This chocolate mousse cake is a chocolate lover’s dream dessert and is perfect for any celebration! Consisting of a moist chocolate cake topped with a light and airy chocolate mousse and coated in a decadent chocolate ganache glaze, this cake is pure deliciousness. For an extra touch of chocolate flavor, a whipped chocolate buttercream frosting is piped on cake with a sprinkling of chocolate pearls.
How to Make Chocolate Mousse Cake
This cake consists of four main components – chocolate cake, chocolate mousse, chocolate ganache glaze and lastly, whipped chocolate buttercream frosting. Together, all of these components make for an awesomely delicious treat!
Easy Chocolate Cake
The first layer of this dessert is a moist and flavorful chocolate cake which serves as the perfect base to the light and airy chocolate mousse layer. Here is what you will need to make cake layer:
Key Ingredients
- Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
- Unsweetened Dutch-Processed Cocoa Powder
- Baking Powder
- Baking Soda
- Granulated Sugar
- Salt
- Egg
- Plain Whole Milk Yogurt or Sour Cream
- Coffee
- Flavorless Oil i.e. Vegetable Oil
- Vanilla Extract
Chocolate Mousse
The second component of this dessert is the chocolate mousse layer which is light, creamy, and packed with delicious chocolate flavor without being too overpowering. The addition of gelatin to the chocolate mousse gives it the structure needed to hold its shape without collapsing. To make chocolate mousse layer, you will need:
Key Ingredients
- Semi-Sweet Chocolate Bars
- Heavy Whipping Cream
- Granulated Sugar
- Egg Yolks
- Cold Water
- Vanilla Extract
Tips For Making Perfect Chocolate Mousse
- Use High Quality Chocolate – for the best chocolate flavor in mousse, try and go for a higher quality chocolate. I recommend using chocolate bars over chocolate chips as I find it melts more easily when finely chopped compared to chocolate chips.
- Properly Cook Egg Custard – the base of this chocolate mousse recipe is an egg custard consisting of egg yolks, sugar and heavy cream that must be cooked to a temperature ranging between 167-170F(75-77C). If you have a kitchen thermometer, it will be handy here to help determine the temperature of cooked egg custard. In the absence of a kitchen thermometer, custard is safe to use once it has reached a thicken consistency and can coat the back of a spoon without running off too quickly.
- Fold Partially Whipped Cream into Chocolate Base – For that quintessential light and airy consistency of chocolate mousse, whipped heavy cream needs to be folded in chocolate base. In most cases, you would want to whip heavy cream to stiff peaks before using; however, in this case, the heavy cream must be whipped partially to soft peaks. Partially whipped heavy cream is easier to fold and incorporate into chocolate mousse base.
- Chill Chocolate Mousse to Set – before chocolate mousse can be coated in chocolate ganache glaze, it must be refrigerated to set until firm. I recommend refrigerating chocolate mousse for 4-6 hours or overnight. For added assurance, I like to pop the mousse cake in the freezer for 30 minutes before removing it from springform pan and coating in chocolate glaze.
Chocolate Ganache Glaze
Perhaps, the easiest component of this cake to make is the chocolate ganache glaze. Requiring just 2 main ingredients with an optional third ingredient – chocolate, heavy cream, and butter (optional) – this chocolate ganache glaze is a breeze to make! Simply pour heated heavy cream into bowl with finely chopped chocolate. Allow chocolate-cream mixture to sit untouched for 1 minute before whisking in the cream into the melted chocolate. For an extra pop of shine, whisk softened butter into chocolate ganache before using.
Whipped Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
The final touch of chocolate comes in the form of this whipped chocolate frosting which is packed with amazingly rich chocolate flavor. Its whipped consistency is light and airy making it the perfect addition to this mousse cake. To make chocolate buttercream, you will need:
Key Ingredients
- Confectioners’ (Powdered) Sugar
- Unsweetened Dutch-Processed Cocoa Powder
- Unsalted Butter
- Salt
- Heavy Whipping Cream
- Vanilla Extract (optional)
How to Assemble and Decorate Cake
- Cut domed top off chocolate cake and return leveled cake back to springform pan.
