Vanilla Chiffon Chocolate Mousse Cake with Mary Bergin

Boom!

Hello, I'm Julia Child.

Welcome to my house.

What fun we're going to have

baking all kinds of incredible cakes, pies and breads

right here in my own kitchen.

Mary Bergin, Head Pastry Chef

for Wolfgang Puck's Spago Restaurants

demonstrates a basic vanilla chiffon cake with a twist--

it's rolled around a chocolate walnut mousse.

Yum, yum.

See how it's done on:

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This is a chiffon cake

in the form of a jelly roll

rolled around a delicious walnut mousse.

And Mary Bergin is going to prepare it

from scratch today.

I'm going to start off with four egg yolks.

This is going to be the cake batter?

Mm-hmm.

Good.

Very simple cake batter.

And then we have a half a cup of vegetable oil.

You can use safflower oil

or a vegetable oil.

But in a chiffon cake you never use butter--

it's always oil.

Right, because you want to have the shortening

in a liquid state at all times.

And then it keeps that same texture

when you make it the same day

or when you put it in the refrigerator overnight.

And then we also have

two tablespoons of vanilla extract.

That's a lot of vanilla extract.

It is, because it really needs

a little bit of some kind of flavor.

Yeah, mm-hmm.

All right, so, if you would like

to go ahead and whisk that together.

Okay.

Just needs mixing, I guess.

Right.

Okay, so now let's sift the dry ingredients here.

We have a cup of all-purpose flour.

Correctly measured.

And then we also have a cup of granulated sugar.

Why are you sifting all that?

Because I want to keep it nice and light.

You want to make sure... there ain't no lumps.

Then we also have a teaspoon of baking powder.

Double-action baking powder.

Right.

This is a half teaspoon, so I'll do this twice.

And then we also have a half teaspoon of baking soda.

Why do we need the soda?

Well, it helps to activate it

and help it rise.

You just like soda.

I like soda.

( both laugh )

Not diet soda... soda.

Get this all sifted out.

And I'm also going to add a quarter teaspoon of salt

and since I always use kosher salt in baking

I'm going to add it right to my pile of sifted ingredients.

Now, why do you use kosher salt?

I find that it melts into cake batters a little bit better

and you don't have that real iodized salt taste.

Okay, so now we have our dry ingredients.

And if you'll whisk, I'll pour.

All right.

And we want to do this gradually

because you want to keep it nice and light.

Nice having two people.

That's right-- always invite somebody over

before you make this cake.

There you are.

Okay, now I'm going to take

these nicely whipped egg whites

and fold a little bit of this into the batter

just to lighten it up a little bit.

I guess you always do that.

Well, the heavier the batter

the more chance you have

of deflating your egg whites.

Mmm.

So, this lightens it up.

I can hold that for you.

Thank you very much.

Make sure you scrape the bowl all the way--

you don't want to leave a half a cup of batter behind.

And now we'll fold these all together.

That's always so important

of how to fold, isn't it?

You want to turn the bowl.

Right, you want to turn the bowl.

You want to always go in the same direction.

If you start changing directions, going back and forth

you'll deflate the egg whites

and then you won't have nearly the volume

that you need to fill in the pan.

Mm-hmm.

And a great big spatula helps, doesn't it?

Yes, it does.

Well, you know, when you make anything

the right tools really make the difference.

You want to make sure you get every bit of it.

Yup.Yeah.

We don't want to leave any white streaks.

No.

Okay, now... we need that sheet pan over there.

We have a nice jelly roll pan

that's been sprayed with vegetable spray.

Put a layer of parchment paper on that.

I sprayed it again

and then I tapped a little all-purpose flour in there.

That looks lovely as it's going in there.

It's nice to know that the standard chiffon cake recipe

will do so many things, isn't it?

It's very versatile.

You can, um, do all kinds of things with it.

As a matter of fact at Spago in Las Vegas

you can imagine I have requests

for wedding cakes all the time.

And I really like to use a chiffon cake.

And I give people the option

of a chocolate chiffon or vanilla

or a lemon chiffon.

I think, so far, the lemon chiffon

is pretty much the favorite

when it comes to a wedding cake.

