Robbie’s Inspiration – Recipes from around the world: Chocolate mousse and strawberry custard pie

I made this pie for lunch on Easter Sunday. I made the recipe up because I had a large tin of strawberries I wanted to use (they were a replacement item from the grocery store when they did not have the tinned black cherries I ordered) and a packet of almond flour which was going to expire within a month.

I amended the pie crust recipe from Donna Hay’s Classic Baked Cheesecake recipe which you can find here: https://www.donnahay.com.au/recipes/classic-baked-cheesecake

I marginally changed a chocolate mousse recipe I got out of a Taste magazine several years ago and I made up the strawberry custard recipe.

The family raved about this rich and decadent pudding so I think I did well with this experiment.

Step 1: Pie crust

100 grams cold butter, chopped

60 ml castor sugar

160 ml plain flour

80 ml almond flour

Heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Prepare a deep circular pie dish approximately 30 cm round.

Mix the flour, almond flour and castor sugar. Use your fingers to work the butter into the dry ingredients until a stick dough forms. I only layered the bottom of the pie dish with this mixture and I blind backed it for 15 minutes and then set it aside to cool.

Step 2: Making the chocolate mousse

300 grams marshmallows, halved

90 grams soft butter

500 grams 70% cocoa dark chocolate, broken into pieces

3 tablespoons boiling water

8 tablespoons cherry liqueur

2 cups cream

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1 large can chopped strawberries

1 large tin strawberries drained (retain the syrup) and chopped

Place the marshmallows, chocolate, boiling water, cherry liqueur, and butter in a heat-resistant bowl and melt slowly over a pan of boiling water.

Whip the cream with the vanilla essence. Once the chocolate mixture is completely melted, allow to cool. Mix in the cream and vanilla essence. Lastly, mix in the 1/2 of the chopped strawberries. Pour the mixture over the pie crust and refrigerate until set.

Step 3: Making the strawberry custard

Mix 3 tablespoons of custard powder with 50 ml of the strawberry syrup. Top the remaining strawberry juice up to 450 ml with cold water. Pour into a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Once boiling, add the custard mixture, reduce the heat to a simmer, and whisk until the custard thickens. Add the remaining half of the chopped strawberries. Allow to cool slightly and then pour over the chocolate mousse. Refrigerate until you are ready to serve. I added a layer of whipped cream to the top of the pie to reduce the sweetness.

Kaye Lynne Booth from Writing to be Read blog shared two poems for Mothers Day yesterday. One is mine and one is her own. You can read them here: https://writingtoberead.com/2022/05/08/a-very-special-mothers-day-post/