For serious chocolate lovers! This decadent chocolate cake with chocolate mousse filling is THE thing to satisfy your chocolate craving!
Table of Contents
I have to warn you, this cake is SO delicious it might just become a reason for a fight in your family. 🙂
I made this chocolate cake for my husband for Valentine’s Day. The cake turned out amazing. Rich and moist, irresistibly chocolaty. Although just two of us could have finished the whole cake without problem, we shared it with our family. (Yep, we’re that awesome! 😉
Couple weeks later when I was visiting, my mother-in-law told me about the drama over the last piece of cake. My father-in-law loves chocolate and, apparently, he was savoring the cake one small piece at a time. When he came back to enjoy his last piece of this heavenly dessert, it was nowhere to be found. No one knew where it is, and no one would admit eating it. Yep, just like that, the last slice of the cake had disappeared without a trace. Sadly, my poor father-in-law had been grumpy for a week, wondering about the mystery of the missing cake.
That was a great excuse for me to bake this cake again.
The first one had a small issue that I needed to fix. The problem was that I was lazy and baked the whole cake in one deep 9-inch cake pan, instead of two. This caused an ugly sinkhole in my final cake. See below.
I know it doesn’t really matter, as it still tastes wonderful.
However, I think it’s important to understand the reason behind the problems, so we can avoid them later. So, here is the explanation.
Since the batter is very runny due to high amount of liquid, there isn’t enough structure to hold a high rise even after the cake is baked completely. That’s why it’s important to bake them in two separate pans.
Now, here is the step-by-step instruction for this amazingly delicious cake.
If you don’t have instant espresso powder, use strong coffee instead, or skip it. You really won’t taste the coffee, it just enhances the chocolate flavor.
While the cake is cooling, prepare the chocolate mousse filling.
To assemble the cake:
To slice the cake into even layers, I used this Zenker Layer Cake Slicer Kit. It makes perfectly even layers and I love it. Make sure that the cake is completely cooled before slicing though, otherwise it’ll break easily.
You can find the detailed recipe for chocolate ganache here on my blog.
Voila!
It paired really well with my homemade vanilla bean ice cream!
Hope you’ll try this cake soon. And please don’t fight over that last piece of cake. Enjoy!
Supreme Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Mousse Filling
Ingredients
For cake:
- 2 cups 250gr all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ cups 300gr sugar
- ¾ cup 90gr unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup 120ml hot water
- 1 teaspoon instant espresso coffee
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- 1 cup 240ml milk, at room temperature
- ½ cup 120ml Greek yogurt, at room temperature
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
For mousse filling:
- ½ cup 120ml hot water
- 4 tablespoons 30gr unsweetened cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon instant espresso coffee
- 1 ½ cup 260gr bittersweet chocolate chips
- 2 cups 480ml heavy cream, cold
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1/3 cup Nutella
For chocolate ganache:
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 1 cup chocolate chips
- 1 tablespoon softened butter optional
Instructions
- To make the cakePreheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease two 9-inch round cake pans.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, mix together water and instant espresso coffee. Set aside.
- In a mixing bowl with paddle attachment, mix together eggs, milk, yogurt and pure vanilla extract until well combined. Add half of the flour mixture for a minute, then add the remaining mixture and mix until just combined. Stir in the espresso water.
- Pour the batter into two cake pans. Bake for about 30-35 minutes, or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool on wire racks for 10 minutes. Then remove the cakes from the pan and cool completely.
- Meanwhile, let’s prepare the chocolate mousse filling. In a small bowl, dissolve cocoa powder and instant espresso powder in a hot water.
- In a double boiler, melt chocolate chips until nice and smooth. Remove from heat and cool slightly.
- In a mixing bowl with whisk attachment, whip the heavy cream with the sugar until hard peaks form.
- Stir in the cocoa mixture and Nutella into the melted chocolate. Add half of the whipped cream and mix everything together with folding motion. Fold in the remaining whipped cream and mix well until no white streaks remain. Refrigerate until the cake is cooled completely.
