Double Chocolate Mousse Cake

One of my all-time favorite desserts is chocolate mousse cake. A bakery that my family has gone to for as long as I can remember used to make the most amazing chocolate mousse cake and they would even sell it by the slice. It was light, not too chocolate-y, and had this gelatin texture to it. I’m not saying it was jello-like, but more that you wasn’t too creamy (although still smooth) and you could bite into it. Does that make sense? And then there was chocolate cake on the bottom layer. Anyway, they stopped making it the same way and then only sold it by whole cakes instead of by the slice. I think they also changed their recipe because it didn’t taste the same. Anyway, my mom started making chocolate mousse at home and it’s so good.

Today, I’m sharing photos of a time we made it since when I think of fall and the upcoming holiday season, I always think of desserts!

So this recipe combines two different recipes and also changes them up – a chocolate mousse recipe and a chocolate cake recipe.

First, bake the chocolate cake. We follow the chocolate cake recipe linked above, but half it since it’s just going to be a small layer of chocolate cake on the bottom of the chocolate mousse. Two other changes are that we cut down on the sugar in the recipe and instead of using espresso and water we use coffee.

The chocolate cake ingredients include:

all purpose flour
sugar
unsweetened cocoa powder
baking powder
baking soda
salt
espresso powder (I use coffee instead)
milk
vegetable oil
eggs
vanilla extract
boiling water (you don’t need this if you’re using coffee like I do)

I bake the chocolate cake in a spring form pan which will be used for the whole chocolate mousse cake.

For the chocolate mousse, the recipe linked above is for a triple chocolate mousse torte, however I just do a double chocolate because I don’t really care for white chocolate.

The ingredients for the chocolate mousse are:

vegetable oil
bittersweet or semisweet chocolate
milk chocolate
cold water
unflavored gelatin
egg yolks
sugar
half & half
chilled whipping cream

First, soften the gelatin. Then, beat the egg yolks and sugar until the mixture is a pale yellow and thick. In a pot, bring the half & half to a simmer and then gradually whisk the half & half into the egg mixture. Then, pour it all back into the sauce pan and stir over medium heat until the custard thickens. Make sure it doesn’t boil. Remove from the heat and add in the gelatin. Stir until the gelatin dissolves. Strain the mixture into a large measuring cup.

Separate your semisweet chocolate and milk chocolate into two bowls. Pour the hot mixture into the bowls of chocolate (half in each bowl). Gently stir. If the mixture cools before the chocolate is melted then do a double boiler and stir until all melted. Cool the chocolate to room temperature, stirring occasionally.

Beat the heavy cream into whipped cream and then divide the whipped cream into the two chocolate bowls and fold.

Pour the dark chocolate on top of the chocolate cake in the spring form pan. Freeze until firm. Once that is set (about 15 minutes), pour the milk chocolate on top and freeze for another 15 minutes. Cover with plastic and store in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve.