Fuel For Imagination - Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake

"If God had intended us to follow recipes,
He wouldn't have given us grandmothers."
~Linda Henley

Vacationing with friends and I suddenly remembered one of my friends would be celebrating his birthday! Like, in two days! He deserved the very best and I wasn't going to slack off just because we were away from home. I was imagining a luxurious moist chocolate cake with thick chocolate fluff for icing, maybe even multiple layers...

I remembered the basics to my favorite recipe, I improvised the rest, and here's the result. Another recipe you guys have been begging me for. Good thing I took lots of photos. You'll get to experience the step-by-step walk through complete with video clips! Yeah!

Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake

2 cups (400g) flour
1/2 cup (60g) baking cocoa
2 tsp (càc) baking soda
1/4 tsp (càc) salt
2 cups (425g) brown sugar (sucre vergeoise / sucre roux semoule)
2/3 cup (150g) butter
3 eggs
1 tbsp (càs) bailey's irish cream
1/2 tsp (càc) vanilla
1 cup (120g) sour cream
3/4 cup (180ml) boiling water

Heat oven to 350°F. Grease bottoms and sides of two round pans, 9x 1.5 inches; lightly flour.

Cream the brown sugar and butter softened, but not melted in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy. Add eggs and beat on high speed until light and fluffy. Beat in irish cream and vanilla.

Stir together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt and add them to the mixture with the sour cream on low speed. Stir in the boiling water until blended. Pour into pans.

Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Unmold the cakes and allow them to cool completely.

Chocolate Mousse Filling

1 1/3 cup (320ml) heavy whipping cream
3/4 cup (85g) powdered sugar
1 bar of baking chocolate
1/2 tsp (càc) vanilla
1/2 tsp (càc) Bailey's irish cream

Freeze the whipping cream and a large glass mixing bowl. Pulverize the bar of baking chocolate in a food processor. Whip the cream in the chilled bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until it's stiff, add the other ingredients. *


Chocolate Whipped Cream  Icing

1 1/3 cup (320ml) heavy whipping cream
3/4 cup (85g) powdered sugar
1/3 cup (40g) baking cocoa
1/2 tsp (càc) vanilla

Freeze the whipping cream and a large glass mixing bowl. Whip the cream in the chilled bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until it's stiff, add the other ingredients. *

Here's the Step-by-Step as I recreated this recipe with a good friend - Her first time ever baking a cake !!! You GO girl!

 Stiff Peaks of Cream

 Pulverized Chocolate Bar

in the Chocolate Mousse Filling

Frozen Bowl - Very Very Cold Cream 

Whipping the Cream 

Chocolate Whipped Cream Icing 

 Ice the cakes on parchment paper for easy turning and let the paper get messy, you'll remove it before presenting the finished product.

Decide if you want one four layer cake or two two layer cakes.

I love the thrill of a four layer cake, but we decided it would be easier to cut 30 pieces if we had two cakes ... logistics won out this time.

* If you have a hard time whipping the cream, here are a few tricks of the trade. 

- Purchase a quality brand whipping cream that is in the refrigerated section.

(usually, I don't have a problem with the little generic boxes, but if you are struggling this can give you an edge.)

- Freeze a large glass mixing bowl two hours.

- Chill the carton of whipping cream - even put it in the freezer for fifteen minutes.

- Move to a location that is less warm, perhaps infront of that drafty window will help.

- If your cream does not stiffen perhaps your mixer is set too high. Try a lower setting.

- If you still can't get a thick mousse consider adding "Cremefix" or another stiffening agent for that purpose.

!!! - If you are using a tabletop mixer you'll have to be very careful to use a low setting and the stop the machine the second the cream begins to pile ontop of itself - 30 seconds too long and you'll have butter.