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
Hi,
When do you add the water with the cocoa powder and instant espresso?? 🙂
Hi, Ivette! I’m assuming you’re asking about mousse filling. You will need to stir in cocoa/espresso mixture into melted chocolate in Step 9.
yes, but as soon as i added the water with the cocoa powder and coffe it turned the chocolate super thick, is this normal?
Hmm, not really. Was the water with cocoa and espresso very cold when you added to the chocolate? If so, the cold mixture might have hardened the chocolate. You may melt it over the double boiler again for a few minutes.
no… i think the chocolate was cold… but anyway it worked out. Thanks 🙂
Oh great to here that all worked out! I hope you liked the cake.
Can I substitute the Greek yogurt with plain yogurt? Tks
Yes, you can, Angie.
Hi Shinee!
I was googling for an excellent chocolate cake recipe with a ‘not too sweet’ filling for a corset cake I was asked to make….a corset cake, obviously, will have a ‘couple’ heavier spots….will the mousse hold up to a little extra weight from cake/frosting? I’ve not tried filling with mousse….but if it works this will be my new go-to!
Thank you for sharing! I might have to ‘trim’ a wee bit extra to taste test lol
Jess
Hey, Jess! I’m glad you found my blog and this recipe.
Corset cake, huh? Sounds fun! It’s hard for me to give an accurate advise, since I’ve never made one before. But I think it should hold up just fine, the mousse is lighter than buttercream, but it’s still have some body to it. Good luck! Sounds like you’re gonna have fun! 🙂
Ok, last question, would i have to double this recipe to make a full 2″ 9×13 cake? I will tort and fill it if it’s tall enough!
Yes, definitely need double the recipe. Let me know how it turns out. 🙂
Hi,
I assume the baking soda goes in with the dry ingredients? I just wanted to make sure that is correct. I don’t see many recipes with soda and powder. (At the time of this comment, the recipe lists “cocoa powder, , baking powder and salt.” in the instructions of step 2.)
Amber, thank you so much for the note! You’re correct, baking soda goes with all the dry ingredients. Somehow it got deleted, and I just fixed it. Again, I appreciate you pointed that out to me.
How long would I bake if using a 14 x 2 square pan?
I would say start checking with tooth pick after 25 minutes. Sorry for vague reply, I just didn’t test in 14×2 square pan.
For the cake recipe you say it needs salt, but nowhere in your directions does it say when to put the salt in.
Oops, my bad! It goes with all the dry ingredients on step 2. I updated the recipe now. Sorry for confusion and thank you so much for pointing it out, Chrissy!
The cake looks great, but I do have a question… Do you think I can possibly make a 2 tier cake with this? 6″ and 8″..
Thank you, Allison! Although I never tried making 2-tier cake out of this batter, I think you can only if you make one 6-inch and one 8-inch cakes. Hope it helps. 🙂
Made this gorgeous cake for my hubby’s birthday a week ago and as soon as my husband blew out the candles, the cake became the topic of discussion and his birthday party turned into oh-my-god-this-cake-is-amazing party. Everyone couldn’t stop raving about how good the cake was. Even my dad, who is not a fan of sweets, was spotted cleaning out the last drip of ganache with piece of bread. Yep, it was that good. Thanks Shinee for a wonderful recipe.
Awww, Ariunaa, thank you so much for your feedback. This means so much to me! And so happy that everyone enjoyed the cake! 🙂
Do you need to refridgerate the cake, or will the chocolate mousse stay stable at room temp?
Dalene, I recommend to refrigerate it for food safety.
This is the best chocolate cake i ever made and ate.I will make this again and again.Thank you for this amazing recipe!
Michaela, your comment made my day! I’m so happy that you love this cake. It’s our family favorite for sure. And thank you for stopping and hope to see you around again. 🙂