My friend Dorothy passed along a request from her husband Dan for a chocolate birthday cake this year. I was in the mood for something light (i.e., no ganache or buttery frosting), so I opted to make a Chocolate Mousse Layer Cake recipe by Abigail Dodge. It's three layers of chocolate cake layered with chocolate mousse.
This is a one-bowl cake that can be mixed by hand. You combine all of the dry ingredients (cake flour, natural cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar); add the liquid ingredients (oil, egg, vanilla, and water); and whisk to blend. You pour the batter into a single 9-inch parchment-lined pan that is buttered and floured. I didn't use a bake even strip on the pan and after the cake was done baking I really regretted that decision. The cake had a relatively high dome, so after I leveled it, I was left with a cake that was only about an inch high. After I split the cake into three layers -- a delicate task that would not have been possible with the Agbay leveler that my cousin Cindy gave me years ago -- I had three very thin discs of chocolate cake.
To make the mousse, I brought heavy cream and natural cocoa powder to a boil; added bittersweet chocolate (I used Scharffen Berger 62%), butter, vanilla, and salt; put the bowl holding the mixture over an ice bath and stirred until it came down to room temperature; and folded in egg whites that had been beaten with sugar to floppy peaks.
The recipe says that you should assemble this dessert in a 9-inch cake ring, but it turns out that my cake didn't shrink in diameter at all during baking, so it was too tight of a fit to use a 9-inch ring (since you want the ring to be larger than the cake to allow mousse to flow around the sides of the cake. Instead, I assembled the cake in a 10-inch pan with a removable bottom. I centered one cake layer on the bottom of the pan, covered it in mousse, added the next cake layer, and so on. After I added the last of the mousse on top of the third cake layer, I used a frosting comb to mark a design onto the top. I chilled the assembled cake for about 8 hours, released it from the ring, and pressed chopped toasted hazelnuts onto the sides. The recipe suggested walnuts as a decoration but I love hazelnuts and Dorothy had specifically mentioned hazelnuts as a possible flavor combination with chocolate for Dan.
After I sliced the cake it was difficult to tell that it was actually alternating layers of cake and mousse. This was both because the cake layers were so thin and because the cake and the mousse were exactly the same color. The photo above is pretty washed out from the flash, but I think it gives you the general idea. The cake was delicious. The mousse was rich and smooth without being too heavy. But it was difficult to make out the cake as a distinct component and each bite didn't seem like a combination of cake + mousse as much as single, wonderful, chocolate-y substance. I can't even tell you what the cake tasted like by itself. The hazelnuts around the outside were a good addition, because they added a lovely crunch.
In the future, I might split the cake into only two layers to try to make it stand out a bit more against the mousse, and I would definitely use a bake even strip to try to prevent doming and reduce the need to trim off so much cake during leveling. But regardless, the cake was a hit and I was pleased with the way it came out.
Recipe: "Chocolate Mousse Layer Cake" by Abigail Dodge, from Fine Cooking Cakes & Cupcakes: 100 Best Ever Recipes, recipe available here from Fine Cooking.
Previous Posts:
This is a one-bowl cake that can be mixed by hand. You combine all of the dry ingredients (cake flour, natural cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar); add the liquid ingredients (oil, egg, vanilla, and water); and whisk to blend. You pour the batter into a single 9-inch parchment-lined pan that is buttered and floured. I didn't use a bake even strip on the pan and after the cake was done baking I really regretted that decision. The cake had a relatively high dome, so after I leveled it, I was left with a cake that was only about an inch high. After I split the cake into three layers -- a delicate task that would not have been possible with the Agbay leveler that my cousin Cindy gave me years ago -- I had three very thin discs of chocolate cake.
To make the mousse, I brought heavy cream and natural cocoa powder to a boil; added bittersweet chocolate (I used Scharffen Berger 62%), butter, vanilla, and salt; put the bowl holding the mixture over an ice bath and stirred until it came down to room temperature; and folded in egg whites that had been beaten with sugar to floppy peaks.
In the future, I might split the cake into only two layers to try to make it stand out a bit more against the mousse, and I would definitely use a bake even strip to try to prevent doming and reduce the need to trim off so much cake during leveling. But regardless, the cake was a hit and I was pleased with the way it came out.
Recipe: "Chocolate Mousse Layer Cake" by Abigail Dodge, from Fine Cooking Cakes & Cupcakes: 100 Best Ever Recipes, recipe available here from Fine Cooking.
Previous Posts:
- "Pure Pistachio Delight: Chocolate Génoise with Pistachio Bavarian Cream," April 19, 2016.
- "Creamsicle in Cake Form: Oranges and Cream Cake," August 29, 2014.
- "My Cakes Could Use a Pick Me Up: Tiramisu Cake," August 2, 2014.
- "I Should Have Stayed Out of the Liquor Cabinet: Pomegranate Bavarian," August 31, 2012.
- "It's All About the Bavarians: Chocolate Raspberry Bavarian Cake," April 3, 2012.
- "I Liked It and I Put a Ring on It: Chocolate Bavarian Torte," January 18, 2012.
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