- Spoon and spread chocolate mousse over leveled chocolate cake.
- Refrigerate chocolate mousse to set.
- Pour chocolate ganache glaze over chilled mousse cake.
- Pipe whipped chocolate buttercream frosting over set chocolate glaze.
- Sprinkle piped chocolate frosting with chocolate pearls (optional).
How to Store Cake
Leftover mousse cake stored in an airtight container will last 4-5 days in the fridge and 1-3 months in the freezer.
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If you make this recipe, please make sure to let me know by tagging me @nourishedendeavors on Instagram or by leaving a comment in the comment section down below so I can find out how this recipe turned out for you! If you have any questions, ask away! I would love to answer your questions! Happy baking!
PrintChocolate Mousse Cake
This chocolate mousse cake is a chocolate lover’s dream dessert and is perfect for any celebration! Consisting of a moist chocolate cake topped with a light and airy chocolate mousse and coated in a decadent chocolate ganache glaze, this cake is pure deliciousness. For an extra touch of chocolate flavor, a whipped chocolate buttercream frosting is piped on cake with a sprinkling of chocolate pearls.
- Prep Time: 2 Hours (Not Including Refrigeration Time)
- Cook Time: 40 Minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours 40 minutes
- Yield: 1 Mousse Cake 1x
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake
- 3/4 Cup (94 g) Unbleached All-Purpose Flour, Spooned and Leveled
- 3 Tablespoons (15 g) Unsweetened Dutch-Processed Cocoa Powder, Spooned and Leveled
- 1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
- 1/4 Teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1/4 Teaspoon Salt
- 1/2 Cup (100 g) Granulated Sugar
- 1 Large Egg, Room Temperature
- 3 Ounces (85 g) Whole Milk Yogurt, Plain, Room Temperature
- 1/4 Cup (60 ml) Coffee, Room Temperature
- 3 Tablespoons (45 ml) Flavorless Oil i.e. Vegetable Oil
- 1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Chocolate Mousse
- 8 Ounces (226 g) Semi-Sweet Chocolate Bars, Finely Chopped
- 2 1/4 Cups (540 ml) Heavy Whipping Cream, Cold, Divided
- 4 Large Egg Yolks
- 1/4 Cup (50 g) Granulated Sugar
- 1 Teaspoon (3 g) Unflavored Gelatin Powder
- 2 Tablespoons (30 ml) Cold Water
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Chocolate Ganache Glaze
- 8 Ounces (226 g) Semi-Sweet Chocolate, Finely Chopped
- 1 Cup (120 ml) Heavy Whipping Cream
- 1 Tablespoon (14 g) Unsalted Butter, Softened, Optional
Whipped Chocolate Buttercream
- 1 Cup (226 g) Unsalted Butter, Room Temperature, Slightly Firm to Touch
- 2 Cups (220 g) Confectioners’ (Powdered) Sugar, Sifted, Plus More As Needed
- 1/4 Cup (20 g) Unsweetened Dutch-Processed Cocoa Powder, Spooned and Leveled
- 2–3 Tablespoons (30–45 ml) Heavy Whipping Cream, Room Temperature
- 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract, Optional
Assembly
- Chocolate Pearls, Optional
Instructions
Chocolate Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350F(175C). Grease and line the base of an 8 or 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper. I used this baking pan to make mousse cake.
- In a medium mixing bowl, add the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Whisk ingredients together to combine.
- In the bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment or with a hand-held electric mixer and large mixing bowl, add the oil and sugar. Mix ingredients together at medium high speed to combine, about 1-2 minutes.
- Next, mix in the yogurt into the oil-sugar mixture to combine, about 1 minute.
