If you’re looking for the ultimate chocolate dessert, my Chocolate Mousse Cake with Chocolate Mousse Mascarpone Frosting is just what you’re looking for!
I made this incredible chocolate cake (using my olive oil chocolate cake recipe) with ribbons of rich indulgent chocolate mousse in between the layers, can you say decadent?
But I didn’t stop there. Instead of just using the mousse for the frosting I decided to blend some mascarpone cheese into it! What I got was a light creamy version of the mousse, that didn’t overpower the cake.
What ingredients do I need to make a Chocolate Mousse Cake?
Let’s start by gathering the ingredients we need to make my Chocolate Mousse Cake with a Mascarpone Mousse Frosting. In Chef Speak this is called the “Mise en Place” which translates to “Everything in its Place”.
Not only does setting your ingredients up ahead of time speed the up cooking process, but it also helps ensure you have everything you need to make the dish.
How Do I make a Chocolate Mousse Cake?
Start by preheating the oven to 350ºF.
- Mix the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt together in a large bowl.
- With your mixer on low speed beat in the oil, vinegar, vanilla, and water until smooth.
- Divide the mixture into the three 9″ prepared pans, coated with butter and dusted in flour or sugar.
Bake for 30 minutes or until a cake skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Do not over bake the cake. It should be firm to the touch, and a cake skewer inserted in the middle of the cake should come out clean.
Put the cake pans on cooling racks and cool for 15 to 20 minutes before removing the cakes from the pans to cool completely
How do I make chocolate mousse?
While the cake is baking or before hand, make the chocolate mousse.
- Place the chocolate in a stainless steel bowl, over a pot of simmering water, stir with a rubber spatula as the chocolate melts, if the pan starts to get too hot, remove it from the heat.
- Continue to stir the chocolate until it has melted completely, then remove from the heat.
- Cut the butter into 8 pieces and mix it into the melted chocolate until it has been completely absorbed by the chocolate.
- Set the chocolate aside to cool to room temperature
When the chocolate has been prepared, the next step is making the sabayon for the chocolate mousse.
- add the egg yolks to the bowl of your mixer and begin to whip them until doubled in size.
- then begin to slowly pour the sugar in a steady stream into the yolks. Continue to whip for another minute.
- add the liquid to the egg yolk mixture and place the mixing bowl over a pot of simmering water and whisk the yolk mixture until it becomes very thick.
- When the egg yolks have thickened, continue to whip in your stand mixer until the mixture has cooled.
The final step in making the chocolate mousse is making the whipped cream and combing the ingredients.
- when the sabayon has cooled, fold it into the chocolate mixture until well blended.
- Whip the cream in your stand mixer until it holds its shape, then fold it into the chocolate mixture.
- Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until set.
How do I make the chocolate mousse mascarpone frosting?
Divide the prepared chocolate mousse into two portions. use one half of the mousse to make mascarpone frosting.
- Whip the room temperature mascarpone to make it smooth.
- Add the chocolate mousse to the whipped mascarpone and continue to whip until smooth.
- Refrigerate until needed
*if the frosting hardens up too much by being refrigerated use a hand mixer or wire whisk, to re-whip the frosting smooth.
How to assemble the Chocolate Mousse Cake
When the cake has completely cooled, you can now begin assembly.
- start with one layer, then add one-half of the chocolate mousse (not the frosting) to the layer spreading evenly.
- top the first mousse-filled layer with the second layer and repeat the process.
- add the final layer to the cake.
- when the layers have been set, start frosting the cake using the mascarpone chocolate mousse frosting, spreading evenly.
- top with raspberries and refrigerate for 1 hour to allow to set up
My Chocolate Mouse cake did not disappoint, it was rich and chocolaty without being overpowering. I enjoyed mine with a tall glass of ice-cold milk, but it would also go great with a good cup of coffee.
If you’re planning a party and looking for that special dessert to wow the crowd, I can recommend this cake, your guests will be in chocolate heaven, all begging for the recipe!
