I've recently been rewatching one of my favorite Korean dramas- My Name is Kim Sam Soon. Sam Soon is a chubby 30 year-old patisserie, or pastry chef. She is unladylike, strong-willed, unconventional, loyal, and a fun character, very offbeat kind of heroine. The series has been compared to Bridget Jones' Diary, but I feel like it is so much more... there is a lot more about finding yourself and finding true love, even in an unconventional form. Despite Sam Soon ah's flaws, she is still very loving and caring. She finds "true love" with the attractive President at her restaurant/workplace, but their love story isn't typical at all. For example, one scene shows Sam Soon drunk, getting a piggyback ride from the President Jin Hun. A typical scene in Korean dramas, for sure. But Sam Soon isn't the typical damsel in distress; instead, she hits Jin Hun on the head several times with her stuffed animal and curses at him! Another typical drama scene gone wrong: Sam Soon ends up in the hospital, but she isn't hurt- just exhausted. She starts snoring!
It's great series to watch for comic relief. It also has a lot of interesting culinary topics. One of my favorite scenes is when Sam Soon's hair gets stuck in Jin Hun's suit jacket. In a moment of impatience and cockiness, Jin Hun cuts off Sam Soon's hair. Sam Soon's response is to throw her handmade mango mousse cake in his face!!
He is shocked at this display, but even more surprised when he found out the cake was delicious!
Mango mousse cake sounded like a fun and delicious challenge... so I decided to start a series on my blog to make things from Kim Sam Soon.
I turned to the internet for recipes for mango mousse. Sadly, the mango mousse recipes were few and far between. I wanted an authentic Asian-style mango mousse, with silky soft, spongy layers and a light mousse with strong mango flavor. I couldn't find any really good recipes.. so I kind of improvised on one mango mousse recipe, combined with a different sponge cake recipe. It took two tries to get the result I wanted. Here's the cake I ended up making:
I'm really happy I tried this recipe.. even on the second time, the mirror wasn't perfect (I was too OCD and impatient), it was gorgeous and delicious. Stay tuned for more Sam Soon-inspired creations!