And there is a nice recipe of yours

in our new book that goes with this TV series

for the lemon chiffon.

As a matter of fact, there is.

There is, indeed.

Then when you're spreading this out

you want to work quickly

but you want to make sure it's nice and even.

And I like to use long strokes

as opposed to trying to fit it into the corners.

Mm-hmm.

Okay.

And we'll just give it a little tap.

So there won't be any air bubbles.

Then it goes into the oven.

We'll bake it in an oven

350 degrees, ten to 12 minutes.

Now we're going to do your walnut mousse.

Is this your invention?

Yes... to some extent.

I suppose...

I didn't invent mousse

but I think I invented this walnut mousse.

Okay, what we're going to do

is put six ounces

or one and two-thirds of a cup

of toasted walnuts-- lightly toasted-- into a food processor.

And we'll get those... all nice and small.

You want to turn it on and off.

And then to that we're going to add

some walnut oil.

That's so you get

a fully walnut taste there.

Now, you can add safflower oil

if you live in a part of the country

that you can't find walnut oil.

And then I would suggest

adding a little walnut extract to that.

We'll process that till a nice paste forms.

Mostly when you're chopping nuts

you want to avoid getting them oily.

Now you want to.

You want the oil to come out in this.

And then, over there, we have five ounces

of melted bittersweet chocolate.

And I have used melted milk chocolate in this

and it comes out very well.

Oh, either one.

Mm-hmm.

So I'm going to take the top off

to add this into it.

Isn't that nice?

And then we'll just process that a little bit more

till it's nicely combined.

Okay.

Now, we'll just leave that... on the side

while we make a sugar syrup

out of a third of a cup of granulated sugar

and a quarter cup of water.

We'll bring that to a boil.

And then we're going to whisk that

into our egg yolks, which we have three of.

And since this is a very small quantity

it will come to a boil quickly.

Now that our sugar syrup has come to a boil

we're going to start to cook the yolks.

We have three egg yolks in here

and you may be wondering

why I have them in such a big bowl.

I was wondering.

Okay, and I'll explain it to you:

We have them in a big bowl

because this is the bowl that's going on the machine

so we might as well save ourselves a bowl to clean--

wouldn't you say?

And I'm going to stir that.

You're going to stir that

while I pour in the boiling sugar syrup.

And it's important that the sugar syrup is boiling

when this goes in.

And this, you do it very slowly

so as not to... scramble the eggs.

To hurt the fragile, little eggs.

Yes.

There you are.

All you want to do is whisk that

until it's hot to the touch.

Okay, now that's hot to the touch, wouldn't you say?

Hmm... very.

Now we'll take it

put it right onto the machine.

And we're going to beat that at a high speed

until it's doubled in volume.

And you want to do this quickly

because you want it to cool while it's being whipped.

And when I say "cool to the touch"

all you need to do is feel the bottom of the bowl.

Well, that's hot.

That's still hot.

This is a wonderful idea that this machine has.

I think...

Have to put it up again.

You can either put boiling water...

or ice in here.

There, is that on?

Good.

And we'll put down again.

There.

Well, now

this will make it a little faster.

It certainly will.

I think we're there.

See... is it cold?

Mm-hmm.

It is?

Nice.

Okay, now we'll just take this off.

Sure cut down the time on that, didn't it?

Oh, it's just wonderful.

And that's really...

that's really holding its shape in there, too.

All ready for the chocolate and walnut mixture to go in.

And now I think we'll use that glass bowl over there...

Okay.

So you can get a better picture of it.

See how nice and thick that is?

It's lovely, yeah.

Now we'll add

our chocolate walnut paste to that.

Mmm...

And you don't have to worry

about this chocolate and walnut mixture

sitting too long because the oil in it--

and you brought out all the natural oil of the walnuts--

it keeps it fairly liquid for quite a while.

Mm-hmm.

A tiny, little extra there.

I'll put it in for you.

There's a teaspoon extra.

Okay.

That's all.

Just mix this together.

And then we'll fold in the cup of cream

that we've already whipped.

And I'm going to fold as you add that together.

This is going to be awfully nice.

That's a real mousse, isn't it?

Mm-hmm.

Could you make this somewhat ahead?

Oh, sure, you could make this a day ahead, easily.

