father's day - triple chocolate mousse cake with strawberries

For Father's Day this year, I wanted to make something with chocolate and strawberries.  So I decided on making triple chocolate mousse cake once more, but this time with strawberries.

I planned on baking a 6-inch cake, so I baked the bottom layer (chocolate cake) in a 6-inch removable-bottom cake pan.  But I had forgotten that cakes tend to shrink a bit after being baked!  Since there were gaps on the sides between the cake and the cake pan, I knew I wouldn't be able to pour the mousse layers directly on top, so I created a 5.5-inch cuff using parchment paper and a cardboard bakery box.

Once I had my homemade cake ring, I lined the edge of the ring with halved strawberries, with the cut-side facing out.  Then I filled it with the middle layer of white chocolate mousse.

After letting the two layers set in the fridge for about half an hour, I proceeded to make and fill my top layer of bittersweet chocolate mousse.  Then I let the whole cake set in the fridge for the rest of the afternoon, and then decorated the top with more halved strawberries.  And I left the leaves on to add a splash of green to the cake.

I thought the end result was beautiful, but my husband commented on how funny it was that I was making a Father's Day cake that looked so girly!  Ooops!

The cake ended up tasting great, although the bottom layer became kind of soggy from the halved strawberries.  Next time I'll try adding a thin layer of mousse before adding the strawberries, and hopefully that will protect the cake layer from getting too wet.

Happy Father's Day honey!  Next time I promise the cake won't be so girly!  Or soggy!