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Nut Free
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Vegetarian
Mandarin Orange Mousse Cake with Citrus and Chocolate Ganache
This fluffy and light mousse cake is the most delicious mandarin cake ever! This elegant cake is made with a classic sponge cake, flavors of mandarin, then topped with a simple chocolate ganache and loads of mandarins.
Every bite of this sweet cake melts in your mouth. This mandarin cake can be made year-round, but we like to enjoy it mostly during the winter season for all of the holiday parties when mandarins are in season. In my childhood, we would have loads of mandarins at home during the winter. They brought us the fresh citrusy flavors that oranges and lemons couldn’t (since they weren’t seasonal). There is so much to do with mandarins. We would always have them available and give them out to friends, serve at the dessert table, and put them in this delicious mandarin mousse cake!
This mandarin cake is topped with a delicious, smooth chocolate ganache. It has only two ingredients and is super easy to make! As a fun decor option, I dipped my mandarins in the delicious chocolate ganache, too. That makes them a delectable treat to top the cake with.
Table of Contents
How to Make A Sponge Cake
The classic sponge cake base is made with just a few ingredients that are usually in my pantry. It’s one of the recipes that I use in many of my cake recipes, it’s simply a no-fail recipe. When making the sponge cake, make sure to first whisk the eggs and sugar well, until they’re almost white in color and are voluminous. Add the dry ingredients by folding gently from the bottom of the bowl. To make the sponge cake moister after it’s baked, cooled down, and sliced, I like to use a simple syrup. I make this by mixing a teaspoon of sugar and a couple of tablespoons of water, then gently pouring the syrup onto the cake, especially on the edges.
Ingredients for the cake
Sponge Cake Ingredients
- Eggs
- Sugar
- Vanilla extract
- Baking powder
- All-purpose flour: make sure it’s unbleached
Mousse Ingredients
Mandarins in juice: from a can
Jello: Lemon flavored
Heavy whipping cream: Cool whip will work too, just skip the step of whisking it
Powdered sugar: Also known as confectioners sugar
2- Ingredients Chocolate Ganache
Butter: Unsalted
Chocolate chips: Semi-sweet.
Mandarins are a great fruit to keep in your diet. Enjoy them in these recipes:
This Easy Purple Cabbage Salad with Mandarins and Walnuts is a unique salad that you’ll be making over and over!
Enjoy this Sweet Persimmon Pomegranate Fruit Salad in the fall! It has honey and ginger in it.
Mandarin Orange Mousse Cake with Citrus and Chocolate Ganache
Equipment
- bowl
- Cake spatula
- Stand mixer
Ingredients
- 5 large eggs
- 1 cup sugar
- ¼ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 cup all-purpose flour, unbleached
- 10 oz can mandarines, in juice, strained, divided into separate bowls
- 3 oz package jello, lemon flavored
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream, 473 ml
- 2 Tbsp powdered sugar
- 2 fresh mandarines, for decor, optional
- 4 Tbsp unsalted butter
- ½ cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9″ round cake form.
- On high speed, beat 5 large eggs with 1 cup of sugar until a pale yellow color. Add in 1/4 teaspoons of vanilla extract.5 large eggs, 1 cup sugar, ¼ tsp vanilla extract
- Lower the speed to the lowest and add 1 teaspoon of baking powder and 1 cup of flour. Mix for one 1 minute then transfer mixture to ready cake form.1 tsp baking powder, 1 cup all-purpose flour,
- Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a tooth pick comes out clean when inserted. Cool down completely.
- Strain one can of mandarines and separate the juice and mandarines into separate bowls.10 oz can mandarines,
- Into the bowl with the juice add 3 ounces of lemon flavored jello (1 packet). Microwave for 3 minutes, stirring after each minute. Or you could go the healthier way and bring it to a boil in a sauce pan. Let it cool down.3 oz package jello,
- In a medium sized bowl beat 2 cups of heavy whipping cream with 2 Tablespoons of powdered sugar until stiff.2 cups heavy whipping cream,, 2 Tbsp powdered sugar
- Combine with jello, on lowest speed.
- Transfer into a form exactly the same size and shape like you made the sponge cake in. Add slices of mandarin to the mousse. Refrigerate until completely set, 45 minutes.
- Slice the sponge cake horizontally in the middle. Take the mandarine mousse and put it on top of the bottom slice of cake, cover with the other half. Refrigerate until the ganache is ready.
- Melt 4 Tablespoons of unsalted butter, stir in 1/2 cup of chocolate chips, until smooth. Pour over cake. Optional: dip fresh mandarine slices into ganache for decorating.4 Tbsp unsalted butter, ½ cup chocolate chips, 2 fresh mandarines,