- Beat the egg into wet batter at medium high speed until fully incorporated, about 30-60 seconds.
- Reduce mixer speed to low. In an alternating fashion, starting and ending with the dry ingredients, mix half of the dry ingredients into wet batter followed by the coffee and vanilla extract and ending with the remaining dry ingredients.
- Stop the mixer and use a rubber spatula to scrape the sides and base of the bowl to catch any unmixed ingredients.
- Resume mixing cake batter at medium speed for an additional 30-60 seconds. The resulting batter should be slightly thick and smooth.
- Spoon cake batter into prepared baking pan.
- Bake cake batter rotating the pan halfway through bake time for 24-26 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Cool cake in the pan until it reaches room temperature, about 45-60 minutes.
- Once cooled, level the cake by cutting off the domed top with a serrated knife or cake leveler.
- Return leveled cake back to springform pan.
Chocolate Mousse
- In a small mixing bowl/dish, add the cold water and sprinkle the gelatin over the top of water. Allow gelatin mixture to rest for 5 minutes as it absorbs the water and takes on a gel-like consistency.
- Add the egg yolks and sugar into a medium mixing bowl. With a hand whisk, mix ingredients together until mixture appears slightly thickened, about 2-3 minutes.
- In a medium saucepan, add 1 cup of the heavy cream and warm up under medium heat until visible stream starts to come off the surface and small bubbles are forming along the outer rim of the cream, about 1-2 minutes. You only want to heat up the cream here and not bring it to a full boil.
- Slowly whisk the heated cream into egg mixture in a slow steady stream.
- Pour egg mixture into a medium saucepan and cook under medium low heat until it reaches the consistency of slightly thicken custard cream and coats the back of a spoon, about 4-5 minutes. If you have a kitchen thermometer, custard should register between 167-170F (75-77C) before removing from heat.
- Pass custard through a sieve into a medium mixing bowl.
- Next, whisk in the dissolved gelatin followed by the finely chopped chocolate and vanilla extract into custard. You will end up with a smooth, chocolate mixture.
- Allow chocolate custard to cool at room temperature until no longer warm to touch, about 30-40 minutes. As chocolate mixture cools, whisk it every 10-15 minutes to help prevent a skin from forming on the top surface.
- As chocolate mixture cools, pour the remaining cold heavy cream into a large mixing bowl.
- Using a hand whisk or electric mixer, whisk the cream until it starts to thicken and form very soft peaks. The goal here is not to whisk the cream until it has stiff peaks. When you lift up the beaters/whisk, the peaks of the cream should drop down and not stand upright.
- Fold half the soft cream into the cooled chocolate mixture until thoroughly combined. Repeat with remaining cream.
- Spoon chocolate mousse over cooled, leveled chocolate cake. Spread chocolate mousse into an even layer using an offset or regular spatula.
- Gently tap springform pan against a hard surface 1-2 times.
- Refrigerate chocolate mousse cake for 4-6 hours or overnight to set.
- Place chocolate mousse cake in the freezer for a minimum of 30 minutes before assembly.
Chocolate Ganache Glaze
- In a large mixing bowl, add all of the finely chopped chocolate.
- In a medium saucepan, add all of the heavy cream and warm up under medium heat until visible stream starts to come off the surface and small bubbles are forming along the outer rim of the cream, about 1-2 minutes.
- Alternatively, cream may be warmed up in the microwave on high at 30 second intervals.
- Pour heated cream over chocolate and allow chocolate-cream mixture to sit untouched for 1 minute.
- Whisk cream into melted chocolate until all of the cream is incorporated into chocolate and you have a smooth, shiny chocolate ganache.
- Next, whisk softened butter into chocolate ganache (optional but highly recommended for extra shiny ganache).
Whipped Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment or with a hand-held electric mixer and large mixing bowl, cream the butter and salt at medium high speed until smooth and fluffy in appearance, about 2-3 minutes.
