This delicious decadent Chocolate Mousse Cake is a "must" try. This dessert
is beautiful when plated, and will command "oohs" and "aahs" from your
guests. This chocolate mousse recipe and photo were created by Peggy Bucholz and her
Fine Dining web
site.
Check out the
Basic Rules For Baking or here for
Secrets Of A Successful Cake.
Chocolate Mousse Cake
Recipe Type:
Chocolate,
Cake,
Dessert
Yields: 8 to 10 servings
Prep time: 60 min
Cake cook time: 10 min
Ingredients:
Chocolate Cake (see recipe below)
Chocolate Mousse
Creme Anglais (see recipe below)
Raspberry Sauce (see recipe below)
Chocolate Ganache (see recipe below)
Chocolate Cake:
1 cup granulated
sugar
1 cup all purpose
flour
2 tablespoons
unsweetened cocoa
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1
egg
1/4 cup
buttermilk
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350 F.
In a large bowl, combine sugar, flour and cocoa.
In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, melt butter with water and oil; bring
to boil. Remove from heat and pour over dry ingredients; mix well. Add egg,
buttermilk, baking soda, and vanilla extract; blend thoroughly.
Pour batter into a 10-inch x 15-inch cake pan. Bake approximately 10 minutes or until tester or toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean.
Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.
Cut 16 round pieces from the prepared cake using a ring mold. Put empty molds on a flat plate or tray
that will fit in the refrigerator; insert parchment paper around inside each ring, set aside. NOTE: Cake can
be made one day ahead of time.
Prepare Chocolate Mousse; Refrigerate until ready to use.
Prepared Creme Angalis; refrigerate until ready to use.
Chocolate Mousse
11 ounces semi-sweet
chocolate*
3 ounces melted butter, unsalted
4
eggs, separated
1 cup
whipping cream
* Use a good-quality of chocolate.
In a medium-size saucepan, melt chocolate and butter together. Learn different techniques for
How To Melt Chocolate.
To the melted chocolate, immediately beat in egg yolks; remove from heat and let cool.
In a large bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. In another bowl, beat whipping cream until stiff peak form; fold into whipping cream. Fold egg white/whipping cream mixture into cooled chocolate mixture. Let cool before using.
NOTE: If you chill the mousse until it sets up, you will be unable to spread properly on the cake.
Creme Anglais
1 cup
whipping cream
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise or 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 egg yolks, beaten
In a heavy medium-size saucepan, combine cream and sugar. Scrape vanilla bean seeds into pan. Add pod. Bring mixture just to boil
(BUT DON'T LET IT BOIL OR IT MAY CURDLE) over medium-low heat. Whisk yolks in medium bowl to blend.
Whisk in half of cream. Return mixture to saucepan and cook until thickened, stirring constantly, about 5 minutes; strain into bowl. Cover and refrigerate until well chilled.
Can be made 1 day ahead or use softened vanilla ice cream.
Makes 1 1/4 cups
Assembly of Chocolate Mousse Cake:
Soak each piece of cake with some brandy, I use a kitchen paint brush, then put one cake round inside each parchment lined
mold. Place the mold with the cake on a flat tray or whatever you have that will fit in your refrigerator.
Spoon in the cooled Chocolate Mousse on top of the cake rounds, going as high as you want
(that's what the parchment paper is there for). Then add the other cake round, making sure you have a nice looking piece for the top
(don't squash it down). Refrigerate for 6 hours or more (I do mine overnight).
Garnishing and Serving:
To serve:
Chocolate Ganache
Raspberry Sauce
White chocolate, shaved (optional)
8 mint sprigs
Prepared Chocolate Sauce and Raspberry Sauce (see recipe below); set aside until
ready to assemble your cakes.
When you're ready to plate up, remove chocolate cake from the refrigerator. Center the cakes on individual
serving plates, slip off the mold, and carefully peel off the parchment paper.
With the cake sitting in the middle of the plate, take a small spoon and put a small amount of
prepared Crème Anglais, approximately 1/2 to 1 teaspoons on all four corners of the plate (good chefs will tell you to keep everything off the lip of the plate).
Then take a clean spoon and put a dollop of the prepared Raspberry Sauce between each dollop of
Creme Anglais except one (don't let the sauces touch each other).
You should have (4) four puddles of white and (3) three of red. With the blank space, put a fanned out strawberry
(with the hull still attached) and a sprig of mint.
If you have some white chocolate, cut some shavings of this and top each cake with it. The color contrasts are very nice.
Then take your Chocolate Ganache (microwave the ganache if necessary until it is softened), in a squeeze bottle, and hold it upside down about 6-inches
above the plate and squirt melted chocolate over your creation. I pour my sauces into clean plastic squirt bottle,
like a mustard or ketchup one with a tiny squirt hole.
Then carry your creation to your guests at your decorated table and wait for the ohhhhs and ahhhhs!
Makes 8 to 10 servings.
Chocolate Sauce
1/2 cup
whipping cream
2 tablespoons dark corn syrup
6 ounces bittersweet or semisweet
chocolate, chopped
In a heavy medium-size saucepan, bring cream and corn syrup to a simmer; remove from heat. Add chocolate; whisk until melted and
smooth. Cool to room temperature.
Can be made 2 weeks ahead.
Raspberry Sauce
Raspberries
Sugar to sweeten
1 teaspoon cornstarch
Take a good handful of frozen raspberries; put them in your food processor for a few seconds, add sugar to taste, and then strain them.
In a small saucepan, heat raspberry mixture and add cornstarch; stirring to mix well. Remove from heat.
Can be made 1 week ahead.
