Dark Chocolate Cake with Dark Chocolate Mousse Filling, Chocolate Italian Meringue Buttercream Frosting and Chocolate Shavings

Both my husband and brother in law had a birthday last week. I took the liberty of throwing a joint birthday party for them and since my brother in law doesn’t eat sweats…my husband…the chocoholic got to choose the cake flavor.

This was the essence of our conversation.

C: “Hey husband, what kind of cake would you like me to make for your birthday?”
J: “Um, you know that cake from the Townsend?”
C: “Yea…”
J: “Well, I want that cake. The chocolate one.”
C: “You want me to go buy you the cake?”
J: “No, I want YOU to make it.”

So there it is….the cake challenge. (For those who don’t know what the Townsend is, it’s a swanky hotel with an even swankier bakery a few blocks from our house that any celebrity, The President and the alike stay when they come to the Detroit area). I didn’t panic too much because quite honestly, I can handle chocolate cake, I can handle a meringue buttercream, and I can handle chocolate mousse. But all the components together I knew would take me at least a day to do…and maybe a few hours to assemble. Plus hosting the dinner party for 20? No sweat…

So not only could I handle all the components, I had the golden ticket….I have GREAT go to recipes for all of these…so I knew the cake was sure to be a hit as long as I didn’t drop it.

I used this ‘go to’ chocolate cake recipe in 2 8-inch round cake pans, and after baking cut each layer in half to create 4 layers of cake.

I used this ‘go to’ Chocolate Italian Meringue Butter cream to frost the outside of the cake.
I filled the cake with dark chocolate mousse and topped with about 4 oz. of chocolate shavings. You can use any mix of chocolate (Dark chocolate, milk chocolate, semi-sweet etc). I used a mix of chocolate bars that I had in my pantry.

The cake verdict: In addition to the cake, I made homemade peanut butter cups, chocolate covered strawberries, and chocolate cups filled with chocolate mousse, berries and whipped cream so my thought was….there will be SO much cake left over. We barely had any cake left. The cake was RICH. The chocolate cake layers were deep, dark, moist and fudgy, the chocolate mousse kept the cake light, and the Italian meringue buttercream topped off the heavenly chocolate flavor of the cake. This is the ULTIMATE chocoholic’s cake…and everyone that had it made a point to tell me it was by far their favorite cake they ever had. I will take that as a success!

A bottle of Pinot Noir was being passed around to go with the cake (you know...to pour some in your glass)….my husband took the liberty of having the bottle stop with him. And as we had run out of forks from the dinner—he dug in my utensil drawer for a ‘spoon’ (AKA a pasta skimmer). That is just Klassy with a “K” honey…klassy…

Dark Chocolate Mousse
Recipe courtesy of Mirepoix Cooking School

Ingredients:
4 egg yolks
½ cup granulated sugar
1 oz. coffee liquor
8oz. dark chocolate, melted
4 egg whites
1 ½ cups heavy cream

Directions:
In a double boiler, melt chocolate. Set aside but don’t let it cool too much or else it will not mix well.

In a medium bowl, beat egg yolks, sugar, coffee liquor until pale yellow and thickened, set aside.

In a separate bowl, beat heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Set aside and refrigerate until ready to use.

In another bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form.

With a rubber spatula, fold the melted chocolate into the egg yolk mixture. Then fold in the whipped cream. Then, gently fold in the egg whites.

If the mousse seems a bit ‘loose’, you can refrigerate for a few hours to stiffen.

Rich Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Italian Meringue Buttercream and a 30th Birthday Wish

These holidays must really be killing me this year b/c I have been lagging on posts like no body’s business. But that does not mean there hasn’t been massive commotion in my kitchen!

My sister’s 30th birthday was December 10 and I told her I would bake her cake. She chose, double chocolate. What can I say; she is a girl’s girl.

