Multilayer Chocolate Mousse Cake

Recipe slightly modified from Sweet & Savoury by Shinee which I came across when I searched "Chocolate Mousse Cakes" on Pinterest. I liked this recipe because it wasn't overly complicated (it pretty much gets as elaborate as "double boiler").  This is the first time I've actually made a cake with yogurt! It was very fluffy and a very nice alternative to using oil. 

I've also heard the term "Chocolate Ganache" thrown around a lot but I actually never realized what it was. A quick google search reveals its glaze, icing, sauce or filling for pastries made of chocolate and cream. The heated cream is poured over the chocolate and mixed.

The Chocolate Ganache was used as icing, I opted for a rough textured look rather than a smooth finish:

Working with Chocolate Ganache: 

I made this cake in two steps - the cake on the first day, and the mousse + ganache the second day. On the first day the weather was actually so gross out (cloudy, very windy, interspersed with rain) and I had woken up in such a foul mood, the baking actually cheered me right up! I ended up having the "Pentatonix" Documentary from Netflix playing in the background.  

Ingredients

For the Cake

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1.5 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1.5 tsp baking soda
• 1.5 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup Greek Yogurt
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract

Nutella Mousse

• 1/2 cup hot water
• 4 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp instant coffee
• 1.5 cups (260 g) chocolate chips
• 2 cups (480 mL) heavy cream
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1/3 cup Nutella

Chocolate Ganache

• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup (175 grams) chocolate chips
• 1 tbsp softened butter

Steps

Making the Cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a medium bowl whisk together dry ingredients: Flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
3. In a large bowl, mix together wet ingredients: eggs, milk, yogurt, and vanilla extract
4. Add contents of the flour mixture in sections to the wet ingredient bowl, mixing between additions. 
5. Divide the batter into your greased cake pans. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until cake taster (toothpick) comes out clean. 

Allow to cool completely before icing.

For chocolate mousse:

1. In the first bowl, in hot water add cocoa powder and instant coffee powder.
2. In double boiler, melt chocolate chips in a second bowl until smooth. Remove from heat.
3. In mixing bowl, whip heavy cream with sugar until hard peaks form. 
4. In the melted chocolate bowl, stir in Nutella and coffee mixture.
5. Next, fold in whipped cream mixture in parts. Refrigerate until ready to use.

For Chocolate Ganache:

1. In saucepan, heat heavy cream (simmer, not boil). 
2. Pour the cream over chocolate chips and let is rest for 2 minutes
3. Mix until smooth, and stir in butter.

Assembling the Cake:

1. Start with your first layer, and lay generous amount of chocolate mousse spread with cake spatula before applying other layers.
2. Once all layers are assembled, ice the top and sides for a smooth surface.
3. Use somewhat runny chocolate ganache and smoothly or with texture. 

Baking the Cake

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

2. Grease 8-9 inch springform pans. You can use butter, here I use vegetable shortening (Crisco) and a napkin. 

  

3. In a large bowl designated for wet ingredients, mix in eggs and milk:

Next add Greek Yogurt, best to do plain but I opted for vanilla!

Add vanilla to the rest of the wet ingredients:

4. In a separate bowl for dry ingredients, add flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. 

5. Add the flour mixture to the chocolate mixture in thirds, mixing between additions. No pictures here for some reason!

6. The texture should look like this: 

7. Divide the batter between your cake pans. 

8. Bake. Here I have cake strips that will ensure the cake layers rise flat.

9. Use a cake tester (toothpick) to test when cake is done after ~20-30 minutes of time spent in the oven. 

10. Remove the cakes from the pan, then allow cakes to cool completely before proceeding with icing.

Making the Chocolate Mousse

1. Weigh 260 grams of semi sweet chocolate (I used Baker's chocolate and chocolate chips), then put over a double boiler:

Keep the double boiler going until the chocolate melts. I transferred the chocolate into a bowl and set aside to cool for a little bit.

2. In a separate bowl, add heavy cream and 2 tbsp sugar.

3. Use a mixer to whip the heavy cream and sugar mixture until soft peaks form. 

4. Into a 1/2 cup of hot water, add 4 tbsp of cocoa powder and 1/2 tsp of instant coffee or espresso powder and set aside. 

Mix well: 

5. Add cocoa powder/coffee mixture into melted chocolate bowl, then add 1/3rd cup Nutella. 

6. Add 50% of the whipped cream batch and fold into the chocolate mixture with spatula. Then add the remaining 50% is added and mix until the white streaks are gone. 

Making Chocolate Ganache

1. Add 1/2 cup heavy cream, and heat until it simmers (just below boiling point, when you see bubbles coming out the edges). 

2. Pour heavy cream into 175 grams of chocolate chips and let it sit for 2 minutes. 

3. Mix together and add butter. 

Assemble & Dirty Ice the Cake with Chocolate Mousse

Next, ice with Chocolate Ganache

Its easier to ice when the ganache is runny, if you refrigerate it becomes thicker which you can also use to ice cake, however its very difficulty with mousse on the outside. 

On the left: Runny chocolate ganache. On the right: Chocolate Ganache that has been refrigerated for a few minutes. 

For this cake, its much easier to ice with the runny chocolate ganache. 

I ended up doing a layer of ganache (somewhat runny) over the mousse. 

Then I proceeded to use the cake spatula to add textured swirls to give it a bit more of a rough textured look:

And the final product: