For the past week I have been working on this delicious Double Chocolate Mousse Cake Recipe. I love making desserts with mousse because you can get super creative with shapes and colors. Unlike baked cake, mousse doesn’t expand or contract much which allows you to really control the layers and shapes. Ohhh did I mention its also super creamy and rich???? Well it is and you will just love making this one.
Besides making a ton of cookies this month, I have found myself obsessed with mousse cakes. It all started with my white chocolate mousse cake and its been all downhill since then. When making mousse right, its creamy, rich and looks just amazing. This has inspired me to come up with a few recipes, some of which are still in the making.
This chocolate mousse cake was my contribution to the Christmas family lunch and my mom said it was the BEST mousse cake she ever had. If you know my mom, that means a lot hehe. So let me stop blabbering and get into the actual recipe 🙂
Chocolate Mousse Cake Ingredients
Essentially this cake has three different layers, two of which are mousse layers made with white and milk chocolate. For the cake layer I made a rich chocolate sponge made with equal parts of flour, sugar and butter. So lets have a look at each one of the layers:
- White Chocolate Mousse is entirely optional in this cake. If you want to go all milk chocolate, you can skip this step and just double the milk chocolate mousse layer. The components for a creamy mousse are quite frankly the same. You add the heavy cream to provide volume as well as fat which enhances the flavor. Chocolate makes the flavor and sweetness of the mousse while we add gelatin to set the mousse. You might say, why don’t you whip the cream instead of adding gelatin? Well this is an old confectionary trick, if you only whisk the heavy cream half way and add gelatin, the mousse becomes amazingly creamy and sets in any shape or mold.
- Milk Chocolate Mousse is really the core flavor here although you can see I added a layer of white chocolate mousse on top. What can I say, I’m a sucker for white chocolate 😀 The ingredients are the same, heavy cream, milk chocolate and gelatin to set it all in. To dissolve the gelatin we use hot milk, if you use water the chocolate will set and you wont be able to blend it with the heavy cream.
- The Chocolate Cake Layer is one of my favorite chocolate sponges. Here is a BIG tip, if you want a quick and delicious chocolate cake, double the recipe for this and bake it in a loaf pan or 8 inch cake pan. Its delicious all by itself 😉
Equipment
You won’t need a lot of kitchen utensils for this recipe although there is one thing that should be in your arsenal of baking pans when you make mousse cakes. An adjustable Cake or Mousse ring is a bottomless pan that can be adjusted to different sizes. Bottomless cake rings allow you to easily de-mold the frozen mousse. It is almost impossible to remove a frozen mousse from a normal cake pan.
Alternatively you could use a silicon mold. You can get these in all shapes and sizes, some companies like Silikomart and Pavoni make beautiful high quality molds.
Other than the mold, you will need basic kitchen utensils such as:
- 2-3 Heatproof mixing bowls
- A silicon or rubber spatula
- A whisk
- A medium to large sauce pan to melt the chocolate over
- An 8 inch cake pan to bake the cake layer in
- A hand mixer to whip the heavy cream
- An oven to bake the cake layer in
- Space in your freezer to set the mousse
Temperature & Time
I mention this in all my mousse cake recipes, don’t rush the freezing times. Mousse takes 6 full hours to set in the freezer. Anything earlier and it will deform when removing from the mold. This is especially true when it comes to silicon mold. As a rule of thumb apply the following waiting times:
- 6 Hours freezing before de-molding
- 20 minutes in the freezer for layer designs. This is adequate time to set the mousse and allow you to add another layer or color. You can also use the 20 minute freeze to remove little molds within the mold. For example in this recipe I used a small ring in the center to create the white chocolate mousse core. I was able to remove this carefully after 20 minutes in the freezer.
- Defrosting the cake before eating can take anywhere from 4 to 8 hours. The right way to defrost any cake is in the fridge, this will ensure its not exposed to any bacteria.
About Chocolate Mousse Cake
Mousse is a French dish and has been around since the mid 18th century. Traditionally Mousse is made by folding a meringue or whipped egg whites into a cold sugar base and milk or whipped cream. Now eating raw egg’s can be unhealthy, I once had salmonella and believe you me, it was not a fun experience. Since the application of gelatin in food in the mid 19th century, we can make mousse set and stay creamy without using eggwhites or raw eggs.
Mousse cakes are as the name suggests, the combination of cake and mousse in a single dessert. Since we can make mousse and cake with virtually any flavor, the combinations of mousse cakes seem to have no limit. Anything from fruits, nuts, chocolate and even savory flavors goes.
One of my favorite mousse cakes is this Chocolate-Amaretto and Espresso Mousse cake by Savourthebest.com. I really recommend you check it out.