- Reduce mixer speed to low and mix in the confectioners’ sugar and cocoa powder into creamed butter. Gradually increase mixer speed back to medium.
- Once all the dry ingredients have been incorporated into creamed butter, mix in the vanilla extract and 2 tablespoons of heavy whipping cream into buttercream until fully incorporated.
- If buttercream appears to be on the soft side, mix additional confectioners’ sugar 1/4 cup at a time until a thick but pipeable consistency is reached.
- If buttercream appears too thick, mix in remaining heavy whipping cream, 1 teaspoon at a time until the desired consistency (thick but pipeable) is reached.
- Increase mixer speed to medium high and mix chocolate buttercream frosting for an additional 30-60 seconds. The resulting frosting should be smooth and fluffy in appearance.
Assembly
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Set a small bowl in the center of the parchment lined baking sheet.
- Retrieve chocolate mousse cake from the freezer. Run warm water over a clean kitchen towel and squeeze out excess water.
- Use the heated kitchen towel to wipe the sides of the chilled baking pan. Repeat this process 2-3 times. This will help loosen the mousse cake from the pan.
- Remove cake from springform pan and set over the small bowl on parchment lined baking sheet.
- Working quickly, pour slightly cooled chocolate ganache over mousse cake. Use offset spatula to help spread glaze over and down the sides of the cake.
- If parts of the cake are missing glaze, simply use offset spatula or spoon to apply some of the excess/remaining glaze to those areas so that cake is completely covered in chocolate glaze.
- Allow glaze to set for 10-15 minutes in the fridge.
- As glaze sets, fill a large pastry bag fitted with preferred pastry tip with the chocolate buttercream. I used a 8B Wilton pastry tip.
- Pipe medium-sized dollops of buttercream over the top of glazed mousse cake.
- Sprinkle or evenly place chocolate pearls over piped frosting (optional).
Notes
- Unglazed chocolate mousse cake may be made in advance and stored in the refrigerator, for example, the day before you intend to serve. However, for a perfectly shiny glaze, I would recommend glazing the set cake and finishing with chocolate frosting on the day you intend to serve the cake.
- Leftover chocolate mousse cake stored in an airtight container will last 4-5 days in the fridge and 1-3 mouths in the freezer.
- For the best chocolate flavor in cake, try and use good quality chocolate bars in the chocolate mousse and glaze.
- Take care to not wait too long before pouring chocolate glaze over mousse cake. If chocolate ganache glaze sits at room temperature over a period of time, it will start to thicken and will not have a pourable consistency.
- If chocolate ganache glaze takes on a thick, unpourable consistency, simply warm up in the microwave on high at 20-30 second intervals or on stovetop over medium low heat just until it is loose enough to pour.
- Excess chocolate ganache glaze that dripped off cake onto the parchment lined baking sheet may be scraped off parchment paper and stored in an airtight container. Remaining chocolate ganache glaze will last upto 1 week in the fridge.
- Any leftover chocolate buttercream stored in an airtight container will last up to 1 week in the fridge and 1-2 months in the freezer. When ready to use allow buttercream to thaw at room temperature until soft enough to pipe or spread as desired.
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Khen
Hello there ..was looking for a nice chocolate mousse cake and I found you😀…could you please help me with the gelatin part ..as Iam totally vegetarian ( can use eggs😉 but no other animal product ) what is the substitute of gelatin or we can skip it ..will really want to try this recipe …😊
nourished endeavors
Hi Khen,
I understand not being to use gelatin as a complete vegetarian. A good substitute for animal gelatin is agar agar which is vegan. I have not personally tested it in this recipe. If you would prefer to not use gelatin at all, then I would recommend whipping the heavy cream to stiff peaks rather than soft peaks before folding into chocolate mousse mixture. This will give the chocolate mousse a more sturdier consistency after refrigeration. Hope this helps!