individual mini blackberry mousse cakes

I made a blackberry mousse cake for my brother's birthday this year, and I happened to have enough components left over to make a couple of individual mousse cakes as well! I just used my 3-inch cake rings (similar to these) to assemble them. (I've also used these rings to make these individual triple chocolate mousse cakes, and they're great for making tuna tartare as well!)

I divided the chocolate crust mixture between the cake rings, and then used a shot glass to pack the mixture down before baking them at 350F for about 7 minutes. Then when the crust had cooled, I just poured on the middle cheesecake layer, let it set in the fridge for an hour, and then poured on the blackberry mousse layer on top of that. (See here for more on the layers.)

I let the cakes set overnight, and then carefully unmolded them before topping them with a few fresh blackberries.

And there you have it - a simple. delicious, and (mostly) no-bake dessert!

blackberry mousse cake

My mom's company threw her a retirement party last fall, and when she brought home the leftovers of her retirement cake, which was a blackberry mousse cake, my brother texted me a picture of his slice and told me that I needed to recreate it because he liked it so much. So naturally, I attempted to recreate the cake for his birthday dinner last week!

I started with the chocolate crust. The retirement cake had a crunchy, chocolately crust, and the crunch reminded me a lot of these European wafer cookies that you see a lot during the holidays. So to make my crust, I used a food processor to grind up enough Oreos (with the filling removed) to make about a cup of crumbs, as well as a cup of crumbs from those European wafer cookies (good thing we still had an unopened box in our pantry from the holidays!)

Then I added a few tablespoons of sugar, and half stick of melted butter. I pressed the mixture into the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan, and baked it at 350F for about 10 minutes. Once cooled, I removed the springform sides of the pan, to reveal a crust which looked like this!

I put the springform sides back on the pan, and then got started on my filling. I decided to make a no-bake cheesecake filling for the middle layer, based on this recipe at Barbara Bakes. I let a packet of gelatin bloom in 3 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice, then added it to a whipped mixture of cream cheese, sugar, vanilla extract, and heavy whipping cream. Once everything was mixed and fluffy, I poured it into my springform pan on top of my chocolate crust, and smoothed it out with an offset spatula. Then I let it set in the fridge while I made my blackberry mousse layer.

First I pureed my blackberries in my food processor, and then strained out and discarded the seeds. I was left with a tart and luscious blackberry puree.

To that I added more gelatin bloomed in water, and then folded in a couple cups of freshly whipped cream.

Then I poured the blackberry mousse layer on top of my cheesecake layer, which by now had already set. After smoothing the top with an offset spatula, I placed it back in the fridge to set overnight.

When it was time to bring it to the party, I carefully unmolded it and decorated the top with fresh blackberries.

The combination of the lemony cheesecake with the tangy blackberry mousse turned out great, and the crust added just the right amount of chocolatey crunch. Although, I think next time I would use a higher ratio of European wafer cookies to Oreo cookies, just to up the crunch factor. :)

Happy 30th Birthday, Michael!

two triple chocolate mousse cakes with raspberries

I made these two triple chocolate mousse cakes two summers ago (where does the time go?!), but never had a chance to blog about them until now! The first one was an 8-inch version, which I made for a co-worker who was leaving the company (he went to work for Google - so jealous!).

And then second one was a smaller 6-inch version, which I made for a casual dinner/playdate with my good friend Cecila. Our kids get along so well, which works out great because then the adults can catch up while the kids play!

I've made this particular cake many, many times, and I always love it each time. I've decorated it simply with just a bit of whipped cream. Or I've made them into individual cakes like these, for a fun and elegant dessert. I've decorated the rim with fresh raspberries or halved strawberries like with this cake, which adds a nice colorful decoration as well as a nice tang of fruit to go with the rich chocolate cake. I've done a piped decoration on top, in this case a cute wreath mousse cake for Christmas. I've even made them in different shaped molds, such as this Hello Kitty triple chocolate mousse cake. So versatile! And the cake components themselves are pretty simple to make, you just need the time to be able to let each layer set before adding the next.

The cake starts with a rich chocolate cake for the bottom layer. The original recipe from America's Test Kitchen uses a flourless chocolate cake, but I prefer to use a regular chocolate cake recipe instead. Then the middle layer is a rich chocolate mousse, made with melted bittersweet chocolate and cocoa powder which is folded into freshly whipped cream. And finally, the top layer is a simple white chocolate mousse, with a bit of gelatin to help it set properly.