Even with the whipped cream in it?

Mm-hmm.

And just fridge it.

Yeah, and then just give it

a nice stir before you use it.

That'd be just fine.

I think we'll have to taste it

to see how it is, don't you think?

Mm-hmm.

Mmm, that looks beautiful.

Well, that's very useful to know you can make that ahead.

Mmm.

And, actually, this is a recipe into itself, too.

It is.

You can serve this as a dessert just as is.

In a cup, hmm-mm.

Mmm, lovely.

And now we have our filling for our vanilla chiffon roll...

or roulade.

Roulade.

And I'm also going to use caramelized walnuts

as a decoration for the top

and I'll show you how I do that.

Oh, great... good!

What we have in this pan is a half a cup of granulated sugar

and we're just putting it

right over a medium to a medium-high flame.

And you want to keep it moving all the time

because you don't want it to burn in one spot

because once caramel burns in a...

It's already caramelized too, isn't it?

Yeah, it's very quick.

Yeah.

There's no water in it or anything.

No, I don't use water

but if you feel more comfortable...

if you need that extra time

then it doesn't make any difference.

All you have to do is evaporate the water... boil it out.

Well, this is certainly quicker.

And the reason I use a fork instead of a wooden spoon

is because I want to be able to break up the sugar crystals.

Yeah.

And if you just want to check it every once in a while

hold it up to the light

and see the color of your caramel.

You want to have it nice and golden.

You have to keep lifting it up

so you can see, don't you?

Okay, beautiful... we're there.

So I have the walnuts on a piece of wax paper.

I'm going to do two at a time.

So all I need to do is just put that in there.

Just tap it a few times.

Rather like dipping truffles in chocolate.

This is very easy to do, isn't it?

Mm-hmm... and you want to work quickly

because it will end up getting extremely dark after a while.

Yeah.

And I'll tell you a great hint

for cleaning out a pot that has caramel in it.

What you do is whatever caramel is left over

let it cool off just a little bit

and it will start to harden

and then take some hot tap water

and then just put it back on the fire and let it boil.

And then what it does is it loosens up all the caramel

and then you just pour it out.

Well, that certainly is very easy.

And while these are cooling, so we're able to handle them

we're going to roll up our mousse

in our vanilla chiffon layer.

Great, then we'll eat it.

Then we'll eat it.

Great... great.

It's very tender, isn't it?

Nice and soft, and it's still really moist

so we'll be able to roll it easily without it cracking.

If you overcook it, then it will all crack, won't it?

Right, but an easier remedy to that is

make a little sugar syrup and then brush it on.

Oh, that's a good idea.

And it will reconstitute it almost.

Okay, so the easiest way, I find

to turn out a sheet pan like this

is to sprinkle

a little bit of granulated sugar on top

because, as you can feel

it's a little bit on the tacky side-- it's a little wet

and you don't want it to stick to anything and this kind of helps it

to not stick.

I think the big secret

of a jelly role is how to get it out and roll it up.

Oh, I'll tell you my big secret

if you tell me yours.

I don't have one.

I just take another piece of parchment paper...

put that over there

and then invert a pan, another sheet pan--

it doesn't have to be exactly the same size--

just a little bit bigger is fine.

Flip it over...

Well, that's very clever.

Voilàà!

Voilàà... now what?

Now what we're going to do is

we're going to roll it up.

But we're going to need a little help rolling it up

and I use the original piece

of parchment paper.

And I'm just going to loosen it.

Can you roll it from either the short or the long sides?

I roll it the long way.

For more drama.

Otherwise you'll have a...

That's coming off beautifully.

That's because it was buttered and floured, I guess.

That's the key.

You don't want to glue it.

And then since this does have the oil on it, the paper

I'm going to use it

just to flip it over.

Flip it over again?

Uh-huh.

Okay... take this pan again.

Now, why do we need so many flippings?

I'll show you.

Okay.

I could've just taken it off of there

and put it right on the table

but then when I'm all rolled up

I need to pick it up and put it into the refrigerator.

That's true.

This makes it a lot easier.

Yeah, you have to think of all those things.

You don't have to hold it too much.

It's trial and error-- the first time I did this I didn't do it.

Okay, now I'm going to cut off the very edge of it

because that's the...

that's the part that will keep you from getting a really nice roll.

And it's important to do this.

And then, of course, you need to know

what your cake is going to taste like.

See, look at this texture.

Now, that's a chiffon cake.

You want to see all...

Because it does have the holes in it.

Right, you want to see some air pockets in there.

You want to see that it's nicely risen.

It's kind of subtle, too, isn't it?

Mm-hmm.

Tastes good.

That's the important part.

What do you do with these besides eat them yourself?

Just eat them.

Mm-hmm.

Or if you needed cake crumbs for something.

Sure, you could toast these.

That would be nice.

Sprinkle them around the sides of the plate for decoration

would be very nice.

And now...

That's very clever now that you don't have any edges

getting in your way.

And you really haven't cut off too much of it either.

And now I'm using this paper as my guide to roll it up

which is why I left that paper on in the first place.

Now we take our walnut mousse...

that has been chilled for a few hours.

And that looks lovely.

That looks sort of very light

with nice holes in it.

You always want these... what they call offset...

Offset spatulas.

Okay, now we're going to start it

by folding that over ever so slightly

and then using this, we just help ourselves along...

and then lift it up...

and then we have our nice roll.

Now, you want to keep this pretty tight

and what I do, at this point

is just take a fork

and then just tuck the paper in underneath

and then we're going to refrigerate this for a few hours.

Otherwise you wouldn't be able to slice it.

And I don't have to pick it up.

All I have to do is take the tray.

Then we'll put it in the refrigerator and then we'll decorate it.

Okay.

Here she comes!

Here we go!

It's all nice and cold.

It's been in the refrigerator for two hours

so now we can unwrap it.

See how nice that is--

it's all sealed.

How long can you leave it in the fridge?

Oh, you could leave it in overnight.

Could you freeze it?

You could... and then I would suggest

thawing it out in the refrigerator

instead of at room temperature.

So I'm going to decorate it right on here

because we're going to put it on this beautiful white platter.

I'm just going to trim the edges

and, again, you always need to have your tasting pieces, right?

And then I've taken little strips of parchment paper...

I'm just going to lay those straight across.

And you can do any kind of pattern for this, too.

You don't have to have perfectly made strips.

You can have strips at an angle.

And then I'm going to take some cocoa powder...

Oh, I see... yes.

Put that on there.

The strips keeps it uncocoaed.

Mm-hmm.

That's a nice idea.

You use any special cocoa?

I like to use a good quality cocoa

because the better the quality, the darker...

Oh, yes.

The darker it is.

Then I'm also going to take a little confectioners' sugar

and just a little teeny bit of that like it's snowing.

This would be a good Christmas dessert, wouldn't you say?

It certainly would, yes.

And now I'm going to carefully take off these pieces of parchment.

Oh, that's nice.

And if you make this with a chocolate chiffon

we can do just powdered sugar

and then it really stands out.

It looks like a nice, striped roll.

There are those walnuts.

Okay, now we'll just place the walnuts.

Oh, those make a very nice decoration.

Aren't they pretty?

Yeah.

And, now, you have this wonderful spatula

so I am going to attempt to pick this up.

Don't ask me where it came from because I don't know.

It's wonderful.

And we'll just place that there.

And since it is cold and right out of the refrigerator

it's very easy to move.

Yeah.

Now we'll just decorate this with some mint sprigs.

In the wintertime it will be great to have some cranberries.

Just throw some cranberries around on the plate.

Now I think we should try it.

I do, too.

Okay, so I'm going to give us a nice, big slice.

Put it on this plate.

Mmm...

That is a nice, big slice.

A little garnish!

That's very, very nice.

Now shall we dig in?

I think we should.

I think we should.

Mmm.

That's a lovely, kind of subtle filling, isn't it?

Mmm.

Mm-hmm, lovely.

Good combination, I would say.

I'm delighted to see this dessert.

I never thought of a chiffon cake as a jelly roll

and this lovely walnut.

It works really well.

Very, very well.

The walnuts are a wonderful idea.

Delicious.

Mary, thank you very much.

You've given us a very good lesson

and I thank you.

My pleasure.

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Julia: Bon appétit!