Chocolate Easter Mousse Cake

Easter is a time of celebration and I strongly feel that it is no coincidence that food-wise, this involves chocolate. Chocolate is luxurious so it is no wonder, that historically when it was tradition in Christian countries to give gifts over Easter, that this used to often be a gift of choice. And if anything, its decadence and deliciousness is all the more increased after the fasting of Lent. (I never fail to delight in chocolate anyway, but try going without it for six weeks and eating it for the first time after that is definitely a heavenly experience!)

Anyway, this year, I decided to go all out on the chocolate experience, and one day, at work, in a state of chocolate-deprived delirium, I got to designing a dream chocolate cake that I could indulge in on Easter Sunday.

Also, I have always loved the idea of working with chocolate, which I had always heard was quite difficult.

But there we go, always one for a challenge, I was not to be deterred. I had too often seen the delicious chocolate collared cakes in Melissa's food and coffee shop and longed to create the same. (That following the more immediate thought of wanting to surrender to ordering a piece of that chocolate wonderness with my coffee!)

But I digress: back to the mousse cake, which, initially was supposed to consist of a layer of cake, then a layer of mousse, a layer of chocolate pavlova and then whipped cream, topped with profiteroles and then more chocolate and spun sugar. (Spun sugar being something else that I have been so keen to try out - a few months ago I went out to buy a candy thermometer in anticipation of doing this one day - look out for when I make a creme bouché!)

But then I came across the Woolworths Taste Magazine in which South African Masterchef judge Peter Goffe-Wood had put together a three-layer chocolate mousse cake. A layer of chocolate brownie as the base - decadent with six eggs and then a layer of white chocolate mousse - which is possibly one of the most divine things that I have tasted though I am not all that hugely fond of mousse. Then a layer of dark chocolate mousse.

The white Chocolate Mousse worked out wonderfully - a basic combination of melted white chocolate (500g) to two and a half cups of cream that has been slightly whipped. After the chocolate has been melted and has cooled slightly, mix in the cream. A smooth consistency forms as the mixture increases in volume. It also thickens slightly as the chocolate cools down and then becomes quite manageable as you pour it over the chocolate brownie layer.

Pop this in the fridge for a few hours and it would have set.

The Dark Chocolate mousse proved to be a little more challenging and the first time I made the mousse, in exactly (I thought) the same way as the white chocolate mousse it curdled. The ratio of chocolate to cream is also different (300g chocolate to 3 cups of cream). On the second try I allowed the chocolate to cool for longer and the cream to be more consistently whipped and a little warmer. All went well but as I had the about the last cup of cream to add, I noticed the same thing happening. So I just stopped adding and thankfully, had a relatively smooth dark chocolate mousse.

Pop that on top of the white chocolate mousse and
back in the fridge.

In the mean time I made come chocolate easter eggs  (out of  rugby ball moulds as it turns out since all the smaller egg shapes were sold out!)

Finally it was time to attempt the profiteroles. Puffy rounds of choux pastry delights.

Except, that from the recipe that I followed (since I had not made choux pastry, literally in years, was not all that up to scratch. The egg to flour and water and butter ratio was a bit out. Subsequently I found another recipe and it worked out beautifully!  So here are some tips:

• Add a little more water if your butter is cold as it will take longer to melt and if too much of the water evapourates, there is the steam that makes your choux pastry rise.

Allow the dough to cool sufficiently and stop mixing as soon as it forms a ball.

• Add one egg, already beaten, at a time once your mixture is cool.




• Then work quickly with the mixture and pop them into a pre-heated oven - the oven should be heated to hotter than 180 and when you have piped out your pastry and put them in, you can reduce the  heat. Let them cook for 25 mins and then leave in a hot oven to dry out a little more - it is almost impossible to dry them out too much but you will get a lovely crispy shell! 

Fill with cream.

Lastly, assemble the chocolate collar: Put the  tempered chocolate on a plastic film and position around the cake. When it is solid, peel off the plastic.

 Top with profiteroles and then drizzle them with chocolate

Lastly: top with painted Easter eggs and wait for dessert time!

Voilá!