2 days ago I made date caramel. It is festive season, Ramadan, and dates are plentiful so I decided to make something with the dates my mom bought for me. I had mentioned to her I wanted to make some date recipes and she duly went and bought some dates for me. Thanks mom!
So I thought of date caramel. Basically it is dates blended with a splash of milk, some coconut oil and some vanilla. It doesn't need sugar as it is already sweet. I made some and transferred it to a jar later.
It was so yummy. I could have eaten it on its own really. It was a healthier version of caramel. A bit gritty due to the dates and the vanilla bean. Also it was made in a normal blender and there is no need for the food processor. And also make sure the dates are pitted, which means taking out the seeds.
So I had success with my date caramel and I thought I could proceed to make a date mousse cake! I had seen pictures of caramel mousses and thought with my date caramel I could give it a shot. It turned out to be a good idea. Date caramel works just as well as regular caramel in some recipes.
So I made my date mousse cake. I started with a biscuit crust. I crushed some Jacob's cream crackers and mixed it with butter. I pressed it into the bottom of the pan. Then I refrigerated it.
Next I worked on the mousse. Basically I waited for some cream cheese to soften then mixed it with the date caramel and then added some date chunks in there. Below is the mixture of cream cheese, date caramel and date bits. After that I added whipped cream to the mixture to make it into a mousse.
At this point I forgot to take pictures so please forgive me. I only took a pic after the date and cream cheese mixture was mixed with the whipped cream. Here is what it looked like after mixing in the whipped cream and spooned into the pan. As you can see it is quite firm because of the cream cheese but still fluffy because of the whipped cream. It was quite airy indeed.
I could have stopped here. I let it set overnight. I wanted to add more flourish to my basic mousse so the next day I bought a crunchie bar. I slathered whipped cream on top of the mousse cake and topped it with a crushed up crunchie bar. Upon hindsight, I probably shouldn't have done this. I should have just left it as a mousse without the whipped cream and crunchie bar on top. Probably coz it turned out to be a bit messy to eat and too runny. Oh well, some people like it with the extra works and some prefer it neat. I am in between. I wanted to add the extras so I had to deal with my decision.
Here is what it looked like at the end. Of course this is after refrigeration before and after putting the cream so remember to keep yours cool and don't over mix. It could get too runny. Like mine. In this pic you can see the mousse layer and the cream layer through the glass. At the bottom of course is the biscuit crust but maybe you can't see it so well.
It didn't slice well. I tried to make it neat but the whipped cream got everywhere! I should have stuck with the mousse without the whipped cream! It was messy, but at least it tasted good!
I am quite happy with it. I wished I could have tried it without the cream layer but I guess if I didn't try it I would never know. Oh well. Anyway, below is the recipe. The cream layer is optional. I enjoyed this dessert very much and my family thought it was nice too. =)
Ingredients
Date caramel
150g pitted dates
2-3 tbsp coconut oil
6 tbsp milk or almond milk
Vanilla from extract or bean
a pinch of salt
Biscuit crust
6 Jacob's cream crackers or equivalent of other crackers
2 tbsp butter, melted
Mousse layer
4-5 tbsp date caramel above
200g cream cheese, softened
250g whipped cream
Some chopped up dates
Topping (optional)
150g whipped cream, sweetened
1 crunchie bar, crushed
Instructions
- Make the biscuit layer. Crush cream crackers and mix in melted butter to combine. Press into base of the pan. Leave to set in refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
- Make date caramel. Pit the dates and preferably slice them up first. Blend with the coconut oil, milk, vanilla and salt in a blender until desired consistency.
- Make the mousse layer. Mix together date caramel, dates and softened cream cheese. Fold in whipped cream and mix lightly.
- Pour mousse layer mixture into prepared biscuit crust.
- Leave in refrigerator to set for 4 hours.
- Just before serving, if desired, top with whipped cream and sprinkle crushed crunchie bar on top.
Thanks for reading!
Labels: cakes, desserts, mousse, pudding, recipe
