These Guava Mousse Cakes are guava-flavored cake and mousse layers covered in a pink guava mirror glaze and garnished with coconut. Guava mousse cake is a beautiful, tropical entremet.
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I had some guava paste leftover from my collaboration with World Market, where I used it to make a cinnamon guava tart using ingredients from World Market. I loved how intense the guava flavor was and have been hankering to use it again! Hence, these guava cakes were born.
When I made mousse for my Nutella Tart recipe I discovered how easy it can be, which gave me confidence to try it again with another flavor. I was also excited to make another bright pink dessert after I made so many for valentine’s day this year, my favorite being my Blood Orange Tiramisu.
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Why you’ll love this recipe
- This dessert looks impressive, but none of the elements are too difficult to make.
- These are intensely guava-flavored! All three elements are guava-flavored.
- The cake stays moist even when refrigerated.
- The garnish is customizable.
Ingredients
- Guava paste and guava nectar flavor the cake, mousse and glaze.
- The cake is made with all-purpose flour.
- Baking powder and eggs offer rise to the cake.
- Unsalted butter and vegetable oil keep the cake moist.
- The mousse is lightened by heavy cream and stabilized by gelatin.
- Not pictured: white chocolate, sweetened condensed milk.
See recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
Substitutions and variations
Here’s how to customize these to your taste:
- Different mold — feel free to use any silicone mold you have on hand, just slice your cake pieces to accommodate it.
- No coconut — use crushed macadamia nuts or pistachios.
- No guava nectar — replace any instance of guava nectar with water.
- Guava extract — use a 1-2 teaspoons in the place of guava nectar and paste.
This recipe has not been tested with any substitutions or variations. If you try any, please let me know how it turned out by commenting below!
How to assemble the cakes
Step 1: Punch out circles of the cake.
Step 2: Fill molds half full with the mousse and top with a circle of cake. Freeze 4 hours or overnight.
Step 3: Remove mousse cakes from the mold and place on a wire rack. Pour the mirror glaze over the tops and let it drip for 5-10 minutes.
Step 4: Garnish with coconut ½-inch up the sides.
Hot tips
- Add white food coloring to the mirror glaze to make it more opaque.
- Pipe the mousse straight down in one dollop to prevent bubbles.
- Tap the bowl of mirror glaze on the counter to remove air bubbles.
- The cake can be made ahead and stored in an airtight container until ready to assemble. The cake and mousse can be made ahead and kept in the silicon mold in the freezer until ready to glaze and serve.
Recipe FAQs
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.
Two gelatin sheets are equivalent to 1 teaspoon of powdered gelatin, therefore use one gelatin sheet for the mousse and two sheets for the mirror glaze.
Yes, just use 1 teaspoon more cake flour than what is called for in all-purpose flour.
More recipes you’ll love
Lastly, if you make these Guava Mousse Cakes recipe be sure to leave a comment or give it a rating. I love to see when people make my recipes, so please tag me @youthsweets on Instagram if you post!
📖 Recipe
Guava Mousse Cakes
Equipment
Ingredients
Guava cake
- 1 cup all-purpose flour (120g)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- ½ cup granulated sugar (100g)
- 7 oz guava paste (200g, half of a 14 oz block)
- ½ cup whole milk (120g)
- ¼ cup unsalted butter (58g)
- 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla bean paste
- 1 ½ teaspoon vegetable oil
Guava mousse
- ½ teaspoon unflavored gelatin bloomed in 1 tablespoon water (or guava nectar)
- 7 oz guava paste (200g, half of a 14 oz block)
- 1 cup heavy cream (236ml)
Guava glaze
- 1 ¼ teaspoon unflavored gelatin bloomed in 2 tablespoons water (or guava nectar)
- ¾ cup granulated sugar (150g)
- ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons guava nectar room temperature (or water)
- ⅓ cup sweetened condensed milk (85g)
- 1 cup white chocolate (175g)
- Few drops pink food coloring
- ¼ cup desiccated coconut
Instructions
Do ahead
- Grease a 9×13 baking pan and line with parchment, leaving overhang to remove the cake easier.
- Cube the guava paste to make it easier to incorporate.
Make the cake
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Whisk together flour, salt and baking powder until thoroughly combined and set aside.
- Crack eggs into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, or into a medium bowl if using hand beaters. Beat the eggs on medium speed for 1 minute. With the mixer running, slowly stream the sugar in.
- When the sugar is completely in, turn the speed to high and beat for about 7 minutes. The mixture should be light and fluffy.
- Combine the milk, butter and guava paste in a saucepan and gently heat over medium low until completely melted. Do not let it overheat or simmer. Strain. Add vanilla and oil and whisk to combine. Set aside but do not let it cool off too much (do not do this ahead of time).
- Add the flour mixture in three parts to the egg mixture, mixing just until almost combined. If you still see flour, finish mixing by hand by folding the batter with a rubber spatula.
- Remove two large spoonfuls of batter and add it to the milk-butter-guava mixture and whisk to completely combine. This tempers your milk mixture so that it does not cook your egg mixture.
- Pour the milk-butter-guava mixture into the rest of the egg mixture with the beaters running on low. Continue beating just 10-15 seconds more until combined.
- Pour into the prepared pan and spread out with an offset spatula. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove from the pan and let cool completely on a wire rack.
- Punch out as many circles of cake with a 3-inch round cutter as you can. I ended up with 12.
Make the mousse
- In a small bowl, sprinkle the gelatin over the water (or some guava nectar) and let bloom for 5 minutes.
- In a small saucepan over medium heat, heat ½ cup of the cream with the guava paste until the guava paste is mostly dissolved. Remove from the heat and stir in the gelatin until completely dissolved. Let cool.
- In another bowl, whip the remaining cream with beaters or a stand mixer until stiff peaks form. Combine one-quarter of the whipped cream with the guava cream mixture. With a spatula, gently fold in the remaining cream.
- Pipe or spoon the mousse into the molds, halfway up. Place a circle of cake on top and press gently into the mousse.
- Cover and freeze the molds for at least for 4 hours or overnight.
Make the glaze
- Mix the gelatin with the water (or guava nectar) to bloom. Set aside.
- Combine the granulated sugar, guava nectar and sweetened condensed milk in a heatproof bowl.
- Heat for 90 seconds in the microwave on high. Remove and whisk until combined. If the sugar is not dissolved, continue heating in 10 second intervals until it is.
- Add the bloomed gelatin and whisk until the gelatin is fully dissolved.
- Melt the white chocolate in the microwave by heating in 15 second intervals, stirring in between. Add the melted white chocolate to the warm gelatin mixture and whisk vigorously. If you have an immersion blender, blend for a few minutes. If you do not have an immersion blender, sieve the mixture to remove any lumps.
- Mix in a few drops of pink-orange food coloring, if desired.
- Stir occasionally to prevent a skin from forming until the glaze has reached 90°F, or is just slightly warm to the touch.
Assemble
- Carefully remove the mousse cakes from the molds and place on a wire rack.
- Generously pour the mirror glaze over the mousse cakes to coat. Let the excess drip off for 5-10 minutes.
- Pour the coconut into a wide, shallow bowl. With an offset spatula carefully pick up a glazed mousse cake and set it into the coconut. Use your fingers or a small spoon to flick the coconut about ½ inch up the side of the mousse cake. Repeat with the remaining mousse cakes.
- Refrigerate in an airtight container until ready to serve.
