Three Chocolate Mousse Cake

My very dear friend, Kelly, celebrated her 40th birthday recently and unfortunately, I was not in town. However, I tried to make up for it by getting together for a dinner and of course dessert to celebrate her being born! Yay! Her only request for dessert was to make something decadent and chocolately. Love those rules. So here is a three chocolate mousse cake. The bottom layer is a coffee chocolate cake. The next is a dark chocolate mousse, followed by a milk chocolate mousse. Raspberries and champagne were such a nice compliment to the richness of the cake. This also satisfies an item on my 30 Challenging Foods before 30 list.

This recipe is adapted from Chasing Delicious. Fabulous recipes on this blog!

Coffee Chocolate Cake:

4 ounces all purpose flour
1 1/2 ounce unsweetened cocoa powder
8 ounces sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/3 cup whole milk
3 ounces unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup coffee, freshly brewed, cooled
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking dish with aluminum foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray.

In a large bowl, mix the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together.

In a separate medium bowl, whisk the milk, butter, coffee, vanilla, and eggs together. Add to the dry ingredients and mix until smooth.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out barely clean. Do not overcook! When done, remove from the oven and after about two minutes, remove the cake from the pan and cool on a cooling rack (to prevent it from cooking further).

Milk Chocolate & Dark Chocolate Mousses:

3 cups heavy cream

6 egg yolks
4 ounces honey (I used orange blossom)
1 teaspoon vanilla
7 ounces milk chocolate
7 ounces dark chocolate

In a medium bowl, whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Set aside in the refrigerator.

Then in a mixing bowl, whip the egg yolks until they reach the ribbon stage (thicken).

Then in a small pan, bring the honey just to the boiling point and then immediately pour the hot honey into the egg mixture while whipping the egg yolks at medium speed. Make sure you are whipping them or else the egg yolks will begin to cook. After all honey is added, increase the speed to high and whip until the mixture is fluffy and completely cool, about 5 to 10 minutes.

Then split the yolk and honey mixture between two separate medium bowls.

Melt the milk chocolate in the microwave in 30 second intervals, mixing after each one to ensure it doesn’t burn. Mix it into one of the bowls with half of the yolk mixture. Work quickly as the mixture will thicken quickly. Add half of the whipped cream mixture and fold in the cream until the mousse is even. Set the milk chocolate aside in the refrigerator

Do the same thing with the dark chocolate. Refrigerate for about 10 minutes to set before assembling.

Assembly:

Place the cake on a plate or cake board. Then take the dark chocolate and spread evenly over the top of the cake. Even the top off. Then spread the milk chocolate over top the dark chocolate layer. Even off the top. Then using a straight knife or icing spreader, run around the side of the cake to even them off.

Refrigerate for several hours (about 4) until set. Serve with champagne (of course) and raspberries.