Does any one know if I can add melted and cooled white chocolate to Rose’s super stabilized whipped cream?  I am thinking that the white chocolate ganache might be too sweet and rich for a filling for Rose’s White Velvet cake.  I am doing a white chocolate mousseline buttercream to ice the cake with.

Sounds like the texture and taste you’re after is a very lightly sweetened white chocolate mousse. Haven’t seen a recipe for one as such in any of Rose’s books, but the basic technique is there in TCB’s discussion of Bavarian creams. It’s a tricky filling. Too little or improperly set gelatin, and you’ve got ooze or a filling that disappears right into the cake. Too much, and the mouth-feel is rubbery. When you get it right, it’s heaven.

I would think about adding some other flavour or colour, no matter how little to whatever you use as a filling. Otherwise, the overall effect may be too bland. If you opt for white choc mousse, an additional flavour can go into the heated cream, before you add it to the white chocolate. You’d want to use a dam of mousseline bc around the edge of the cake to keep the filling contained just as you would with a curd filling.

If you are able to get 40% heavy cream (pasteurized, not ultra-pasteurized), I would just stick with the white ganache as written (with 40% cream it will be stiff enough for a filling), but balance the sweetness with orange zest or oil (lemon would work, too).  I find in general that 40% cream doesn’t need as much stabilizing/stiffening as Cake Bible recipes use, as they have been crafted to work with commonly available UP cream.

If you can’t get 40% cream or don’t want to add zest, I think your idea of stabilizing with both gelatin and white chocolate would work, though I haven’t done it.  The timing might be a little tricky.  The cooled white chocolate will have a longer window of opportunity of when it can be added, as it won’t harden immediately upon cooling.  In my experience, the gelatin has a more narrow window, follow the 7 minute guideline closely.  My thought would be to add the white chocolate first, then the carefully timed gelatin. 

Good luck and let us know how it works out.

Thank-you Carolita and Julie for your expert advice.

OK,  I was searching on line and I found a recipe from baking 911.  It is a lime mousse filling for cakes and is adapted from one of Flo Braker’s books.  I have heard her recipes are very good.  Instead of lime though,  I thought maybe a lemon mousse filling for the white velvet cake and then frosting the cake with white chocolate mousseline buttercream.  I have never attempted this combination before.  Do you think that the flavour combinations will work well together?

Or I was also thinking of making Rose’s lemon curd and adding it to stiffly whipped heavy cream stabilized with gelatin.  So many ideas running through my head right now. lol.  I think I am going to have to experiment with this just to get the right consistency.  Now I just have to find non ultra-pasturized heavy cream.  I’m finding that it is getting harder and harder to locate.  Why would manufacturers do this when the regular pasturized heavy cream was just fine.

Liza - 09 February 2010 08:43 AM

Do you think that the flavour combinations will work well together?.

I think lemon and white chocolate are lovely together.  So does Rose, who recommends frosting her white chocolate whisper cake with lemon buttercream.

Or I was also thinking of making Rose’s lemon curd and adding it to stiffly whipped heavy cream stabilized with gelatin. 

That will work fine, it is in the cake bible, as a variation under raspberry jam cream.  In the Pie and Pastry Bible, she uses less whipped cream, it’s a trade off between light texture and intensity of flavor.

Why would manufacturers do this when the regular pasturized heavy cream was just fine

longer shelf life = higher profits

Thank-you Julie.  I will let you know how it works out.