Dark Chocolate Cake with Dark Chocolate Mousse Filling and Chocolate Italian Meringue Buttercream Chocolate Shavings and Chocolate Covered Strawberries

The winter months are busy with birthdays in my family.  Last year, I had just given birth to my sweet baby G, so my husband had to deal with a bakery bought cake.   After pulling off an extraordinary 1st birthday party for my daughter, I knew my 'husbands cake' would be a simple task to pull off.

This time, I made a slight improvement:  I added homemade chocolate covered strawberries!  I also tried a new chocolate mousse recipe for the filling.  I used this filling because it didn't have raw egg in it, and a few readers have asked me for one.  This is definitely good, and a perfect alternative if you are serving this cake to small children, pregnant women, or anyone that may have a compromised immune system ;).  I have never had an issue with using raw eggs, but sometimes, you have to be extra careful.  I will say, while this is the perfect alternative, the other mousse recipe seems to be a bit more rich, chocolaty, and fluffier.

I used my go to chocolate cake recipe, in 2, 8-inch round pans.  Each layer was sliced in half to make 4 layers.  Each layer was filled with chocolate mousse.  The cake was frosted with Italian Meringue Buttercream, and topped with chocolate shavings and chocolate covered strawberries drizzled with white chocolate.  The end result?  Divine.  Just DIVINE!

Chocolate cake recipe, click here.

Chocolate Italian Meringue Buttercream recipe, click here.


Dark Chocolate Mousse
recipe from Better Homes and Gardens

Ingredients:
8 ounces bittersweet or dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 egg yolks, beaten lightly
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Directions:
In a small heavy bottomed saucepan, add chocolate, eggs, sugar, water, and 1/2 cup heavy cream.  Stir over medium heat until mixture starts to bubble a little along the edges.  Remove from heat and add put in a bowl.  Put bowl over an ice bath.  Cool for about 15-20 minutes.  Stir about every 5 minutes.

Beat remaining 1 cup of heavy cream until soft peaks.  Fold into the cooled chocolate mixture in 3 additions with a rubber spatula.  DO NOT BEAT, this will cause the cream to break down and cause this to become soupy.  Cover with plastic wrap, touching the mousse.  Cool for about 2 hours or up to one day.

*you can use this as a simple dessert and serve with whipped cream and berries or you can fill a cake with it.  It will fill one 8-inch round cake.  It will fill approximately 3 layers.

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