Aries Dessert: Flambéed PB&J Birthday Bombe

This is the third creation in my zodiac dessert series where I design a delicious dessert for each sign.

This is for Aries.

This birthday bombe boldly boasts pound cake with a peanut butter and raspberry mousse core enrobed in spike-y meringue to be set ablaze with amber rum.

As the child of the zodiac, Aries folks tend to have a sweet tooth and love simple, nostalgic food combinations. The classic childhood snack of the PB & J sandwich was the main inspo for this dessert - it also provides the perfect fuel for an athletic adventure or for a busy busy day that Aries see more of than not. This dessert has many moving parts, which our Aries pals can tackle effortlessly like no other sign. It’s bold and ambitious, and needs to be faced head on. As a cardinal sign, our Aries friends are movers and shakers, and have no problem setting things in motion. Although the meringue appears spike-y and sharp, it’s gooey, and the interior is even more delicate. Aries are much softer and more sensitive on the inside then their audacious personalities lead on.

Lastly, the most important part of this treat is the fire. Aries are not only fire signs, they are often adrenaline junkies and love a spectacle. Luckily, a flambéed dessert only lasts a moment, just enough to direct all the attention towards them, but not long enough that it doesn’t hold their incredibly short attention span for too long. There’s nothing shy or lazy about setting a dessert on fire.

Are any Aries still reading this? Probably not.

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PB&J Birthday Bombe

Ingredients

Pound cake

• 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup white sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt

PB & Raspberry mousses

• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream, 35%
• 1/3 cup smooth Kraft peanut butter
• Pinch of salt
• 1 cup raspberries, frozen or fresh
• 1/2 packet of gelatin
• 1 Tbsp water
• 2 Tbsp icing sugar

Meringue

• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 2 egg whites, room temperature
• 1/4 tsp + 1/8 tsp cream of tartar
• 1 tsp vanilla

Instructions

Make the cake

1. Grease and line a 9-inch cake pan with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Using a hand or stand mixer, mix your butter and white sugar with the paddle attachment on medium speed for 4-6 minutes or until fluffy and noticeable light in colour. Pause and scrap down half way through.
3. On low speed, add one egg at a time and combine fully before adding the next egg. Add vanilla and set aside.
4. Combine your flour, baking powder and salt. Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients into your wet. Combine fully before adding another 1/3. Repeat with the last 1/3 of the dry ingredients.
5. Add batter to pan and bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean from the centre. Remove from oven and rest 5 minutes in pan. Remove from pan and allow to fully cool on a cooling rack. 

Make the mousses

1. Add 1/2 packet of gelatin to a small dish with 1 Tbsp of water. Set aside.
2. Add raspberries to a small pot and put on medium heat. Mush slightly with a fork. Stir occasionally until the berries have broken down and have become a liquid-y jam consistency. Remove from heat and strain with a fine mesh sieve to remove seeds. Return raspberry mixture to pot and add softened gelatin. Return to medium heat and stir until the mixture is hot and steaming, but not boiling. Set aside.
3. When the raspberry mixture has reached room temperature, beat your whipped cream to stiff peaks. Remove half of the whipped cream mixture to a bowl, set aside. Add icing sugar and raspberry mixture and beat until incorporated. Taste for sweetness, add more icing sugar if it's too tart. You want this to be slightly tart because it will offset the sweetness of the meringue. Set aside in the fridge to chill.
4. Add peanut butter and salt to remaining whipped cream and mix until fully incorporated. Set aside in the fridge to chill. 

Assemble

1. Once the cake is fully cooled, slice it in half horizontally so you have two thin layers. It's easiest to do this with a bread knife by marking the edge around the cake before you begin slicing, using your marks as a guide.
2. Find a small mixing bowl to use for your assembly. The one I used was 7.5" wide and 3" tall. Anything similar will work, even a large soup bowl. You can refer to my reel here to see how I assemble this part.
3. Line your bowl entirely with plastic wrap with lots of overlaps on the side. You will need at least two large pieces. Next, you want to line your bowl with cake. Cut a circle from the middle of one the cake layers that will find in the bottom of your bowl. Slice the remainder of your cake to fit the walls of the bowl by cutting several small pieces out with right angles to the outer and interior edge. You will want the edges of these smaller pieces to line up as well as you can, but no need to be perfect. Meringue covers all sins. 
4. Add your peanut butter mousse followed by your raspberry mousse, smoothly out the layers as you go.
5. Cut your remaining cake layer to fit the top of your bowl. Wrap the entire thing in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for 2 hours or overnight.

Make the meringue and finish

1. Whip down your mixing bowl and whisk attachment of your stand mixer with a paper towel dipped in some vinegar. You want no oil residue on your tools or else the meringue will struggle.
2. In pot, combine your water, sugar, and corn syrup and put on medium heat. Attach a candy thermometer. Meanwhile, add your egg whites and cream of tartar to your bowl.
3. When your sugar mixture reached 220, begin to whip your egg whites on medium speed. Stop when the whites reach soft peaks
4. When your sugar mixture reached 240 or just before, remove from heat. You want to slowly stream this into your whites while they are whipped on medium speed. Aim for the area between the bowl and the whisk attachment. Once all the sugar is added to the bowl, turn up your speed to medium high and whip for 5-7 minutes or until the mixture is cooled, thick and glossy. Add your vanilla and whip until incorporated.
5. On your serving platter, remove cake from fridge and remove plastic wrap. Scoop or pipe your meringue onto the cake into your desired pattern. Torch the meringue or flambé it by gently heated 1/4 cup of rum, and lighting it before pouring it over your meringue. 

Created using The Recipes Generator