Julie goodwin's cream horn with mock cream

Ingredients

• 4 sheets frozen puff pastry
• 1 egg
• 2/3 cup strawberry jam or any other jam, custard or ganache
• 1 quantity mock cream (recipe below)
• Icing sugar, to dust

Mock cream :

• 250 g unsalted butter, cubed
• 1/3 cup (75 g) caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 2 teaspoons gelatine powder, sprinkled over 1/2 cup of cold water and let swell until paste-like
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

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Preparation

• Preheat the oven to200°C (180°C if using fan-forced oven). Line baking tray with non-stick baking paper. Remove the pastry sheets from the freezer for 5 minutes to thaw before beginning, but don't allow them to become too soft, as they will be difficult to handle. If too soft, sprinkle a little flour on both sides and rub in to prevent sticking to work surface.
• Cut each pastry sheet into eight strips with a pizza roller.The following is very descriptive on how to wrap the pastry around the mould. Making sure you cover up the tip with pastry else your filling may leak out when filled later: Take a cream horn mould (you don't need to grease the moulds!), holding the open end in your left hand if you are right-handed, or vice versa.
• Pick up a strip of pastry with your right hand and press it gently onto the pointed end of the horn tin, with the pastry strip hanging down on the side closest to you. Carefully turn the tin away from you as you guide the pastry around it, overlapping the pastry about 5 - 7 millimeter, until you come to the end of the strip. Don't take the pastry too close to the open end of the horn mould, as it will puff over the edge while cooking, making it difficult to remove.
• Place the pastry-covered moulds on the baking trays, leaving plenty of space between them. Make sure the end of the pastry is underneath (if not, it will look like the ganache-filled cream horn you see in the pictures!), so the horn will hold its shape. Lightly beat the egg with 1 tablespoon of water and brush it over the pasty to glaze. Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until rich golden brown.
  
• Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes, then carefully slide the cases off the moulds by a gentle twisting motion. Cool the horns on a wire rack. Repeat with remaining pastry. Fill a piping bag with jam and snip off a small hole. Pipe the jam into the bottom of each horn and a stripe up the inside. Next, use a new piping bag filled with mock cream (see below for recipe) and snip a larger hole. Fill the horns with the mock cream. Arrange the horns on a serving platter and lightly sift icing sugar over them to decorate.
• Mock cream :
  Combine the butter and sugar in an electric mixer. Beat on slow speed until combined, then increase speed to high and beat until light and creamy. Add the vanilla and continue to beat on high until the sugar has dissolved. You can test by rubbing some mixture between your fingers to feel if the sugar has completely dissolved. The mixture shouldn't look grainy. When the gelatine has softened, stand the gelatine bowl in a pan of hot water and whisk with a fork until the gelatine is thoroughly dissolved. Cool to room temperature. Add one teaspoon of this mixture to the butter mixture at a time, beating constantly. Sprinkle the cream of tartar evenly into the butter mixture and continue to beat until it is creamy, light in colour and smooth in consistency.