It would also make the perfect birthday cake for that chocolate lover in your life, but you don’t really need an excuse to make this deliciously decadent cake………. after all it’s Chocolate!
Kitchen tools I use for my cakes
- offset spatula (essential for bakers)
- 9-inch USA Pan Bakeware cake pans
- 9-inch parchment cake circles
- silicone spatulas
- wire whisk
- mixing bowls
More Recipes You’ll Love!
- Ultimate Pomegranate Mousse Cake
- Chocolate Cake with Strawberry Mousse Filling
- Bee Sting Cake
- Restaurant Style Hummingbird Cake
- Four Layer Banana Crunch Cake
Chocolate Mousse Cake
Ingredients
Chocolate Olive Oil Cake
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 2 cups sugar
- 6 tablespoons cocoa
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons white vinegar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups cold water
Chocolate Mousse
- 13 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate finely cut
- 6 tbsp butter softened
- ½ cup sugar
- 6 egg yolks
- ¼ cup strong black coffee or espresso
- ¼ cup Kahlua
- 3 cups heavy cream
Chocolate Mousse Mascarpone Frosting
- 8 ounces mascarpone
- ⅓ of chocolate mousse
Assembly
- 1 pint raspberries
Instructions
Chocolate Olive Oil Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
- Mix the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt together in a large bowl. With your mixer on low speed beat in the oil, vinegar, vanilla, and water until smooth. Pour the mixture into the two 9″ prepared pans, coated with butter and dusted in flour or sugar.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until a cake skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Do not over bake the cake. It should be firm to the touch, and a cake skewer inserted in the middle of the cake should come out clean.
- Put the cake pans on cooling racks and cool for 15 to 20 minutes before removing the cakes from the pans to cool completely
Chocolate Mousse
- Place the chocolate in a stainless steel bowl, over a pot of simmering water, stir with a rubber spatula as the chocolate melts, if the pan starts to get too hot, remove it from the heat.
- Continue to stir the chocolate until it has melted completely, then remove from the heat.
- Cut the butter into 8 pieces and mix it into the melted chocolate until it has been completely absorbed by the chocolate.
- Set the chocolate aside to cool to room temperature
- Sabayon
- add the egg yolks to the bowl of your mixer and begin to whip them until doubled in size, then begin to slowly pour the sugar in a steady stream into the yolks. Continue to whip for another minute.
- add the liquid to the egg yolk mixture and place your mixing bowl over a pot of simmering water and whisk the yolk mixture until it becomes very thick.
- When the egg yolks have thickened, continue to whip in your stand mixer until the mixture has cooled.
- when the sabayon has cooled, fold it into the chocolate mixture until well blended.
- Whip the cream in your stand mixer until it holds its shape. Take your time whipping the cream, rushing it will cause it to deflate.
- Fold the whipped cream into the chocolate mixture.
- Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until set.
Chocolate Mousse Mascarpone Frosting
- Divide the prepared chocolate mousse into two portions. use one half of the mousse to make mascarpone frosting
- Whip the room temperature mascarpone to make it smooth.
- Add the chocolate mousse to the whipped mascarpone and continue to whip until smooth. Refrigerate until needed*if the frosting hardens up too much by being refrigerated use a hand mixer or wire whisk, to re-whip the frosting smooth.
Assembly
- Place one of the cakes on your cake stand or dish. Add one-half of the chocolate mousse (not the frosting) to the layer spreading evenly. Top the first mousse-filled layer with the second layer and repeat the process.add the final layer to the cake.
- When the layers have been set, start frosting the cake using the chocolate mousse mascarpone frosting spreading evenly.
- Top with raspberries and refrigerate for 1 hour to allow to set up.
- slice cake, serve and enjoy!
Nutrition
Mama Maggie's Kitchen
My mouth is watering. I wish this were in front of me.
Oscar
Wow this cake was amazing. It turned out so well, going to make it again.
Raquel
Such a beautiful and delicious dessert! Chocolate mousse is a favorite and perfect for summer!
Pam Greer
We love a good chocolate cake around here and this is our favorite!
