Bittersweet Deception: Chocolate Mousse Cake with Mocha Topping

Be happy, it’s Adar! This luscious dessert is lower fat chocolate mousse cake, topped with mocha cream (and I am pretty sure I can adapt it for Pesach).

Bittersweet Deception Cake with Mocha Topping
Cake recipe adapted from Alice Medrich, via Baking Obsession. Mocha topping is my addition. The cake is notorious for sticking to the pan, so line the sides of the pan with a strip of parchment and use a springform pan.

Prepare you baking pan. Grease an 8″ springform pan, line the bottom and sides with greased parchment, and wrap the outside with foil. Alternatively, prep a regular round 8″ pan: press a large sheet of non-stick foil inside the pan to smoothly as possible line the pan. Then spray with oil and line with a round of parchment for the bottom and a strip of parchment for the sides. Spray the inside of the parchment lined pan with more cooking spray. Place the pan in a 9×13 roasting pan and add an inch of water.

Combine in a medium saucepan:
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder (natural or Dutch-process)
2 tbsp all-purpose flour (I think you can substitute potato starch for Passover, and I will update when I try this)
1/2 cup sugar
Pinch of salt

Add enough water to the above mixture of flour/cocoa/sugar to make a thick paste and then add the rest of the water:
¾ cup plus 2 tbsp water

Cook the cocoa mixture over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thick (original recipe said to simmer for 2 minutes, but I found that it got to thick to simmer before it got hot enough to simmer, so I stopped at that point). Be sure to keep stirring, because this will scorch in a heartbeat.

Pour hot chocolate mixture over chopped chocolate in bowl ( I added the chopped chocolate to the pan, off heat) and stir until chocolate melted and mixture completely smooth:

5 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

Whisk in rum and vanilla:

1 Tbl. rum (I used bourbon, and I would use a kosher for Passover liqueur for Passover)
1 tsp. vanilla

In a mixer bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until light and nearly double in volume, about 5 minutes (the original instructions say the mixture will be foamy but not thick, but my mixture was thick like cake batter, so I have no idea what foamy but not thick is supposed to be like):

1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs (original recipe called for 2 eggs, one white, but I didn’t want the extra yolk leftover)

Fold together the eggs and chocolate mixture. The original recipe said to fold the eggs, 1/3 at a time into the chocolate, but I dumped the chocolate mixture into the eggs and carefully folded ( make sure to get all the chocolate sunken at the bottom mixed in with the eggs).

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Place the pan into the 9×13 pan filled with an inch of water. Place both pans into a preheated 350 degree oven for a half hour. The top will be set and the edges will be a bit springy to the touch, but the center of the cake will still be wet and jiggly (like perfectly baked cheesecake). Refrigerate overnight before unmolding and frosting.

To unmold, run spatula around edges of pan to make sure nothing is sticking. Release sides of pan, or, in the case of the foil lined regular pan, carefully lift edges of foil to pull up cake from pan. Have ready a plate for serving. Slide cake from foil onto plate (the cake should slide because of all the greased parchment on the bottom and sides. Carefully peel off parchment from sides.

Note: I tried flipping the cake over to peel off the bottom parchment. The cake survived this attempt, but I noticed that the cake is quite fragile and don’t recommend this maneuver. I would just remember that there is parchment underneath the cake when slicing and serving (don’t serve the parchment!).

You can serve the cake as is, or you can top with some mocha whipped cream (or plain whipped cream). As a final garnish, you can add some chocolate shavings.

Mocha Topping

Whip until thick:

1 cup Rich’s Whip
1 tsp. coffee powder
1 Tbl. cocoa
4 Tbl. vanilla sugar
1 Tbl. vanilla
1 tsp. bourbon, optional (for Passover, a kosher for Passover liqueur)

Pipe or use a spatula to spread topping on cake.

Optional Chocolate Shavings Garnish

bittersweet chocolate

Use a peeler to shave chocolate on top of finished dessert.

Tags: alice medrich, bittersweet deception, chocolate mousse cake, low-fat cake