The Recipe
Chocolate Mousse Cake
Equipment
Ingredients
Cake Layer
- 110 gram All-purpose flour
- 110 gram Crystal Sugar
- 100 gram Unsalted Butter
- 2 large Eggs
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1½ tbsp Cocoa Powder
- 1 tbsp Milk
- 1 pinch salt
Milk Chocolate Mousse
- 120 gram Heavy Cream
- 100 gram Milk Cooking Chocolate
- 60 gram Milk
- 2 gram Gelatin
White Chocolate Mousse
- 120 gram Heavy Cream
- 100 gram White Chooking Chocolate
- 60 gram Milk
- 2 gram Gelatin
Instructions
Chocolate Cake
- Preheat your oven at 160°C with fan assist or 180°C without. Grease an 8 inch or 20cm cake pan. I like to line them with baking paper on both the bottom and side. This makes removing the cake later much easier. In a large bowl, whisk the butter and sugar until its pale and fluffy. Whisk in the remaining ingredients starting with the egg's and vanilla extract and finishing with the dry ingredients.Place the batter into the cake pan and bake for 20-30 minutes. Perform a wooden skewer test to make sure the cake is done in the center. Cool on a cooling rack until completely cold to touch. Slice into a 2-3 cm thick layer (you can munch on the remaining pieces) and wrap the adjustable mold ad tightly as possible around the cake layer. Set aside until needed.TIP: Use a cake board under the layer to make moving and working with it easier.110 gram All-purpose flour, 110 gram Crystal Sugar, 100 gram Unsalted Butter, 2 large Eggs, 1 tsp Baking Powder, 1 tsp Vanilla Extract, 1½ tbsp Cocoa Powder, 1 tbsp Milk, 1 pinch salt
Mousse Preperation
- In a large bowl, whisk the all the heavy cream (from white and chocolate mouse) until half whisked. You want a smooth fluffy consistency that is still runny and not totally whisked to stiff peaks. Set aside until needed.120 gram Heavy Cream, 120 gram Heavy Cream
Chocolate Mousse
- Add some cold water and ice cubes into a small bowl and soak the gelatin sheets until needed. Add hot water (60°C to 70°C) to a medium/large sauce pan and place a heat proof bowl into the hot water. Add the milk chocolate and stir with a silicon spatula until 75% dissolved. Remove from the hot water and stir until 100% dissolved and smooth.100 gram Milk Cooking Chocolate, 2 gram Gelatin
- Heat the 60 gram of milk in a microwave for 30-40 seconds. Now squeeze out the gelatin sheets and place them into the hot milk. They should dissolve immediately but give them a stir just to be sure. Pour the milk/gelatin mix into the chocolate and stir until smooth. Now add half of the heavy cream and fold with the spatula until smooth.60 gram Milk
- Pour the chocolate mousse into the adjustable mold with the cake layer bottom. Place in the freezer for 20 minutes before adding the next layer. Tip: If you want to make a different color core as in my picture, use a smaller cake ring and place it in the center of the mold before pouring the chocolate mousse. Make sure its pressed down and lightly penetrating the cake layer. (only a tiny bit to stay in place.
White Chocolate Mousse
- Repeat the steps of the chocolate mousse but this time with white chocolate instead of milk chocolate. Pour the white chocolate mousse over the milk chocolate mousse and place it in the fridge:Tip: If you followed the tip of the previous step, make sure you remove the cake ring before pouring in the white chocolate mouse. Carefully wiggle it around and then twist it out.60 gram Milk, 2 gram Gelatin, 100 gram White Chooking Chocolate
- Place in the freezer for at least 6 hours until the mousse is completely set.
De-Molding
- To remove the mousse cake from the mold, place it on an upside down saucepan that is smaller than the cake diameter. This will allow the pan to push through the mold and push the cake out from the top.Now soak a kitchen towel in hot water, dont burn your fingers. Gently wrap the towel around the mold for a few seconds. This will defrost the outer mantle and allow you to gently push down the adjustable mold and reveal the mousse cake. You can now put the cake back into the freezer or if you plan to eat it, leave it in the fridge to defrost (around 8 hours)
Chocolate Decoration
- To replicate the chocolate décor, melt 30-40 grams of milk chocolate in the microwave. Use 30 second burst to avoid burning the chocolate. Dissolve to 70% and then stir until the rest is dissolved.Cut a small square of baking paper, use a spoon to drizzle chocolate first in horizontal lines and then in vertical lines forming a chocolate grid. Let it set and then carefully peel off the baking paper.Repeat with white chocolate and then lean on each other in the center of the cake.
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