Brazo de Mercedes on Mango Mousse Sauce

MinBrazo de Mercedes on Mango Mousse Sauce

I prepared this out on a whim when I stumbled upon in the grocery store a whole bin of yellow mangoes. That was the first time I saw them (it would always be green or red mangoes that I used to see). I got several and they were surprisingly good.



I thought of making mango mousse cake, but somehow I only made it up to the mango mousse part, and had lost the gumption to make the cake. I kept the mousse in the fridge.

Then one time I was expecting company (my in-laws and a White friend), I was thinking of what to prepare for dessert. I knew my MIL likes custard, and our friend was open to anything new. I opted to make the brazo de mercedes, and as an afterthought, I served slices of them on mango mousse. They were raving about it!

I planned to make another batch, so I waited until I saw that yellow mangoes were available again, kept them in the rice bin to ripen (I had to work for 3 days before I would have the time to tackle the project). Too bad that batch had blackish mango flesh. Not good at all. I ended up returning 13 of them to Hannaford. And up to now, I still have not duplicated this dessert that was a hit because I never saw the yellow mangoes again.

When I posted the photo on my fb account, I was asked for the recipe, so I put them up here to share (and to serve sa my notes). The ratio of mango mousse and the brazo is off, but they are good individually anyway, so nothing will get wasted.

Ingredients and Procedures:
For the Mousse: (adapted from http://southamericanfood.about.com/od/desserts/r/mangocake.htm)
2 egg whites
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
2 cups fresh or frozen mango chunks
Juice of 1-2 limes
1 1/2 cups whipping cream
1 tablespoon gelatin

Make the mousse: Purée the mango with the lime juice until smooth. Strain and set aside.

In a bowl, sprinkle the gelatin over 1/4 cup of water and let rest for 5 minutes. Place the bowl over a pot of simmering water (do not let bowl touch the water) and stir until gelatin is dissolved. Stir the mango purée into the gelatin until well mixed. Strain once more. Set aside.

Bring the 3/4 cup of sugar and 1/4 cup water to boil in a small saucepan.

In the bowl of a standing mixer, beat the egg whites until stiff. Leave the mixer on the lowest speed until the sugar syrup reaches 120 degrees Celsius. Remove from heat and slowly pour the sugar into the egg whites while beating them.

When the egg whites are stiff and shiny (meringue), stir 1/4 cup of the egg whites into the mango purée. Fold this mixture back into the meringue.

Beat the whipping cream until soft peaks form. Gently fold the whipping cream into the egg white/mango mixture.

For the mini-Brazo de Mercedes
Prepare the soft curstard --
4 egg yolks
7-oz condensed milk (half of the 14-oz can; use the small can if you have that)
1 tsp vanilla
few drops lemon extract

Place in nonstick saucepan and cook on low heat until thick enough to stick to the back of a wooden spoon. Set aside until needed.

Prepare the meringue -- (adapted from The Bush Family Cookbook: Favorite Recipes and Stories from One of America's Great Families (Lisa Drew Books))

4 egg whites
1 cup sugar
1 tsp cornstarch
powdered sugar

Heat oven to 350°F. Spray a 13x9½-inch jelly-roll pan with oil and line pan with parchment paper. Spray parchment paper with oil as well. Have ready a kitchen towel generously sprinkled with powdered sugar.

Place egg whites in a big bowl and whip with an electric mixer fitted with a whisk, adding sugar when it turns foamy. Whip until stiff and glossy.

Strain cornstarch over egg whites and fold it in. Spread meringue evenly in the prepared pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown.

While still warm, turn pan over onto the sugar-dusted towel. Lift off pan, remove parchment, and cool meringue to room temp.

Assemble the brazo --

Right after rolling

Distribute the soft custard over the meringue. Starting from the long end, roll the meringue to make your brazo de mercedes. Slice into 1-inch thick pieces (I used a cake slicer because brazo is very sticky).

After the first slice

Slices of mini-brazo

To serve, spoon some mango mousse onto a plate and place a slice of the mini-brazo.

If you will not be able to use up all mango mousse, it is very good on its own. Or you just might want to make another batch of brazo, which is also good by itself.