Valentine's Day Dessert Tower

Valentines Day Dessert Towers
Serves 4

To make you will need:
1 recipe- Gluten Free Chocolate Cake recipe
1 recipe- Chocolate Tofu Mousse *
1 recipe- Strawberry Cream Vegan Gelatin *
4 food ring molds (3"D x 3"H)
optional:
strawberries for garnish
1 1/2 squares semi-sweet baker's chocolate

*Don't make the Chocolate Tofu Mouse or Strawberry Cream Vegan Gelatin until you are ready to pour it in the mold.

Directions:

Ring molds make assembling this dessert very easy. Here are a few samples of ring molds:
ring mold pan
Ateco round ring mold

You can also find ring molds on Amazon.com

Although I manage to improvise for this dessert, I definitely will be adding ring molds to my kitchen equipment!

Here is what I did:

Acetate paper would have been sturdier but since I did not have any I used the plastic from a plastic binder sleeve. I cut a 4 x 10" double layer from the plastic sleeve to be used as my mold. I wrapped the plastic around a can, held it in place with a rubber band while I taped the edge. The sleeve was able to slide off from the bottom of the can. I made 4 plastic cylinders.

Next, I used the bottom of the can to make circle indents in the top of my cake and used a paring knife to cut out 4 circles. If you have the food rings just use them like a cookie cutter and leave the cake inside the ring.

Place a sheet of parchment paper on a small baking sheet or plate. Place the 4 cake circles on top of the parchment paper and slide a plastic cylinder over each cake. Since my cutting was not precise I had to adjust the plastic sleeves to fit securely around the cake circles. In this photo you can see my cylinders are taller than I need. Next I added the Chocolate Tofu Mousse.

I stopped at this stage and put the dessert towers in the refrigerator until the next day. The next morning I made the Strawberry Cream Vegan Gelatin and poured it into the molds then returned the desserts to the refrigerator for a few more hours.

Putting the gelatin mix into a liquid measuring cup helps to pour it in the cylinders. I found an equal amount of the gelatin to the mousse and cake was to much. If you have an inch of cake and an inch of mouse, pour about 1/2 - 3/4" of the gelatin.

To serve, peel off the plastic cylinder, slide a spatula between the cake and parchment paper. Transfer the dessert tower to a serving dish. Don't remove the cylinder to early before serving. You can do this safely a few hours before serving but if you take them off to early the layers will not have side support.

If you want to garnish with the chocolate, place the chocolate square in a small microwave dish. Heat in 20 second increments, stirring in between, until the chocolate is melted. Spread a thin layer of chocolate on the top. Insert a toothpick into the stem end of a strawberry and dip into the chocolate then place it on top.