I don't know about you, but my mouth is watering just thinking about this cake again!

hello kitty strawberry mousse cake studded with silver dragees

My friend Kim has a daughter who was graduating from high school a few months ago, and so she asked me to make her a graduation cake.  Since her daughter likes Hello Kitty, we decided that I would make a Hello Kitty cake!  I had all these ideas in my head - she wanted a strawberry cake, so I envisioned a pink cake similar to this one, with a black graduation cap on Hello Kitty, and some sort of cute piping on the sides of the cake.  But a few days before the cake was due, my friend told me that her daughter LOVED my Hello Kitty cake with silver dragees, and wanted a cake like that one!  So I reluctantly dropped my brainstorm ideas, and set out to make a strawberry mousse cake instead.

Before making this cake, I had yet to find a good from-scratch strawberry cake recipe.  In the past I've made Martha Stewart's strawberry cupcakes, which I love, but when I had tried it in cake form instead it was always too dense and moist.  So after a few online searches, I decided to try this recipe, from I Made That!, as it had great reviews and sounded delicious.  Plus, it used strawberry puree to give the cake a pink color, no food coloring necessary!  But when the cake came out of the oven, I was disappointed by the color of the cake - it was kind of a gray-brown color, and didn't look very appetizing (although it did taste great!).

So then I made a second strawberry cake, using this recipe from Confections of a Foodie Bride.  This recipe used cooked strawberry puree to give the batter a more vibrant color.  This time when it came out of the oven, it was definitely more of a pink color, although still not as pink as I'd like it.  But it had a great strawberry flavor, so I would definitely use this recipe again (although next time I might add just a drop or two of color!).  By now it was the middle of the night, so after the cake cooled, I wrapped it up in saran wrap, and placed it in the fridge for the next day.

When I was ready to assemble the cake the next day, I used my Hello Kitty sushi pan mold (which I've used several times for Hello Kitty tiramisu, Hello Kitty triple chocolate mousse cake, etc.) to cut out my Hello Kitty shape, and then placed it at the bottom of my mold.  For the middle layer, I made a strawberry mousse from my new copy of "Sprinkle Bakes" by Heather Baird, poured it into the mold over the cake layer, and smoothed it out with an offset spatula.

For the top layer, I made a white chocolate mousse from my "America's Test Kitchen" book (the same white chocolate mousse on the top of my triple chocolate mousse cakes), then poured and smoothed that over my strawberry mousse layer.

Then I piped a congratulations message on the cake round (since I didn't want to pipe it on Hello Kitty's face!), using melted chocolate.

And then it was time to remove the mold.  I had lined the mold with parchment paper, which made it super easy to unmold the cake!

To finish it off, I added silver dragees to form Hello Kitty's eyes, nose, whiskers, and bow.  And then I was done!

Congratulations Claudia!  Hope you had a wonderful graduation!

hello kitty triple chocolate mousse cake studded with silver dragees

My best friend Sue and I both share a love for Hello Kitty, so I wanted to make her some sort of Hello Kitty cake for her birthday this year.  Last year I made her this cake inspired by Boston cream pie, and while I thought it looked pretty, it didn't live up to my expectations in the taste department.  So this year I wanted to make her something that tasted great, and since I know she loved my triple chocolate mousse cake, I decided to make her a Hello Kitty triple chocolate mousse cake!

I've made this triple chocolate mousse cake many times already, so I thought it would be a breeze to make in Hello Kitty form, but from the very first step my cake ran into complications!  My first mistake - for the bottom layer, I baked an 8-inch cake using my favorite homemade chocolate cake recipe.  I wanted to use the same technique I used for my Hello Kitty tiramisu cake, by cutting out and fitting the cake into a Hello Kitty shaped mold.  But after the cake was baked and cooled, I went to cut out my Hello Kitty shape, and realized that the cake was too small - I should have used my 9-inch cake pan!  Doh!

But it was late at night already and didn't have time to bake a whole new cake, so instead I just cut out the main part of Hello Kitty's face with the majority of the cake, and then with the scraps I cut out the shape of the ears and bow.  Then I fit them into the mold, hoping the mousse that would go on top would end up holding the cake in place.

Then came my second mistake - I made the chocolate mousse for the middle layer using the recipe from my copy of America's Test Kitchen "Complete TV Show Cookbook", but for some reason when it was time to fold in the whipped cream into my chocolate mixture, the chocolate seized up and turned the mousse into a lumpy chocolaty mess instead.  This had never happened to me before!  So I had to start all over with another batch of the chocolate mousse.

Right after that came my third mistake - after filling the mold with my layer of chocolate mousse, I picked up the cake so that I could put it in the fridge to set.  But instead of picking it up by the cake board on the bottom like I should have, I picked it up by holding on to the mold.  Before I knew it, the mold slid right off of the cake, and since the mousse was still soft and hadn't set yet, everything came oozing out over the sides of the bottom cake layer.  I screamed out loud and immediately fit the mold back on, but it was too late.  I knew at this point I would not have clean layers.

