Hi

I have an order for a chocolate mousse cake for a 4yr olds birthday. The client wants an edible image.
The stress I have is that I have never done a chocolate mousse cake before.
Questions that I have.....
1. Will the cake hold up or will the top layer of the cake squeeze the mousse?
2. Will icing the cake in fresh cream work with the chocolate mousse?

I have made one of these before. The cake will be great for decorating, but the choc mousse frosting may not hold up to an edible image. It's even more fluffy then whipped frosting.

You won't be able to use an edible image with whipped cream. You can use one with whipped buttercream or non-dairy whipped topping.

I have a chocolate mousse recipe that is very firm. I use it each year because it's the only cake my husband likes - chocolate cake torted with chocolate mousse. I have never put a dam around it, but because you use it after it is set, I have always had to pipe it onto the cake instead of just spreading it.

After living in France I had to look really hard for a mousse recipe that was like a French one without raw eggs. This is the one I found and (happiness!) it was easy enough for my middle school students to make.

La Mousse au Chocolat
(Chocolate Mousse)

2 c. chilled heavy cream
4 large egg yolks
3 T. sugar
1 t. vanilla
7 oz. fine quality bittersweet chocolate, chopped
(This should not be unsweetened chocolate. The chocolate should contain at least 50-60 percent cocoa solids.)

1. Heat 3/4 c. cream in a 1-quart heavy saucepan until hot.

2. Whisk together yolks, sugar and a pinch of salt in a metal bowl until combined well, then add hot cream in a slow stream, whisking until combined.

3. Transfer mixture to saucepan and cook over moderately low heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens. Pour mixture into a large bowl and gently stir in vanilla.

4. Melt chocolate in a glass bowl in the microwave one minute at a time at 50% power. (Or you can do this with a water bath on the stove.) When chocolate is completely melted, whisk chocolate into custard until smooth.

5. Beat remaining 1 1/4 c. cream in a bowl with an electric mixer until it just holds stiff peaks. Whisk one fourth of cream into chocolate custard to lighten, then fold in remaining cream gently but thoroughly.

6. Spoon mousse into small bowls and chill, covered, for at least 6 hours.

suggestion: assemble your chocolate mousse cake, finishing the top with a very thin layer of chocolate cake (freeze the cake before slicing this layer in order to make it very thin). freeze the whole cake, and then ice only the top with chocolate or vanilla buttercream. ganache would work better on the sides than whipped cream, but if you are going to use whipped cream, coat the whipped cream with shaved chocolate or something like that (the mousse in the cake may tend to bleed into the whipped cream on the sides). this way, you can confidently lay your edible image on the top of the cake without worry. you can also ice the sides with more chocolate mousse and leave bare or coat with shaved chocolate or chocolate sprinkles.

tips: be sure you are building your cake (layers of cake and mousse) in a springform pan, and freeze the whole thing before decorating.

here's a simple recipe for a sturdy mousse (no eggs or gelatin):
melt 350 grams semi-sweet chocolate and 1 tbsp butter or margarine in microwave at 50% power for 2 minutes. stir. cool at room temp.
whip 500 ml COLD whipping cream or non-dairy whipped topping to stiff peaks (use powder stabilizer if desired). blend a small amount of cream into melted chocolate...repeat, and then blend lightened chocolate mixture into remaining cream. the mousse will stiffen upon sitting (or put in fridge to quicken this process)

Thank you so much for all the help. I'm going to try out some of these ideas over the weekend and will let you all know how it turned out.
The lady requested a 11X16 sheet cake so I'm still a little uneasy about how I'm going to assemble the whole thing.......wish I could find a square spring foam pan....

But, thanks again......

Regards
Shamani

HI
I just made a chocolate mousse cake last weekend.
The Mousse recipe i use is
250g Cream Cheese
100g Castor Sugar
1 Egg
250g Dark Chocolate
600ml fresh Thickened Cream.

Cream together Cream Cheese, sugar and egg until smooth and light.

Add melted Chocolate and whisk in quickly to prevent chocolate setting.

Add cream while whisking until all mixture has combined. Keep whisking until mixture becomes quite thick and then refrigerate until mousse has set. (I like to make it the night before).

I slice my cake into 3 and fill each layer with the mousse. I then Put cake together and them mask the whole cake and refrigerate until set.

I do all my cakes in stabelized fresh Cream. So I just Ice cake as usual and add decorations. the cake I made on the weekend was for an 8 yr old and I used a cut out from an edible image. I didnt add image intil the very last minute though, as they say edible images only last about 5-6hrs on a cake before they start to bleed.

How do I add a pic of the cake I made?

Tash

hi Shamani:
i've been thinking about how to approach the big rectangular mousse cake you're doing this weekend, and i hope the following advice may be helpful to you.
1) do you best to cut your cake layers fairly thin (try for 3 layers). if you need to, cut your cake in half (vertically) first, freeze both sides, then torte (cut into layers) each side. put the the two 5.5"x8" halves of the bottom layer on your board to create the 11"x16" cake layer (put a little icing or mousse on the board before putting the cake down, so they'll be "glued" a bit to the board, then apply the first mousse layer, then repeat with the other cake/mousse layers. it will be heavy enough that you won't get shifting, and the mousse layers will hold the "halved" cake layers together.
2) unset mousse will be too runny and soft to use without a springform pan, so make your mousse and chill it to let it set before assembling the cake. scoop up the ready mousse and gently spread it on the cake layers, building up a thick layer. don't stir it or you'll knock too much air out of it. once your top cake layer is on (you should now have 3 layers of cake and 2 thick layers of mousse between them), go around the sides of the cake at the mousse layers only, and push extra mousse into any empty spots around the edges (then go around the cake with a dry palette knife so your sides are all smooth and flush and even). ideally, your cake board will fit in your fridge (you'll probably have to clear off a shelf, and take care to not let anything fall on it), or if you have a deep-freezer that will accomodate it, chill the whole thing before icing. then, use buttercream for the top (to accomodate the edible image), and use more chilled mousse or chilled whipped cream for the sides, with or without sprinkles or chocolate shavings, etc.

i hope it all goes well for you!

WOW,

Thanks aunt-judy and Tash, this all is starting to make more sense to me. whats your opinion about a NON egg mousse. I would prefer to not use eggs.

Regards
Shamani

I have never made a mousse without egg, so I'm not much help there.

I hope someone else can help you out with that.

Cheers

Tash

Shamani: my egg-less, gelatin-free simple mousse (stiff chocolate cream) recipe works really well, and everyone i've served it to really likes it (i like it cause it doesn't have the eggy-flavour i tend not to like in traditional mousses). i usually make it with a sweetned non-dairy liquid whippable topping product (nutriwhip, which i don't think is available in the U.S.?), but you can use real whipping cream, but do add some icing sugar before you whip, which will both sweeten the cream and help stabilize it (icing/powdered/10x sugar usually contains cornstarch as a anti-caking agent, and cornstarch acts as stabilizer/thickener, much like gelatin). why not try out my easy mousse recipe by half tonight (see previous post) and see if you like it? you'll notice that it seems quite soft when you're done mixing, but that it does firm up in the fridge or even just sitting out on the counter (cover the top with plastic wrap to keep the surface from drying out a bit, as it tends to). it's smooth and creamy and light and less custard-like than mousses with egg and gelatin. you can also freeze it and eat/serve it frozen like ice cream.