Elizabeth
Great recipe! Will definitely make again!
Alexandra
What a gorgeous show-stopper of a dessert!
Char
Love your tiramisu recipe! This recipe caught my eye…but I’m a bit skeptical about 6 tbsp of cocoa being enough to darken and flavour up 3 cups of flour. Do u use natural cocoa? Dutch process? Black cocoa? I would love to try this….store bought chocolate mousse cakes just don’t cut it!
Chef Dennis Littley
its a lot more than you think. I use natural cocoa powder and most of the time its Hersheys. I’ve been known to purchase Valharona or Ghiradelli as well.
jue
Is it alright to omit the butter from the chocolate mousse, because when I add it to the whip cream if tends to curd up and unable to get rid of the curd-ed texture. I tried many times with same result. Where am I going wrong. Thanks for the great recipe.
Chef Dennis Littley
hi Jue
the butter shouldn’t be clumping up the mixture at all. You can leave out the butter if you like.
shan
will the mas arpone melt as frosting in a tropical country?
Chef Dennis Littley
if it gets too warm yes it can, its best to keep it in the fridge until serving
mech_mech
Thank u so much for this recipe was wonderfull we were on a girl party and they eat all of it saying that the coffee note was emphasing this much chocolate
Karen
Hi. I have just made this for my son’s birthday. The cakes didn’ t rise much, but that worked fine as I just interspersed them with the mousse. I just deviated a little by doing a layer of crushed choc biscuits with melted butter, and then layering condensed milk caramel on top of that, then the mousse, then the cake, more caramel, mousse and cake, finishing with the amazing frosting with ganache swirls. Can’t wait to taste it!! Looks fabulous!
lisa
hi wow nice cakes I really need help my daughter is turning 3 and she loves caramal do you have a nice caramal mousse recipe I could use or any other like chocolate and orange mousse sorry she loves mousse or you could give me some recipes and I could pick from it thank you so much for your help…
Magic of Spice
This cake looks incredible!
Debra Kapellakis
DECADENT TIMES 2! wow!
The Mistress of Spices
This looks absolutely exquisite! Pure torture for me to be looking at this right now while on a juice fast…
Sandy
Congrats on Top 9-excellent and this cake has me drooling…you’re killing me…I need another lifetime just to make all of your recipes that I have added to my must try list !
Jenn and Seth (@HomeSkilletCook)
wow, this looks absolutely amazing! sounds so wonderfully decadent!
Ansh
Thank you for the recipe and congrats on top 9.
I was looking for something to lighten my chocolate mousse. I found the solution!! Thanks once again.
Elin
COngrats on Top 9!!!! Well done Chef Dennis!!!
Mei-i@gastronomic nomad
So decadent! I love chocolate mousse and mascarpone. Perfect special occasion cake. What is the purpose of white vinegar exactly?
Congrats on top 9!
Chef D
when you don’t use eggs in cakes or cookies, you can use vinegar with baking soda to get a chemical reaction to help make them rise. You never taste it at all.
Brooks
Bravo Chef, and congratulations on the Top 9!
Tabitha
Was this frosting sturdy enough to pipe? Would it melt off at a summer picnic? It looks great!
Chef D
Yes it was sturdy enough to pipe, I don’t think it would melt in the summer, but it would get very soft. I would just use straight mousse without the added mascarpone, and keep it cold for as long as I could before taking it outside.
Anna
This cake sounds amazing, Chef! Mousse mascarpone frosting – no way I would share this cake! 🙂
Steve @ the black peppercorn
wow that cake looks delicious!!!
Sandra
Congrats on Top 9!
Emma @ Food, Fork and Good
This looks perfect for a birthday party I’m supposed to be making a cake for, I’m betting it won’t last long. I’m the same with cake, I’m very lucky to have a big family of ‘tasters’ ready to help me out though =]
Jill Colonna
Chapeau to you, Chef! For using up leftovers I’d be like a puppy too, begging for another slice.