The top layer of white chocolate mousse didn't have any major mistakes surprisingly, except that my white chocolate mixture was a bit too warm when I folded in the freshly whipped cream, so the resulting mousse was a bit too runny.  But after it set in the fridge you couldn't tell, other than the fact that the layer wasn't as tall as it should have been.  At this point it was 2am so I went to bed, hoping that the string of mistakes would not follow me into the next day!

In the morning, I started my day by unmolding the cake, and then decorating the top of the cake.  I didn't want to simply use cocoa powder like I did for the tiramisu cake, so my husband came up with the awesome idea to use silver dragees instead.  He got the idea from a shirt that our daughter wears quite often, which is bedazzled with little studs to form the shape of Hello Kitty.

On a side note, I find it crazy that it is illegal to sell silver dragees in California!  Yet, you can buy them in every other state in the country.  Online stores that sell silver dragees won't even ship to you if you are in California.  Because of this, the only silver dragees that I have are the ones my husband bought for me while visiting his parents in Hawaii last year.

That said, it would probably be illegal to sell this cake in California!  Because it is decorated with lots and lots of silver dragees.

In the end, despite all of the blunders while making the cake, I still loved the end result.  Of course the layers didn't look as clean as I would have liked, but seeing Hello Kitty light up and sparkle through silver dragees brought a smile to my face.  

I hope that Sue liked it was well!  Happy Belated Birthday!

christmas wreath triple chocolate mousse cake

Every Christmas we drive down to LA to spend Christmas Eve with my mom's side of the family, and this year I wanted to make a cake to mimic my Christmas wreath cupcakes from Martha's "Cupcakes" book, which I had made earlier in the week.  So I decided to make the triple chocolate mousse cake from America's Test Kitchen once again, since I've made it several times and it hasn't let me down yet!

For the bottom layer I made my favorite homemade chocolate cake recipe (instead of the flourless chocolate cake in the ATK recipe), but I followed the recipe exactly for the chocolate mousse (middle layer) and the white chocolate mousse (top layer).

From start to finish this cake takes a while to complete, because you have to bake the cake and then wait for it to cool for an hour or so.  Then you prepare the chocolate mousse layer, add it on top of the chocolate cake layer, and then let that set in the fridge for another hour or so.  Then comes the final layer, the white chocolate mousse, and once added to the top of the cake it also needs to set for another 2-3 hours.

After all the layers had set in the fridge for a few hours, I piped my wreath design in the middle of the cake with a leaf tip and cream cheese frosting colored green.  Then I sprinkled on holly and berry sprinkles (I used only the berries) that I found at Target (or you could use red sugar pearls like Martha suggests).

I unmolded the cake right before our drive down to LA, but I think I hadn't let it set long enough.  The sides were craggy and jagged, and not smooth like how I wanted it to be.  But I had no choice, it was time to go!  I hope everyone enjoyed it anyway!

triple chocolate mousse cake with raspberries

I've made America's Test Kitchen's triple chocolate mousse cake various ways now - as individual cakes, a full sized cake, and one layered with strawberries - and it always turns out great.  In July I made one again, this time for a goodbye lunch for a coworker who was leaving the company, and I simply decorated it with fresh raspberries.

Again I used my favorite homemade chocolate cake recipe for the bottom layer.  When it came time to make the chocolate mousse layer, I was somewhat distracted with the kids, and hastily read the recipe's measurement for salt as 1 teaspoon.  It didn't register in my mind that it was a lot salt!  But I whipped up the mousse, added it on top of the chocolate cake layer in my springform pan, and place it in the fridge for it to set.  Then I went to clean up and start on the next layer.  Before I threw the spatula I had used into the sink, I licked it off (can't let chocolate mousse go to waste!), and then realized that the mousse was REALLY salty!  I rushed to check the recipe again, and it was actually 1/8 teaspoon of salt that I should have added!  DOH!

I ended up waiting for the much-too-salty mousse layer to set in the fridge so that I could slice the layer off easily, and then dumped it in the trash. :( What a waste of good dark chocolate!  Then I proceeded to make another chocolate mousse layer, this time with the correct measurement of salt!

After adding the third layer of white chocolate mousse, I let that set in the fridge, and then decorated the perimeter of the cake with fresh raspberries.  To finish it off, I piped a "best wishes" message in melted chocolate.

The raspberries went really well with the cake, and the tartness of the fruit cut the richness of the dessert perfectly.  I hope everyone enjoyed it at the lunch!  Good luck and best wishes to Clayton, with whom I've worked with for over 10 years!

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!