Chocolate Chocolate Mousse Cake!

This chocolate cake is to die for! Paired with a soft chocolate mousse, this chocolate cake recipe is decadent, rich, and simply melts in your mouth. Timing is crucial for this cake! Read the recipe through fully before beginning.

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Description

This cake has three distinct components:

1. Chocolate cake

2. Chocolate Mousse

3. Whipped Vanilla Frosting

4. Chocolate Ganache

Prep time: 45 minutes

Cook time: 20 minutes

Total time: 6-7 hours

Yields: serves 10-12

Ingredients

Chocolate Cake

1. 1 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)

2. 3/4 cup cake flour (spooned and leveled)

3. 1 and 3/4 cup light or dark brown sugar

4. 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

5. 3/4 cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder

6. 2 teaspoons baking soda

7. 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

8. 1 teaspoon salt

9. 1/2 cup vegetable oil

10. 2 large eggs

11. 3/4 cup full fat sour cream

12. 1/2 cup buttermilk

13. 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

14. 1/2 cup hot coffee

Chocolate Mousse

1. 1/2 cup hot water

2. 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

3. 8 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate

4. 3 tablespoons of unsalted butter

5. 2 cups heavy cream

6. 2 1/2 tablespoons of confectioners sugar

7. 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract

Whipped Vanilla Frosting

1. 8 ounces of cream cheese (softened to room temperature)

2. 1 3/4 cups of powdered sugar

3. 3/4 cups of heavy cream

4. 1 1/2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract

Chocolate Ganache

1. 1 cup heavy cream

2. 10 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate

Instructions

Chocolate Cake

1. Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C).

2. Using a handheld or stand mixer, mix the vegetable oil, eggs, mayonnaise, sour cream, and vanilla extract on medium speed.

3. In a separate bowl, mix the all-purpose flour, cake flour, dark or light brown sugar, unsweetened cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

4. Add half of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix completely. Next, add half of the buttermilk to the wet ingredients and mix completely. Alternate until the dry ingredients and buttermilk are full incorporated.

5. Add hot coffee to the batter.

6. Spray three round cake pans with non-stick cooking spray or apply melted butter to the rim of the pans. Cut out three circles of parchment paper and place them on the bottoms of each pan. I use 3 9-inch pans. Divide the batter evenly amongst the pans.

7. Bake for around 20 minutes or until a toothpick can be inserted into the center of the cake and come out clean. Remember! The cakes will continue to bake in the pan after you take them out of the oven, so do not over bake them.

Chocolate Mousse

1. While the cakes are baking, prepare the mousse.

2. Mix the water and unsweetened cocoa powder on medium speed using a handheld or stand mixer.

3. Melt the butter and the chocolate into a separate bowl. This can easily be done in the microwave in 20 second increments (stirring after each).

4. Pour the water and cocoa mixture into the melted butter and chocolate mixture. Mix.

5. Using a handheld or stand mixer, whip the heavy cream on medium speed until it thickens. Add the sugar and pure vanilla extract until medium peaks form (when you lift the beaters out of the bowl, the whipped cream will keep its shape).

6. Pour the chocolate mixture into the whipped cream and gently fold. Folding should be done by slowly moving a wooden spoon in circles, swopping from the back of the bowl, to the bottom of the bowl, to the front of the bowl, while rotating the bowl after each fully cycle from back to front.

7. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours. You want the mousse to be firm before you begin frosting the cake or your cake will not keep its shape.

Whipped Vanilla Frosting

1. Using a handheld or stand mixer, whip the cream cheese on medium speed until silky smooth. It's crucial that your cream cheese is at room temperature or it will not incorporate smoothly.

2. Add the powdered sugar to the bowl and continue to mix until fully incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl if needed. The mixture should be thick at this point.

3. Add the heavy cream and pure vanilla extract. Mix for 45 seconds to a minute. The frosting should now be silky smooth and fluffy.

Chocolate Ganache

1. In a large saucepan, heat the heavy cream on medium heat until it begins to simmer. Stir the entire time. This should take 4-5 minutes.

2. Reduce the heat to low. Add the chocolate and let it sit for 2-3 minutes or until the chocolate has melted.

3. Let it cool completely (should take around 2 hours). To speed up the cooling process, you can put the ganache in the refrigerator. However, the ganache might cool unevenly, so you must stir it every 20 minutes to keep the ganache smooth.

4. Once cool, the ganache can be piping with a piping bag or spooned onto the cake. For this particular cake, pour your ganache into a piping bag.

Assemble

1. As soon the cakes come out of the oven, run a knife along the sides of the cake to prevent them from sticking to the pans. Flip the cakes over onto a wire cooling rack and remove the pans.

2. Assemble the layers. Add a tiny bit of whipped vanilla frosting to your turn table (or wherever you're frosting the cakes) to prevent the cakes from rotating or sliding off the table. Add a layer of cake on top. Add a layer of mousse (I like a lot of mousse between each layer. However, this is a personal taste!). Add your second layer of chocolate cake and another generous layer of mousse on top. Add your final layer of cake on top. Add more mousse to the top and sides of the cake. Smooth with a flat knife by gently rotating the turn table while keeping the knife steady. This will serve as a crumb coat for your cake. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

3. Remove from the refrigerator and add whipped vanilla frosting to the sides of your cake. Similar to the crumb coat, smooth the frosting with a flat knife by gently rotating the turn table while keeping the knife steady. Once the sides are smooth, refrigerate for at least another hour.

4. Add chocolate ganache to a piping bag and cut a small circle out of the bottom of the bag (size varies depending on the size of your drip). First, circle your ganache around the top rim of the cake while simultaneously pausing in some areas to create the dip. Then add the ganache to the middle of the top layer. Smooth out with a flat blade knife.

5. To create the melted ice cream cone on top, add a cup of leftover frosting on top. Cover with ganache. Add a waffle cone on top at a slight angle and add some sprinkles, if desired.

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Notes

1. Coffee in chocolate cake: coffee will not make your cake taste like coffee! All it does is enhance the chocolate flavor in your cakes. If you're really opposed to using coffee, you can replace it with hot water.

2. Sour cream in chocolate cake: Just like adding coffee to your cake, sour cream and mayonnaise will not change the flavor of your cake. Their extra fat content will make your cake extremely moist and rich. They also activate the baking soda and baking powder in your cake, helping your cakes rise beautifully.

3. Timing! For the structure of your cake, it's very important that each component (cake, ganache, mousse) cools/ refrigerates for its specified amount of time. Not doing so will result in a slanted, wobbly, and/or melted cake. All components can be chilled overnight as well. By breaking up this cake into two days, you can construct the cake all at once the following day, which might relieve some time management stress!