Strawberry Chocolate Mousse Cake

5 from 1 vote

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Ingredients

  

Cake

• Follow box instructions

Chocolate Mousse

• 6 tbsp butter
• 12 oz Baker's semi-sweet chocolate baking bar
• 1 3/4 cups heavy whipping cream
• 2/3 cup powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp unflavored gelatin
• 2 1/2 tbsp water
• 2 packages strawberries

Chocolate Ganache

• 2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
• 5 1/2 oz semisweet chocolate

Instructions

 

Cake

1. Follow the instructions on the box. (I used Betty Crocker's Super Moist Devil's Food Cake Mix.)

Chocolate Mousse

1. In a small bowl, mix two teaspoons of the unflavored gelatin in 2 1/2 tablespoons of cool water. Set aside.
2. In a double boiler, combine the butter and semi-sweet chocolate (broken up) until melted. Set aside.
3. In a small pan, heat up the gelatin until completely melted. Set aside.
4. In a large bowl, mix 1 3/4 cups heavy whipping cream and vanilla extract until peaks form. Mix in powdered sugar. Mix in gelatin.
5. Transfer the melted chocolate into the large mixing bowl and stir until combined. 

Chocolate Ganache (make once the mousse has set)

1. Simmer 2/3 cup heavy whipping cream. 
2. In a small bowl, combine 5 1/2 oz (broken up) semisweet chocolate and heavy whipping cream.
3. Stir until smooth.

Assembling the cake

1. Once the cake was cooled I removed the ring and sliced off a thin layer from the top which gave me a leveled surface to work with. I then put the ring back on and continued with the steps below.
2. Spread a thin layer of chocolate mousse on your cooled cake.
3. Cut the leaves off the strawberries. Cut as many strawberries as you'll need to fill the inside edge in half lengthwise.
4. Line the the ring with the cut strawberries. Fill in the rest of the cake with whole strawberries.
5. Spoon the mousse over the strawberries, making sure to fill in all the gaps. Once all of the gaps are filled in, add enough mousse to cover the top and smooth it out.
6. Place in the fridge for 4-6 hours, or until the mousse is set.
7. Make the chocolate ganache.
8. Spread the ganache over the top and place the cake back in the fridge for it to set.

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Story Time

Have you ever been juggling more than you could handle, thought you were kicking butt, only to find yourself completely overwhelmed and crying in your kitchen? That was how my life was shaping up right before I made this cake. Events leading up to this moment: Left my parents house after spending a few days with the family celebrating Thanksgiving (always hard to leave home), said hardness caused me to leave an hour later than I should have, traffic turned my 4 1/2 hour drive into 6 1/2, lost an hour due to time change, nowhere near finished with the decorations for the party, ran to the grocery store to buy ingredients, ran back to the grocery store because I didn’t get enough semisweet chocolate the first time, realized it was already 8pm, commence breakdown.

After a good 2 minutes I was able to pull myself together and make the most amazing cake I had ever made! I originally stumbled across this recipe on Pinterest while searching for chocolate cake ideas. If you haven’t heard of Oh My Goodness Chocolate Desserts you need to check her out. I’ve gone back and drooled over her desserts several times.

For those of you who are visual learners such as myself, behold, my masterpiece in the making!

This is after I baked the cake. No, I did not try to give it a cheesecake water bath. In my frenzied state I put the whole bowl of mix into the pan, forgetting that you usually separate the mix into two pans when you’re using a circular one. After I realized there would be no room for all of the toppings I wrapped a layer of tinfoil around the pan to give it more height. (And surprisingly this worked!) Before I did this I removed the ring and sliced a thin layer off the top to give me a smooth surface to work on, hence the flapjack sized piece of cake on the plate.

Once your wall is up, or whatever path you took (one probably infinitely better than my sleep deprived one), add a thin layer of mousse. This layer will help hold your strawberries in place. After the inside of your cake is covered in strawberries, fill in all the empty space with mousse, add a thin layer on top to smooth out and cover everything. Place this in your fridge until the mousse is set. I took the cake out the next morning, made the ganache, spread it on top, raced to work, added the decorations and snapped a few photos until it was nothing but crumbs.

Overall, this was a huge success! Everyone loved it and I can’t get over how cute the book banner on top turned out! This might be a little much to take on the night before an event but if you have the time and will power I say go for it!