Another birthday and another cake. How could I resist? I wanted to make something different, challenging and of course with lots of chocolate. What can be better than a mousse cake? Mousse cake with whipped icing. yumzilicious! I love whipped icing. It’s so light and nice and airy. You don’t feel like you’re eating something overly sweet and buttery and at the same time is light and fresh. However, it’s not the best decorative icing. It’s so light that it doesn’t pipe very well and won’t hold shape as well as buttercream (for obvious reasons). That being said, when I read through this recipe, I knew that whipped icing would complement it the best, even more than chocolate ganache.
I know the recipe is really long. It’s not that difficult though, just a bit tricky. I told you.. I like a challenge. Make sure you have enough time to do this. One evening to make the mousse cake, chill overnight or atleast a few hours and the rest to decorate. I omitted the chocolate ganache and did not have enough strawberry pieces to fill inside the cake, which I will do next time.
Recipe adapted from food network
A few things I did:
- I used two 9″cake pans and 1 springform pan to bake the cake. It made it simpler since I did not have to remove the 3rd layer
- The cakes are flourless and hence the batter is very thin. The cake layers were really thin, about 1/2″ at most. I wouldn’t recommend doing it without the parchment paper. The thin layer cake might stick to the bottom of the pan and break while removing.
- When folding the egg whites and whipped cream, be firm but gentle. Do not stir vigorously because if you do, the air bubbles will break. It will look ugly at first and almost impossible, but keep at it and it will turn out smooth and beautiful.
- If you have a stand mixer, beat the cream on low for a sturdy whipped icing cream. It will take about 20 minutes. I read that on low speed, smaller air bubbles are formed that hold shape longer and better than when whipped at a high speed. Stop at the soft peak stage, you don’t want to turn it into butter!
- I would definitely add strawberries and one layer of whipped icing inside the cake next time. It’s very chocolatey!
Chocolate Strawberry Mousse Cake with Whipped Icing
Ingredients:
- - For The Chocolate Cake
- Butter - 2 tbsp, melted (1/2 pound) , unsalted
- Semi Sweet chocolate - 8 oz, broken into 1/2 oz pieces
- Egg Yolks - 8
- Sugar - 3/4 cup, granulated
- Egg whites - 4
- Vanilla Extract - 2 tsp
- -
- - For the Mousse
- Strawberries - 2 pints, stems removed
- Semi Sweet chocolate - 16 oz, broken into 1/2 oz pieces
- White chocolate - 4 oz, broken into 1/2 oz pieces
- Egg Whites - 6
- Sugar - 2 tbsp, granulated
- Heavy Whipping Cream - 1 cup
- Vanilla extract - 2 tsp
- -
- - For the Whipped Icing
- Heavy Cream - 2 cups, chilled
- Sugar - 3 tbsp, superfine icing sugar
- Vanilla extract - 2 tsp
Instructions:
- Lightly coat the insides of 3 (9 by 1 1/2-inch) cake pans with melted butter. Line each pan with parchment paper, then lightly coat the parchment with more melted butter. Set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
- Heat 1-inch of water in the bottom half of a double boiler over medium heat. Place remaining butter and 8 ounces semisweet chocolate in the top half of the double boiler. Tightly cover the top with film wrap. Allow to heat for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from heat, stir until smooth, add vanilla and hold at room temperature.
- Place the egg yolks and 3/4 cup sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle. Beat on high until slightly thickened and lemon-colored, about 4 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat on high for an additional 2 minutes.
- While the egg yolks are beating, whisk 4 egg whites in a large stainless steel bowl until stiff but not dry, about 3 to 4 minutes. Using a rubber spatula, fold the melted chocolate mixture into the beaten egg yolk mixture. Add a quarter of the beaten egg whites and stir to incorporate, then gently fold in the remaining egg whites. Divide the batter between the prepared pans, spreading evenly, and bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 25 to 30 minutes. Remove the cakes from the oven and allow to cool in the pans for 15 minutes. (During baking, the surface of the cakes will form a crust; this crust will normally collapse when the cakes are removed from the oven.) Invert 1 of the cakes onto the bottom of a springform pan. Invert the other 2 cakes onto cake circles. Remove the parchment paper and refrigerate cakes for 30 minutes.
- Reserve the 12 best-looking strawberries to decorate the top of the cake. In a food processor fitted with a metal blade, puree 4 ounces of strawberries (12 medium-sized berries should yield 1/2 cup of puree). Set aside until needed.
- Refrigerate the remaining berries until needed (that includes the 12 berries for decoration)
- Heat 1-inch of water in the bottom half of a double boiler over medium heat. Place 16 ounces semisweet chocolate, the white chocolate and the strawberry puree in the top half of the double boiler. Tightly cover the top with film wrap. Allow to heat for 12 to 14 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir until smooth. Transfer to a stainless steel bowl, using a rubber spatula to remove all of the melted chocolate mixture. Add vanilla essence. Keep at room temperature until needed.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a balloon whip, whisk the 6 egg whites on high until soft peaks form, about 2 minutes. Continue to whisk on high while gradually adding 2 tablespoons sugar. Whisk until stiff but not dry, about 30 seconds. Set aside at room temperature until needed.
- Using a hand-held whisk, whip the heavy cream in a well-chilled stainless steel bowl until stiff. Fold a quarter of the egg whites into the melted chocolate mixture, then fold in the whipped cream. Now fold in the remaining egg whites. Set aside at room temperature until needed.
- Spread 1/2 cup of chocolate strawberry mousse onto the cake layer in the assembled springform pan. Distribute 3 cups of mousse over the cake. Holding the pan by the top rim, gently but firmly tap the bottom of the pan 2 to 3 times on your work surface (this will eliminate air pockets).
- Position a cake layer on top of the mousse, then repeat the process. Top the mousse with the remaining cake layer and gently press into position. Refrigerate the cake for 2 hours (do not freeze).
- Remove the cake from the refrigerator. Run a knife in a cricle around the sides of the pan to loosen the mousse. Remove the sides from the springform pan (do not remove the bottom of the pan from the cake; this will make it easier to handle later).
- Slice the strawberries and place thin flat slices in a single layer on top of the mousse cake.
- Pipe the whipped icing on top of it to cover the strawberry slices. Cover the edges in icing too.
- For best results, run the knife under hot water before slicing. Keep the cake outside at room temperature for 20-30 minutes before serving.
Ok this would be my dream cake – chocolate, mousse, whipped icing and strawberries. I’m thinking it would be perfect for MY birthday that’s coming up at the end of this year
haha, sure. for that, you might have to come to CA (since I doubt I can ship this!). That would be nice considering you’d escape the winter in boston, no?
Finally the post for the “adult” cake is up (IJ)! People, this is a true testimonial from a person who ate this cake…. It came out really well, done to perfection with a “best you can ask for” consistency… I really liked this… better than many of those very gooey mousse cakes I have had outside!
it wasn’t adult, i said “grown up”, and that was for the previous cake i made, not this
and thanks a lot for the testimonial. 
It wasn’t too hard to finish that huge cake no? 