Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake

Some people wait for special occasions or holidays to try new decadent recipes when there is a crowd to appreciate it. Well not for me. When the craving for chocolate hits, then its an occasion to indulge in a rich piece of chocolate heaven. Sure, I could settle for some Häagen-Dazs or Ben & Jerry’s Ice cream or curb my sweet tooth with half a dozen chocolate chip cookies and a tall glass of milk. But why settle for store bought when you have all the ingredients to whip up something more satisfying.

This triple threat is much easier than it looks. It just takes a bit more patience, but in the end will be worthwhile. Its kind of hard to resist all this chocolate goodness. The bottom layer is an oh so moist dark chocolate cake, the middle layer is smooth chocolate mousse and the top layer is a very light creamy white chocolate.

Ingredients

Bottom layer ( If you have a favorite chocolate cake recipe, then you can opted for that)

1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
1 cups  sugar
1 stick unsalted butter
2 medium eggs, room temperature
3 ounces  dark chocolate, melted
½ cup  cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon  salt
½ cup  strong coffee
½ cup  milk

Middle Layer ( you can opt to using an instant mousse. 2 pkg will be enough. It will taste just as good).

7 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
6 tablespoons hot water
2 cups whipping cream (heavy cream)
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
pinch of salt

Top Layer (sorry, I haven’t found a substitute for this yet)

1 ¼ teaspoon powdered gelatin (unflavored)
2  tablespoon water
8 ounces  white chocolate
1¾ cups heavy whipping cream, divided
¼ cup powdered sugar

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350° and grease and flour a 9″ spring form pan. Set aside

Beginning with the bottom layer, prepare cake as you would any other cake. Whisk the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda) together in one bowl, and in another cream the butter and sugar until lite and fluffy. Then add eggs one at a time to the mixture. Next add in the cocoa powder. Mix until blended.

Combine milk and coffee and heat in the microwave for 30 seconds. In another bowl, melt the chocolate in the microwave for 45 seconds. Begin to blend all ingredients together. Alternate between the flour mixture and the milk coffee, adding to the already creamed butter mix. Next pour in the melted chocolate and blend well. Pour the mixture into prepared pan and bake for 20 t0 25 minutes or until toothpick a clean or have a few crumbs.

The middle layer is a bit easier. Combine hot water and cocoa powder in small bowl. In a heat proof bowl, melt chocolate in microwave for 45 seconds. stir until smooth (you can use the tempering method by placing the bowl over a saucepan filled with  a bit of simmering water, stirring occasionally until chocolate is melted). Using a stand mixed, use the whisk attachment and blend on low speed the sugar, whip cream, and salt until blended. Increase to medium speed until  mixture begins to thicken, about 20 seconds then increase speed to whip until peaks are formed.

Add the cocoa powder mixture to melted chocolate. Blend until smooth. Using a hand whisk, fold part of whipped cream into chocolate mixture to lighten. The use a spatula to fold in remaining whipped cream until no white streaks remain. Spoon the mixture into spring form pan over cooled cake (before I did this, I evened off the top of the cake and placed in back into the pan). Taking your time, smooth the top of the mousse with spatula. Clean any stray drips inside the side of the pan. Refrigerate for  at least 20 minutes. In the meanwhile begin preparing top layer.

For the top layer, add gelatin to a small bowl of water; stir and let stand at least 4 to 5 minutes. In a saucepan bring ½ cup cream to simmer over medium heat. In another bowl, place white chocolate. Remove the cream from heat, allow to cooled 2 minute, then add the gelatin mixture and stir until dissolved and no lumps exist. Next, pour cream mixture over white chocolate and whisk until mixture is smooth. Allow to cool at room temperature. The mixture will become very thick. No worries, simply stir frequently.

Using a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, whip remaining cream at medium speed adding powder sugar as you go until it starts to thicken. As it begins to thicken, increase the speed and whip until soft peaks start to form. Check the whisk after about 30 seconds for soft peaks when whisk is lifted. Using a hand whisk, fold some of whipped cream into white chocolate mixture to lighten it up. Then use a spatula to fold remaining whipped cream into the chocolate mixture until there are no streaks. Gently spoon white chocolate mousse onto the middle layer of mousse. Smooth to the sides to avoid bubbles. Placed cake back in the refrigerator and allow to set for at least 3 hours or until ready to serve.

I hope you enjoy it as must as I enjoyed making it! I just love when a plan comes together!

Happy Baking!