Chocolate Mousse Mud Cake

 

Mmmm.  Chocolate Mousse Mud Cake.  Mm.  Mm mm mm.  Ya know sometimes, sometimes you just need some chocolate cake with mousse on top.  Right?

What really happened?

I had baked up yet another in a long line of yellow cake tests, seeking that elusive what-I-personally-deem-as-the-best and it was a total fail.

Total.  Fail.

Mike wouldn't even eat it.  Yeah.

Even the frosting sucked.

Sigh. 

Ugh.

*shaking fists in air*  Seriously.  Someday.

Anyway, a loss.  Really loathe when that happens.

I suppose one day when I finally crown The Best, along with everyone else on the internet, there will be folks who will be dubious (as I clearly am as so many bests out there are not best) and won't like my interpretation.  That's ok.

But to make up for it, I felt, veer, something chooooccooolate was in order.

So here we are.

This little Chocolate Mousse Mud Cake is deelish.  It's light and delicate, fudgy and chocolate-y without being ack too overall in general, too much chocolate.

I know, hardly seems like it could be a thing, too much chocolate, but it is a real thing.  Sometimes too much is just too much and it's no longer about what the thing is anymore.  Too much.

Balance is success, in my opinion.

This is rightly balanced.  It's got a nice little cake on the bottom, kind of similar to a flourless fudgy type but, heh, with flour.  Sturdier, with a bit of a chew though, like Chewy Brownies in a sense but cake.

Then the top, oh the top, is a freakin' ginormous layer of creamy, billowy, soft and fluffy, rich and just sweet enough whipped cream chocolate mousse.

Uh huh.

Yeah.

I hear your printer shooting this out right now.  Good plan.

Bonus:  the cake is mixer-free.  Granted, a mixer* is really helpful for whipping up two big cups of heavy cream but if you're tougher than me, you can go completely sans mixer.

Plus this recipe is incredibly approachable -- don't be intimidated by the look or name sounding all uber fancy:  Chocolate Mousse Mud Cake?

It's a dupe of a cake, really.  Mike looked at me all shocked when he went to slice it up.  It looks fancy, it sounds fancy, it tastes fancy, but it's a snap to pull together.  It's our secret.

Note, if you don't polish the whole thing right off, over a few days the cake portion will get fudgier and denser, more mud-like, but in no way is that a bad thing. 

Ok, so first off melt some butter and chocolate together in the microwave.  You can double-boiler this if you prefer of course.  Either way, stop the melt while there are still some chocolate chunks left and stir them out.  This prevents overheating and the mix cools faster too.  Win win.

While that cools, spray up a nine inch springform pan* with some baking spray* or give it a buttery grease and flour.  You're welcome to slip a round of parchment* on the bottom or as I've done, use a silicone round.*

In a big bowl,* once the chocolate and butter have cooled, toss the brown sugar, milk, eggs, vanilla and whisk* that around.  Pour in the aforementioned chocolate butter goodness and mix that up.

Drop a fine mesh strainer* atop that big mixing bowl and add the dry ingredients to it, the flour, cocoa powder, and salt. 

Use Dutch-process cocoa* (not black) if you have it and to know the cocoa difference, click here.  Get the Wincrest* if you're ordering from Amazon as it's Blommer and Blommer is *mwah* the best.

All right, so tap the strainer and sift the dry ingredients into the big bowl.  With a non-stick spatula,* fold the dry into the wet until just barely mixed in.  Over-mixing is always to be avoided.

Scoop your fine batter into that prepped springform pan and off to the oven it goes.  Bake it up then leave it to cool in the pan.

Tiiiimmme for the mousse. 

In a small saucepan,* you'll heat up part of the cream with the chocolate, butter, and powdered sugar until it's all melty and smooth then transfer that to a large bowl to cool.

When that's good to go, whip up the remaining heavy cream.  Yeah, this is where a mixer is handy.  A handheld* one works great here in lieu of a beefy countertop number.  Get that to soft peaks.

Scoop about a third of the cream into the cooled chocolate goodness and with a spatula, gently fold those two together.  When it's mostly mixed, add another third, repeat, then the last and repeat.  Voila, mousse!

 

Dump the entire contents of the mousse bowl onto the top of the baked cake and spread that around nice and even.  If it inadvertently ends up all over you, eh, sorry not sorry you have to lick that clean.

And it's ready!  Chocolate Mousse Mud Cake!  Yesss!

Get ready...

You can grate some additional chocolate over the top if you'd like as I did, do some chocolate curls or whatever, or not.  The original calls for a chocolate sauce coating but in my opinion, that's back to too much, but feel free.

This Chocolate Mousse Mud Cake is best chilled for a couple hours before serving but if you can't wait, have at it.  And it only gets better with time.

Happy chocolate-ing!

*The stand mixers, 9" springform pans, baking spray, parchement paper, silicone round mats, mixing bowls, whisks, fine mesh strainers, cocoa powders, silicone spatulas, saucepans, and handheld mixers are Amazon affiliate links.  Happy baking, thanks!  Please see the "info" tab for more, well, info.