Chocolate Mousse Cake

This was yet another request by my husband for his 2009 birthday. This French born depicts its rich classy inheritance through the smooth texture and creaminess. This simple yet elegant desert requires very few ingredients and can be made anytime your heart desires. I personally prefer making it with 60% semi sweet dark chocolate. This gives the mousse a nice color and a foamy texture. But offcourse this could be made with any good chocolate that suits your taste bud.


This recipe is for serving size of 12 people. You can decrease or increase ingredients as you need. 

INGREDIENTS

For The Cake

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup hot, brewed coffee
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg

For The Mousse 

• 16 (1 ounce) squares semisweet chocolate
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 8 egg yolks
• 8 egg whites
• 4 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

Garnishing  

• 4 (1 ounce) squares semisweet chocolate
• 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9 inch springform pan, or use parchment paper liner.
2. In a large bowl, mix flour, 1 cup sugar, cocoa and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Make a well in the center and add the coffee, oil, 1 tablespoon vanilla and egg. Beat until combined, batter will be thin.
3. Pour into springform pan. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 to 45 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean. When cake is completely cool, remove from pan, cut top of cake level with a knife, and place back into springform pan.
4. To make the mousse: Melt 16 ounces chocolate and 1/2 cup butter over double boiler, stir in 1/4 teaspoon salt and 2 teaspoons vanilla, whisk in yolks. In a separate bowl, beat whites until foamy, gradually add sugar, and continue beating until stiff. Fold into chocolate mixture. Whip the 1 1/2 cup cream in a separate bowl and fold into chocolate mixture. Pour over leveled cake in springform pan and set for 1 to 2 days.
5. To make the Chocolate Ganache: Chop the 4 ounces of semisweet chocolate. In the top of a double boiler, heat chocolate and 1/4 cup cream, stirring occasionally, until melted and smooth. When the cake is completely set, remove from pan and drizzle ganache over the top. Using your hand, gently press chopped nuts into the side of the mousse.

Serving Alternatives

• If you desire to make it into a quick desert then skip the part of making cake. Just make the mousse and serve it in individual bowls or glasses and refrigerate. This looks good and also is easy for single serving.
• Or you can also pour it in one big bowl and refrigerate and then your guests can help themselves  

TIPS:

• I also use raspberry for decoration as I personally love the combination of dark chocolate and raspberry. But get creative and use whatever you want.
• If you do not have a springform pan do not worry. Springform pan is not a necessity if you wish to serve it in either separate glasses/bowls or just make the mousse in a baking dish. Only difference it would make is that you cannot display it.
• If using springform pan then you can also choose to make the bottom most layer of the cake with choclate cracker crushed, melted butter and granulated sugar added and then pasted in the bottom of the pan. Bake this for 10 minutes before putting the cake batter. However adding this to the cake makes it very very rich and not everyone might enjoy it.
• For double broiler effect I take 1 big saucepan and fill it with water in the bottom. Put that on gas and let the water heat up. Them in a smaller saucepan put the chocolates and melt them. But make sure the water is not bubbling and getting into the chocolate. Keep whisking the chocolate while melting so that it doesn't form lumps.

My Learning:

It's a chocolate lovers desert which is extremely rich. So avoid making it if your guests are not that into chocolate. Serve it with coffee or a good wine to subdue the chocolate taste. This particular recipe though is for 12 people but can easily serve 16 people as the serving size gets smaller because of the richness of the desert. Last but not the least true title that suits this is "IT'S DEATH BY CHOCOLATE"