Cherry Pecan Mousse

Irish Moss Paste
Ingredients:
2 hefty handfuls of Irish moss

Directions:
Place the moss into a straining bowl. Take the bowl outside and completely rinse the sand and debris out of the moss. Do this several times until the moss is clean. Bring it back into the kitchen and place it in a large bowl. Cover the Irish moss with filtered water. Let sit for 1 hour. Drain it and repeat the procedure 2 more times. When the water runs clear, place it into a glass air tight container. Fill it with filtered water and place it into the refrigerator for 24 hours. Remove it from the refrigerator and place it into a strainer. Rinse it again with filtered water. The expanded moss should measure 4 cups. Place it into a Vitamix and add 1 cup of filtered water. Blend it until creamy smooth. Test it by hand to make sure there is no grittiness. Place it into a mason jar with a plastic lid and put it into the refrigerator. Take some masking tape and mark the date on the jar. It will last for 2 weeks in the refrigerator.

Note: You will have Irish moss left over from this recipe. Use it in smoothies, cheeses, facials, or however you choose. I love it for all of its wonderful properties.

Pecan Crust
Ingredients:
1 cup small to finely chopped soaked and dehydrated pecans
¼ tsp. Himalayan salt
2 tbsp. organic maple syrup
6 drops Black Cherry Medicine Flower Extract
1 tsp. lemon juice
¼ cup organic melted coconut butter
¼ cup organic melted coconut oil

Directions:
Place the pecans into a food processor. (I use a Breville) Pulse the pecans into small to finely chopped pieces. Add the salt, maple syrup, lemon juice, black cherry extract, coconut oil, and coconut butter to the pecans. Pulse until evenly mixed. Take a 7” X 3” cake pan with a removable bottom. Coat it on the inside with coconut oil. Place the crust mixture into the pan. Press it down with a food press. Place the pan into the refrigerator.

Cherry Mousse
Ingredients:
1 cup fresh coconut meat
1 cup thawed dark cherries with juice (Trader Joe’s)
¼ cup Irish moss paste
¼ cup organic maple syrup
¼ tsp. pink Himalayan salt
1 tsp. lemon juice
10 drops Black Cherry Medicine Flower extract
¼ cup organic melted coconut oil
2 tbsp. Sunflower lecithin

Directions:
Place the coconut meat, cherries with juice, Irish moss paste, maple syrup, salt, lemon juice, and Black Cherry extract into a Vitamix. Blend until creamy smooth. Test for smoothness with your fingers. Remove the pan with the crust from the refrigerator. Remove the mixture from the Vitamix and place it into the pan with the crust. Use a food press to evenly flatten mousse. Cover the pan and place it back into the refrigerator overnight.

Coconut Cream
Ingredients:
1 cup fresh coconut meat
¼ tsp. Himalayan salt
3 tbsp. organic maple syrup
½ tsp. fresh lemon juice
1 can Thai coconut milk

Directions:
Place all of the ingredients into a Vitamix and blend until creamy smooth. Remove the mixture from the Vitamix using a spatula. Place 1 cup into a measuring cup. Then place the remaining portion into another measuring cup and set aside.

Directions:
Place all of the ingredients into a Vitamix and blend until creamy smooth. Take a Mercer plating spoon and a Mercer culinary spatula (M35610) Refer to the photo for the supplies. Take the cup of Coconut Crème. Take 2 dehydrator trays with teflex sheets. Pour ½ cup of the crème onto each teflex sheet in the center. You will have 2 circles of crème, one on each sheet. Fill the spoon up with the cherry swirl sauce and make a spiral circle from the center out on top of the coconut crème circle. Repeat the procedure for the other tray. Take the rubber spatula and swirl the cherry glaze into the coconut crème. Do not over swirl because it will blend in and lose the design. Refer to the photo. Place the trays into the dehydrator at 115 degrees for 8 hours. Flip them over onto other dehydrator trays without teflex sheets. Continue dehydrating for another 4 to 5 hours.

Cherry Coconut Frosting:
Remaining Coconut Crème
Remaining Cherry Swirl
1 cup organic melted coconut oil
2 tbsp. Sunflower Lecithin

Directions:
Place the coconut crème and the cherry swirl into a Vitamix. Blend until creamy smooth. Turn the Vitamix on low. Add the coconut oil and use the tamper to blend it in evenly. Add the lecithin and blend that in. Make sure not to over blend. Remove the mixture and place into an air tight container. Place it into the refrigerator to set overnight.

Cherry Glaze:
Note: The Cherry Glaze recipe should be made the day of assembly.
Ingredients:
½ cup dark cherries frozen, thawed, with juice (Trader Joe’s)
½ cup Irish moss paste
½ tsp. lemon juice
3 tbsp. maple syrup
10 drops Black Cherry Medicine Flower extract
¼ cup filtered water

Directions:
Place all of the ingredients into a Vitamix. Blend until creamy smooth.

Assembly:
Remove the mousse and the remaining cherry coconut frosting from the refrigerator. Open the cake pan half way. Run a thin knife between the mousse and the side of the pan. Go all the way around. Remove the side of the pan from the mousse. Take a Wilton cake lifting spatula, lift the mousse from the bottom of the pan and slide it onto a rotating cake turntable. Take a Wilton decorative triangle and use the large wave side. Press the wavy side of the triangle vertically into the side of the mouse repeatedly all the way around. Take a heavy aluminum half sheet pan and place an elevated round cooling rack in it. The glaze will drip into the pan and be used again, so make sure that the rack is squarely placed in the pan. Lift the mousse off of the turntable with a cake lifting spatula and place it on the rack. Take a Wilton easy pour funnel. Fill it with Cherry glaze. Open the spout of the funnel and pour the glaze over the top of the mousse and all the way around. Take a thin lifting and icing spatula. Smooth over the top of the mousse gently. Remove the trays with the cherry swirl from the dehydrator. Place one of the cherry swirls onto an end of a decorative platter. Lift the mousse off of the rack with a cake lifting spatula and place it on the decorative platter with one edge on top of the cherry swirl. Remove the remaining glaze from the sheet pan with a spatula into a measuring cup. Set aside. Take 2 pastry bags. Place an Ateco 846 tip in one of the bags. Place a Wilton 3 tip in the other bag. Fill the bag halfway with the 846 tip with cherry coconut frosting. Place florets all the way around the outside edge of the mousse. Place a very large floret of frosting in the center of the top of the mousse. This will serve as a stable stand for the cherry swirl cone that you will be placing in the center of the mousse. Take the swirl from the other dehydrator tray, gently peel it up and tear ¾ of it away. Roll it up into a cone shape. Place it into the large floret that you just put in the center top of the mousse. Press it down so that it stays. Place florets around the outside of the cone. Refer to photo. Fill the other pastry bag half full of cherry glaze. Place dots in the center of each flower with the glaze. Fill the center of the cone with glaze as well. Take 2 pieces of the remaining cherry swirl and create an abstract design of your choosing. Place those in the center of the cone with the glaze in it.

Will last 3 to 4 days covered with a tent of foil in the refrigerator. Will last 1 month in the freezer.