covered by strawberry foam. Well, what have I left out? The plan was to add a rhubarb panna cotta as the middle layer topped with strawberry jelly and on top should have been the strawberry foam. But the amount of cream scared me a bit, so I decided to kick the panna cotta part and save it for another time. The mini cakes were served with meringue, strawberry chips and fresh strawberries.


Ingredients:
75 g almond flour
35 g sugar
18 g flour
2 eggs
50 g egg whites
40 g sugar

Whisk together the flour, ground almond with 35 g of sugar and the eggs. Beat egg whites with the rest of the sugar until it makes stiff peaks. Fold beaten egg white to the egg yolk mixture and spread it on a baking paper covered sheet. Bake for 10-13 minutes on 170°C.


500 g white asparagus
1 vanilla pod
60 g sugar
3 egg yolks
2 gelatine leaves
200 ml cream

Soak gelatine leaves in cold water. Peel asparagus and cut in thin slices, then cook it together with 30 g of sugar, the vanilla pod over low heat and let it cook through in its own juices, then puree. Beat egg yolks together with the rest of the sugar over a water bath until pale and thick and creamy, then remove and beat it until it cools. Melt gelatine and whisk it into the egg yolk mixture, then stir in asparagus puree. Fold in beaten cream and cool for at least 5 hours.