White Christmas mousse cake

Preheat oven to 180°C/160°C fan-forced. Grease a 20cm springform cake pan and line base and sides with baking paper.

In a food processor, combine shortbread, coconut and 1/4 cup of the pistachios. Pulse into fine crumbs. Add melted butter and icing sugar and pulse to combine. Press mixture evenly into the base of pan. Bake 15 minutes, until a light gold. Set aside to cool completely.

In a small bowl, sprinkle gelatine over water and set aside to hydrate. Meanwhile, heat milk in a small saucepan on medium heat until just simmering. Remove from heat and stir in gelatine.

Place chocolate in a large heatproof bowl and pour over hot milk mixture. Leave for 5 minutes, then stir until smooth and combined. Set aside to cool completely. 

Whip cream until firm peaks form, then fold in cooled chocolate mixture in three batches. Roughly chop remaining pistachios and cherries, and gently fold into the mousse mixture. 

Pour mousse mixture over the cooked base in the pan. Level and smooth the mousse’s surface with the back of a spoon. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 4 hours or overnight. 

When ready to serve, beat extra 300ml cream to firm peaks. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a St Honore piping tip (see Cook’s Tip). 

Remove cake from pan and transfer to a serving plate. Pipe cream over a third of the cake’s top. Decorate with extra whole glace cherries, extra chopped pistachio, and silver and gold cachous.