For the cake, I used my ‘go to’ chocolate cake recipe. I got the recipe from a local Michigan baker, Michelle Bommarito. My girlfriend Angel had her bake the cake for her wedding and let me tell you…by far the best wedding cake I ever had. It was dense, moist, and REALLY chocolate-y. Since then, I have been an absolute cake fanatic and went on a wild man hunt to find a similar recipe.

When I saw her on the food network months after my friend’s wedding…I swear it was like winning the cake lotto or something because now I have the recipe. I have the “golden ticket”!! (Who says that wedding cake should taste like dried up old gritty cake anyway? Ugh! Nothing worse.)

For the frosting, I based it on the same stipulation as the cake. I don’t skimp on flavor. When I make something, I go all out and it better taste good. I found a similar buttercream to that of my friend’s wedding cake in a book called Cake Love by Warren Brown. By far one of my favorite cake books and I can honestly say I have read it cover to cover….NUMEROUS times. The Italian Meringue Buttercream recipe is absolutely superb, it’s surprisingly easy to master, and I get compliments on my cakes/cupcakes EVERYTIME.

So here we go…a celebration to my sister’s 30th. May your next 30 years, "be the best days of your life." (And remember Kris…you may be getting old…but our big sister Sher will always be older than both of us. Lol! Jk !)

Love ya!

Rich Chocolate Cake
Recipe by: Michelle Bommarito from Food Network.com

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup (packed) cocoa powder (I used Valrhona, don’t mess around use the good stuff!)
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
8 ounces French roast coffee, freshly brewed and cooled
2 cups granulated sugar
4 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup buttermilk
3 whole eggs
2 teaspoons Vanilla –This was my addition

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Grease and flour a (2) 8-inch round cake pan or line cupcake pan with liners. (I used (2) 9-inch square pans--they were WAY too large for this recipe.

Sift the flour, salt, cocoa powder, baking soda and baking powder together. Reserve.

Brew a fresh pot of French roast coffee. Cool and reserve.

In a bowl of an electric mixer combine the sugar, and butter. Mix on medium speed until combined well. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Add in the brewed coffee and combine on low speed.

Once combined, add in the buttermilk and then the eggs, 1 at a time.. Continue to mix on low speed. The mixture may look ‘curdled’ …this is ok.

Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Gently fold in the sifted dry ingredients.

Pour batter into the prepared cake pan and fill half way up.

Bake for approximately 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

Italian Meringue Buttercream
Recipe from “Cake Love” by Warren Brown

5 egg whites, room temperature
10 oz. (1 ¼ cup) fine granulated sugar, divided
¼ cup cold water
4 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature, broken into 1 tablespoon chunks

Directions:
1. In a heavy bottom saucepan, add 1 cup of the sugar (save the ¼ cup of sugar for the egg white mixture) and the cold water. Stir with your candy thermometer and set up the thermometer to sit inside the saucepan so you can keep an eye on the temperature. Heat on medium heat until it reaches 245 degrees. (Just above the ‘soft ball’ stage).

a. Tip: Place the lid half way on the pot to collect the condensation so the sugar crystals don’t build up. To prevent it further, use water and a pastry brush to brush down the sides of the saucepan.

2. While the sugar syrup is heating, begin mixing your egg whites on high until you get stiff peaks. Once you get stiff peaks, add the ¼ cup of sugar while the mixer is still running.

3. Check on your syrup. It should be about 245 degrees now, if not, turn up the heat and KEEP AN EYE ON IT. You don’t want it going too far or else you will get caramel.

4. Once the syrup reaches 245 degrees, remove the thermometer. Keep the mixer running and slowly pour the hot syrup into the mixer along the side of the bowl. Be careful not to splash yourself with the hot liquid.

5. Keep the mixer running on high for 2 minutes, and then turn it down to medium speed for another 5 minutes or so until the meringue is cooled.

6. Add the butter, one tablespoon at a time.

Mix until it’s fully incorporated. Add your flavorings. I added about 2-4 oz of dark chocolate.