- To assemble the cake, slice the cakes horizontally into two equal layers, using a long serrated knife. If your cakes got a small hump as pictured, just slice it off.
- Put the first cake layer into a springform pan and spread about a little less than 1/3 of the mousse filling. Then put the next layer of the cake and spread the mousse and so on until the cake is built. Make sure to leave a bit of mousse to cover the top of the cake. A very thin layer of mousse on top is all you need. Refrigerate the cake for at least 2 hours or overnight.
- Once the cake is cooled, make the chocolate ganache. In a small saucepan, bring heavy cream to a simmer. Do not boil. Pour hot cream over chocolate chips, and let it sit for good 2 minutes. Then mix well until smooth for couple minutes. Stir in butter to add some shine.
- Remove the springform sides. Pour the ganache over the cake while the ganache is still runny, if you want smooth glaze. Or, you can let it cool and thicken a little bit to spread as a frosting.
Nutrition
Hello!
I love the recipe, but can you please tell how much in gr of Nutella is 1/3 of a cup?
Thank you!
Hi, Sabina. I’d say about 100g of Nutella.
What can I substitute for the nutella in the mousse filling if we have nut allergies?
Hi, Richie. You can simply omit it, and/or increase chocolate chip amount by 1/4 cup, if you’d like. Hope you enjoy!
I don’t have Greek yogurt on hand so could I use regular yogurt instead? If so, same amount?
Thank you!
Since regular yogurt is thinner, I’d suggest straining it first.
Hi Shinee, do you think replacing greek yogurt with sour cream will yield a good result? Thanks!
Sure, I don’t see why you couldn’t. But I’ve never tested this recipe with sour cream. Let us know how it turns out if you give it a try, Rouky.
I made this cake for this Easter weekend. My cake portion was dry and I don’t know why.
Hi, Rosanne. Any chance the cake was over-baked?
I just made the cake and it was my 1st attempt. Instead of expresso coffee and hot water, I added same amount of prepared filter coffee. I put equal amount of batter in the two 9″ pan as suggested. I baked them with Convention Oven at 325. My cake did not rise much and it was above the first slot so I cut just top. I followed everything and no other change. The cake did not rise because of Convention Oven? Any other recommendations? In the past, I have noticed with convention my pastry cookies do not rise. Just curios. I will try next time without using convention.
Thanks
Ide like to make this chocolate mousse cake
With yellow cake? To break up all the chocolate
Hi, Don. That sounds like a great idea!
One question: is there something I can replace the Nutella with?
Thank you,
Jan
Hi, Janice. You can simply omit Nutella and increase chocolate a little bit to compensate.
LOVE this recipe!!! its amazing just for the mousse! would spice up any average cake but all together this is sooo good! I’ve made it 3 times now and the mousse probably 5 and cannot get enough. My go to cake for chocolate lovers!!
That’s fantastic, Juliette!! So happy you love it so much! Thank you for your feedback.
For the ganache, what kind of chocolate did you use for this recipe?
I see the answer now. Omit the question above
Glad you found the answer, Reesie.
Making this week for daughter’s birthday. In the ganache, what type of chocolate chips are used, the bittersweet?
Just read Teresa’s question and your response. Thanks and have a blessed day.
Glad you found the answer. Hope you all will love it, Lynette.
Hi Shinee, this cake looks amazing. (I can’t see the comment box so I have to write here in a reply)
I want to ask how is the best way for me to make this cake larger for up to 60 people? Can I double this recipe and use a large rectangular tray for baking? I want to make for my sons 16th, but I need it to be large!! Thank you I look forward to hearing from you
Hi, Angeline. Hmm, quite honestly, I’ve never made that big of a cake, and I’m afraid I can’t give you a definitive advice. But you can bake the cake in 9×13-inch, instead of 2 9-inch cake pans. And I’d suggest, instead of doubling the recipe, I’d make it twice. Hope this helps. And good luck!
P.S. Comment box is above the comment thread.