Chocolate Raspberry Mousse Cake

Irmgard's Note:

This is a very elegant cake for a special occasion which I found years ago in Canadian Living magazine. It looks complicated but is actually quite easy to make. It can be served as is or with a raspberry coulis.

• Total Time: 3 hrs
• Prep Time: 1 hrs
• Cook Time: 2 hrs

Ingredients:

Yield: 1 cake

Chocolate Cake

• 3 eggs, separated
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

Raspberry Syrup

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 tablespoons raspberry liqueur

Raspberry Mousse

• 1 1/2 packages unflavored gelatin
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 (300 g) packages frozen raspberries, thawed
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons raspberry liqueur
• 2 cups whipping cream

Chocolate Glaze

• 4 ounces semisweet chocolate
• 1/4 cup whipping cream

Directions:

1. Chocolate Cake: In a large bowl, beat egg yolks with 1/4 cup sugar until very pale.
2. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form; gradually beat in the remaining sugar until stiff peaks form.
3. Fold the egg white mixture into the egg yolk mixture.
4. Sift the flour and cocoa over the egg mixture; gently fold in.
5. Pour into a buttered 8-inch springform pan; bake is a 350 degree F oven for 30 to 35 minutes or until the top springs back when lightly touched.
6. Run a knife around the edge of the cake to loosen it.
7. Let cool on a wire rack.
8. Raspberry Syrup: In a small saucepan, combine sugar and water; cook over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved, about 1 minute.
9. Stir in the liqueur.
10. Let cool.
11. Raspberry Mousse: In a small saucepan, sprinkle gelatin over water; let stand for 5 minutes to soften.
12. Puree the berries in a food processor and then strain through a sieve to remove the seeds.
13. There should be approximately 2 cups of puree remaining.
14. Transfer the puree to a separate saucepan.
15. Add sugar and lemon juice; cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has dissolved, about 5 minutes.
16. Stir in the liqueur; transfer to a large bowl.
17. Over low heat, heat the gelatin until dissolved; stir into the raspberry mixture.
18. Chill, stirring occasionally, over a larger bowl of ice and water for about 20 minutes or until the consistency of raw egg whites.
19. Whip the cream; fold into the cooled raspberry mixture.
20. Reserve 1/2 cup for garnish.
21. To assemble, cut the cake into 3 or 4 thin layers; reserve 2 layers and freeze the remaining layers for another use.
22. Sprinkle 1 cut side of each of the 2 layers with the raspberry syrup.
23. Place 1 layer, syrup side up, in a 9-inch springform pan; pour in half of the raspberry mousse.
24. Top with the second cake layer; pour in enough of the remaining mousse to come almost to the top of the pan.
25. Smooth the surface.
26. Refrigerate until firm, 1 to 2 hours.
27. Chocolate Glaze: In the top of a double boiler over hot, not boiling, water, melt the chocolate with the cream, stirring until smooth.
28. Let it cool to room temperature yet still spreadable; pour over the mousse and spread evenly.
29. Spoon the remaining mousse into a pastry bag fitted with a small plain tip; pipe 3 concentric circles over the top of the cake.
30. Pull a toothpick through the circles to form a spider web design.
31. Refrigerate until chilled.

Reviews

[no cake mix]

My rating is on the mousse only because I used the dark chocolate cake #2496 from this site instead. It's my all time favourite. the cake is so moist that I never need to brush any syrup on before adding filling to the cake. And it doesn't dry up as fast. When I made the mousse, I reduced the lemon juice to 1.5 tbsp and sugar to 2/3 cup, frozen raspberries to 4 cups. One tip to avoid chocolate coating to crack: add 1/2 tbsp of unsalted butter when melting the chocolate with hot whipping cream. It was fun to decorate the cake with the web design. Check out my photos uploaded for this recipe.

[isarcat]

I have to thank you for posting this wonderful cake. I've had it for years and suddenly lost the recipe. In fact I just logged in to see if I could find it on the net. This is truly a marvelous cake! Although it's true that the chocolate cake sometimes doesn't rise enough for four layers, it doesn't really make any difference, as the recipe only calls for two. Mostly I can get it to rise though... I also use grand marnier or cointreau sometimes instead of raspberry liqueur... I find that the combination of flavours is simply amazing! It's a visual stunner as well.. I just can't thank you enough for posting! Cheers! Is

[Matreen]

This is a very simple cake, if you do not develop the eggs properly you will not get the volume that you require. I can only assume that your cake did not have the volume or hight to cut into 3 to 4 layers. The recipe only uses 2 of the layers anyway.There is nothing wrong with the recipe. developing yolk and sugar is a matter of time, you look not only for that pale color but also for the thickness. You should not be able to feel the sugar crystals at all. That will be one half of the battle right there. Go ahead and try again with just the cake, buy a chicken farm if you have to , just don't give up.......