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
What a gorgeous cake!
Thank you, Pam. 🙂
I typically enjoy milk chocolate more than dark, due to the bitterness. Would you say the mousse to be a little bitter? Do you think milk chocolate chips could sub some of the bittersweet chocolate?
To me the mousse isn’t bitter, but if you like milk chocolate more, then feel free to use it. 🙂
Looks so yummy! ! Need to make it tomorrow. .btw how many eggs needed in this recipe. It doesn’t state how many.
Thanks, Sofia! You need 2 eggs. Let me know how it turned out.
Thank you. .yes will let you know hown it comes out.
Thank you for this amazing recipe. Made it for my friend’s birthday cake and it turned out incredible. Was absolutely a hit. I had leftover mousse — I made extra for my kids to have for a snack and that too was delicious.
The chocolate cake recipe is one of the best from scratch recipes I have ever used. Just the right amount of chocolate taste and moist.
Thanks again!!!!
Michele, this is so great to hear! Thank you for your feedback. 🙂
This is one cake i will have to try this weekend. but i will need to sit and convert it all into uk measures 1st
Thanks for sharing and i will let you know how i get on.
Jacqui
Hi, Jacqui! I just updated the recipe to show the measurements in gr/ml for you. Let me know if you have any questions, and how it turned out. 🙂
If I’m using 6-inch round cake pans instead of 9-inch ones, should I be lowering the temperature while baking for the same length of time or should I keep to the same temperature but shorten the baking time?
Honestly, Elaine, I wouldn’t use 6-inch pan for this recipe, it’s just way too small. I don’t think it will work out well. Since I’ve never tested it, I can’t tell with any certainty. Sorry.
hi would like to try this but cannot find the recipe. please assist
Hmm, the recipe box is right above the comments, Lisa.
This was so awesome. Can’t wait to bake it again.
Shannon, I’m so glad you made the cake and liked it. 🙂 Thanks for letting me know.
Hi! I plan on making this for my youngest daughter’s birthday coming up (she is a chocolate lover) but I had a question on the ganache. What kind of chocolate chips do I use for it? Semi-sweet or milk chocolate or something else? Thanks! Can’t wait to see how this turns out although I’m nervous as I don’t have a stand mixer or double boiler so I’ll have to use other stuff.
Hi, Rachel! I usually use semi-sweet chocolate chip when I make ganache, but it’s totally up to you depending how sweet you want your ganache be. You really don’t need stand mixer for this recipe. Hand-held mixer will be just fine. As for the double-boiler, I just used two different pots that fit nicely together. I’m sure your daughter will love this cake. It’s my family’s favorite cake, and I heard so many great things from my readers. 🙂 Let me know if you have any other questions, Rachel. And please let me know how it turned out. Have a happy birthday, to your daughter!
Thank you 🙂 I will definitely let you know how it turns out!
So I made this today. It is a great cake and both my girls (one of them being the birthday girl) loved it! I may make a couple of changes to my taste next time but I will definitely make this again.
I’m so happy your girls loved the cake, Rachel. And I’m glad that you’ll be making it again. Thank you for reporting back. 🙂
This cake is absolutely gorgeous,chocolacious and doable for me. My family and my mother inlaw are loving it. Have baked it twice in 1,5weeks
That’s awesome to hear, Wijayarti! So happy you and your family are enjoying this cake. Thanks for letting me know. 🙂