Black Tie Mousse Cake 2

kcdelong's Note:

This is a heavenly version of Olive Garden's Black Tie Mousse Cake.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 15 mins
• Prep Time: 40 mins
• Cook Time: 35 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 10

Yield: 1.0 Cake

Cake

• 1 (18 ounce) box chocolate cake mix
• 1 ¼ cups water (or whatever quantity your cake mix calls for)
• 3 eggs (or whatever quantity your cake mix calls for)
• ½ cup vegetable oil (or whatever quantity your cake mix calls for)

Second Layer Dark Cream Cheese Mousse

• 1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
• 1 tablespoon cold water
• 2 tablespoons boiling water
• 4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 4 ounces cream cheese , cubed
• ¾ cup heavy cream
• ½ teaspoon sugar

Third Layer Italian Custard Mousse

• 3 egg yolks
• ¼ cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons flour , sifted
• 1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
• 1 ¾ cups heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Fourth Layer Dark Chocolate Ganache

• 1 ½ cups heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 18 ounces semisweet chocolate , chopped

Directions:

1. Cake.
2. Bake according to package directions using 2 round cake pans.
3. When cake is cool, remove from pans and make a collar out of wax paper about 4 inches taller than each cake.
4. Second Layer: Dark Cream Cheese Mousse.
5. Melt chocolate and cream cheese together.
6. Let cool.
7. Soften gelatin with cold water for one minute then add boiling water.
8. Stir until dissolved and clear.
9. Let this cool while you start whipping the heavy cream and sugar.
10. Continue to whip until stiff peaks form.
11. Add 1/4 of the cream to the chocolate mixture and mix thoroughly.
12. Fold this into the remaining cream.
13. Once you have completed, spread onto cake and refrigerate.
14. Third Layer:Italian Custard Mousse.
15. Beat egg yolks until pale.
16. Add sugar, flour and gelatin, beating until mixed.
17. Bring cream and vanilla to a boil.
18. Add a small amount of cream to egg mixture while stirring.
19. Gradually add until all of the cream has been added and then pour entire mixture through a strainer into the pan.
20. Continue to cook until custard begins to thicken.
21. Cool slightly and pour on top of chocolate mousse.
22. Freeze while getting the icing ready.
23. Fourth Layer:Dark Chocolate Ganache.
24. Bring butter and cream to a boil.
25. Pour over chocolate and let sit for 5 minutes.
26. Stir until smooth.
27. Let cool to slightly warmer than room temperature until it starts to thicken.
28. Remove cake from freezer and remove the collar.
29. Pour some of the ganache over top of cake and spread it evenly across top and sides.
30. While the ganache is still wet, cover sides of cake with chocolate chips.
31. Refrigerate.
32. Let remaining ganache cool and pipe through decorating bag onto cake.

Reviews

[andypandy]

Made this today for our Christmas dessert... the chocolate cake makes two cakes...one is to be frozen for another time...this does not state that... mousses were very easy to make and both tastey. I made this in advance and froze.. the day of serving I made the gnache toppong...easy and very rich...it also made a cup to much as I did not make rossettes for top... Also a tip would be to make sure the cake bottom layer is nice and even to match the shocolate mousse and custard layers in sizes... many raves on this...but please remember this is very rich, the gnache makes it this way.... thanks for the recipe, and I will make it again with a few assembly changes..

[Whiskey Girl]

This was more time consuming than I expected but worth it, however the recipe does not say when to add the gelatin in the chocolate mousse layer, so I added it to the chocolate cream cheese mixture and it seemed to be fine. I used both cakes for the bottom layer, as I had not read the reviews first.

[Chef #1566775]

This recipe has a few problems. It really makes more sense to make two cakes and freeze one (it freezes wonderfully). The first layer makes two cakes anyway. I tripled the second and third layers and divided between the two. The Ganache is wonderful but definitely enough for two cakes as written.