Chocolate Mousse Cake Basket

[jessiquina]

so i need to come up with a layered individual chocolate mousse cake basket. its for a plated dessert and we want berries falling out of it to look like a spring basket. my problem is: how to make a cake look like a basket.
1. use a lace cookie molded over a cup so it is shaped like a cup and put a tuile handle on it.

2. pipe a frosting or a mousse in a basket weave around the cake....

3.????

well, those are the only ideas i have. and the pastry chef i'm working with doesnt want the lace cookie idea. and 2 is too time consuming for a summer menu for us ...


got any ideas?

[momoreg]

Get a basketweave textured rolling pin, and you can emboss modelling chocolate, which you can wrap around a cake.

Buy transfer sheets, to imprint chocolate, which you can wrap around a cake.

Silkscreen a basketweave design on joconde, and fill with mousse.

Make a chocolate handle, and you're set.

[jessiquina]

great ideas! thanks. i was having a mental block!

[AprilB]

...and make a long thin lattice like you'd put on a pie. The technique is actually quite easy. It also has a more natural look to it. The cross strips would be a little wider than the height you needed (so you can trim it to size and shape) and the length a little longer than the circumference (3.145 x the diameter...I love geometry) of the cake.

Then the berries can be placed along the seam so it would be hidden.

April

[panini]

Guess I'm following April around this morning
I was just going to throw out that we actually produce little baskets daily for the shop. This is just what we do and it is just an idea for the future if you need many.
We have cut numerous lengths of PVC pipe in various wigths. It is a very good way to have plenty of molds. Our 2" we have also made with a 45 cut on the top.
If were doing the 2" we bake a little short dough or or some meringue circles.
We cut 2" cake circles
We stack w/cRasp or choco mousse
To build the basketwe just line the pvc with small parch rectangles,not perfect,it's fast.
Meringue on the bottom
mousse
cake
mousse
pour a little ganache
let em set or freeze
our basic garnish. We lay out parch rectangles that are a little higher then the mold(April will have to give you dimentions ) We then just drizzle them with chocolate.
If the are being consumed that day we just pop em,peel em,wrap em with the choco. drizzle paper and fill the area on top with shavings or rasp. and add a chocolate handle.
If they need to keep, we dip in light ganache and follow the same.
I'm not going to read this so even I, probably won't understand it.
just thought of it because we have many hundreds going to a function today for Pat's day. They are irish Cream mousse with the white choco drizzle colored green.