A cursory bit of googling failed to come up with any definitive distinction between the two. Both refer to some sort of fancy cakes that involve layers of sponge cake or pastry and a combination of mousse, ganache, whipped cream and/or fruit.
Since I am making this torte/gateau for a little boy who loves lemons and strawberries, I doubt if he would split hairs over any differentiation.
This torte, as it shall henceforth be labelled, is a combination of two Anna Olson recipes -
the Raspberry Lemon Torte:
and the Frasier Torte:
They are both so beautifully inviting, you just want to drop everything, get into the kitchen and start making them.
Right from the start, I decided against making the ladies fingers and base for the torte. Instead, I made a butter cake batter, baked in a 20 cm by 30 cm by 2 cm tray. This yielded a flat rectangular cake that would be cut into a square.
For the mousse, I added 1 tablespoon of gelatin powder to give a better set. This was a birthday torte after all, and would be sliced and served to guests. It needed a firmer set so it could hold its shape well, but without being rubbery.
Finally I decided to throw in some blueberries as well for a more aesthetic colour palette. Here is the torte:
All in all, it turned out pretty well, although there is scarcely any resemblance between this and the above torte. I did follow Anna Olson's lemon mousse recipe to a t, except for the addition of the gelatin. Yet the colour of the mousse was vastly different from hers. Mine was a sunshiny yellow which I rather prefer.
Now, if only I had the Anna Olson's professional photographer...
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