Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake
Fanny Lam's original recipe was pure and simple, which is a lovely thing in a day of over complicated recipes, but I decided to add a bit of coffee flavor to this Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake, to recreate the flavor of my childhood memory.
Chocolate Sponge Cake
- 1/2 cup (65g) all-purpose flour
- 2 tbsp cocoa powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3 large eggs room temperature
- 1/2 cup (113g) granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Coffee Soak for Baked Cake Layer
- 2 tbsp BREWED coffee
- 2 tbsp simple syrup
Chocolate Mousse
- 200 g bittersweet chocolate finely chopped
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1/4 cup water or use coffee or a coffee flavored liqueur, like Kahlua
- 3 eggs separated
- 1 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 cup heavy cream
Chocolate Ganache
- 100 g bittersweet chocolate finely chopped
- 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 tbsp Kahlua
For Chocolate Sponge
Preheat oven to 325°F. Line an ungreased 8-inch Cake Pan with parchment paper. In a bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder (I use Droste) and salt. In a stand mixer, whip the eggs with the sugar until pale and when you pull the whip out of the foam it creates a ribbon that sits on the surface for a couple of seconds before blending in. Mix the flour into the egg foam, using the whip (I do this by hand, as you'll see in my instagram video) on low speed.
In a small bowl, put about 1/3 a cup of the batter. Mix in the oil and vanilla to the small bowl of batter. Fold that mixture into the large amount of batter.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth out the top. Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.
Remove from oven, allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then run a knife around the edge of the pan, remove the cake from the pan and cool complete.
Once the cake was cool, I cut the cake in half, so I had two disks of cake, because I wanted a smaller ratio of cake to mousse. Fanny used the whole cake.
For Chocolate Mousse
Combine the dark chocolate, butter and coffee in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water, to make a double boiler. Turn off the heat and gently stir until smooth. Allow to cool slightly. In a stand mixer, whip the egg whites until foamy. Add the sugar and continue whipping until the whites are medium peaks form (see my meringue video on instagram for a diagram of medium peaks). Transfer to another bowl.
Using the same bowl, whip the egg yolks until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Slowly add the chocolate mixture.
Fold the whites into the chocolate mixture in 3 additions.
Whip the heavy whipping cream to soft peaks. Fold the cream into the chocolate mixture.
Pour the mousse over the cake in the springform pan. Shimmy the pan to make sure the mousse settles flat in the pan. Allow to set for several hours or overnight.
For Ganache
Heat the cream and Kahlua in a pan, turn off the heat and add the dark chocolate. Swirl the pan so the chocolate is submerged and allow to sit for 3 minutes. Gently stir until smooth. Pour the mixture over the cake. Refrigerate for at least 10 minutes, but you can do this a day ahead.