Elin
Piggy Chef… Have a great time with your girls 🙂 Yea , who knows one of them may be the next top chef one day ! The cake looks mouth-watering…thanks for the recipe. Have bookmarked! Grat as a birthday cake 🙂
kathdedon
Wow, Dennis! That cake looks incredible! I love that it’s made with olive oil.
Enjoy your well-deserved days of rest!
Swathi
You are right, this is a wonderful birthday cake . As you mention, cooking is not that hard, but cleaning the dishes yes it is hard for me. Hope your trip with students went well.
Tickled Red
I could just dive into this cake! Mmm,Mmm 😀
Mari
Ohhh Chef Dennis…this is just heavenly! Now I am in the mood for something chocolate 🙂 Thank you very much for this recipe. Already saved and pinned.
RavieNomNoms
This look soooo amazing!! WOW. Decadent does not even describe Dennis. Plus, it is just so pretty! 🙂
Maureen @ Orgasmic Chef
This cake is fantastic. It looks delicious.
You deserve a break of more than a day or so. Enjoy the CIA !
Sandra
I don’t come across many cakes that call for olive oil and I am excited to see this one. Your pictures have convinced me that this is the cake for me. Enjoy the trip and sneak in a nap if you can.
Larry
I’d have to call it sinful.
Nandita
This cake looks so perfect and delicious. Just right for any kind of celebration 🙂
DB-The Foodie Stuntman
Looks delicious!
Betty Ann @Mango_Queen
OH. MY. GOD. What an amazing-looking chocolate cake! I can’t stop staring at it. I want a slice right now. Thanks for sharing, Chef Dennis!
Anita at Hungry Couple
That is one amazing looking cake. Brian is the chocolate mousse cake monster and this wouldn’t last long around him. Enjoy the trip to the CIA. It’s close to a 2 hour drive from Manhattan but it’s quite scenic and Brian and I go up there every spring for lunch. Up until now we’ve always gone to American Bounty because it’s open on Saturdays and it’s always terrific. The campus itself is stunning and I probably have dozens of photos of it on my site. I hope you blog about your day there with your girls.
Vicki Bensinger
This looks so good. I’ve been gathering up cake recipes since both kids have birthdays coming up. I will have to add this to the list then have my kids select one for each of their birthdays.
Laura (Tutti Dolci)
You had me at chocolate mousse and chocolate mousse Mascarpone – what a perfectly decadent cake!
Spencer
Looks absolutely delicious! I reckon I could eat the lot in 5 minutes flat!
Lynn
I’ve made a plain olive oil cake but never thought about adding chocolate. Like the idea of using olive oil vs. butter. Spontanaity is a wonderful thing when it comes to leftover items!
Bernadette
Ok, I’m not a great baker, but this looks and sounds so good I’m going to try it! Wish me luck!
The Wimpy Vegetarian
OMG, Dennis, this cake is amazing. My husband is a member of chocoholics anonymous and I’ve GOT to make this for his birthday next month. Wow. I make my own mascarpone cheese and am always drawn to recipes with it, so your recipe gets major bonus points here.
Sandie
Great looking cake! Have a great time at the CIA!
Becki's Whole Life
This cake looks so light yet extremely chocolately – yum!
Ridwan
Beautiful and delicious looking cake,that chocolate mousse mascarpone frosting sound perfect for this cake,Thank for sharing chef,I will mark this great recipe !!
In Katrina's Kitchen
This is some serious business. Wow Chef!!!
Joan Hayes@chocolate and more
Dennis, this cake is to die for! I’ll have to get up the nerve to make it, I’ve never been very good at making mousse. Have a wonderful time on the trip with the girls, you do such a great job with them!
Cruiser
For those who have not tried this cake, I feel sorry for you. My neice made it for her man and we were invited to his birthday dinner. OMG it was amazing. She went for the four layers and added a liquor to the mousse. She decorated the top and sides with grated chocolate.
A definite must have for all those chocoholics out there.
Chef Dennis Littley
I’m very happy to hear that the cake was a success! Thanks so much for letting me know how much you enjoyed it.