Mocha Mousse Cake

The world's most fabulous chocolate mousse cake just grew up... and became a mocha mousse cake! The original, a wonderful recipe by Claire Macdonald, features in my second cookbook - Kate's Puddings Second Helpings (available from my website or via katespuddings@gmail.com).  Wanting to make something sophisticated, I sought to improve on her perfection and here's the result!  Another new Stour recipe, so I piped some liquid chocolate key signatures to go onto the top to denote the musical theme, but you could use whipped cream blobs or grated chocolate.   The picture below shows it in its travelling tin, as it wouldn't have survived the journey otherwise!  When taken out of the tin, you can see the delicious two layers of mousse over a light chocolate cake.  Heaven.

Warning:  You will find yourself in the kitchen “tidying up” this cake once it has been started….

Mocha Mousse Cake 

Mocha Mousse Cake

Cake:

6oz/175g dark chocolate, chopped

5 large eggs, separated

5oz/150g caster sugar

30ml/1fl oz strong black coffee

Mousse:

1 tsp powdered gelatine (or 2 leaves, soaked)

6oz/175g dark chocolate, chopped

90ml strong black coffee

4 eggs, separated

¼ pint/150ml double cream, lightly whipped (preferably at room temperature)

Preheat the oven to 180 deg.  Butter a 25cm spring clip cake tin and line the base with parchment.   Melt the chocolate.  In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks and caster sugar together, until it is thick and pale.  Fold in the coffee and stir in the cooled chocolate.  Whisk the egg whites until stiff and fold into the mixture.  Pour into the tin and bake for 25-30 minutes until you can stick a skewer or hot knife in and it comes out clean.   Leave the cake to cool in its tin.

For the mousse, pour the second lot of coffee into a bowl or saucepan and add the gelatine.  Heat through gently until the gelatine has dissolved. 

Melt the chocolate, then stir in the coffee.  Beat the egg yolks into the mixture.   Next you fold in the whipped cream, before whisking the egg whites until stiff and folding them into the mousse.

The cake will have puffed up in the oven and crusted, so you have to press it down in the tin with your fingers to make a more compact layer.   Pour over the mousse and leave it for 3-4 hours to set (actually it set quite quickly in the fridge).

To serve, dip a palette knife in hot water and run it round the inside of the tin before opening the spring clip and releasing the cake.  Plate it up and then you can decorate it.   

To make the chocolate decorations, melt some chocolate and pipe it onto parchment.  You can make a quick piping bag by taking a 9" square of parchment.  Hold both bottom corners, then take the left corner over to the top right, curling it under.  Curl it a little tighter, then you can stick a bit of tape on to keep the shape of the cone, or just pour in the chocolate, snip a bit off the end and get going.  Chill the piped decorations in the fridge, so they will peel off easily.