Strawberry cake with Chocolate Mousse Filling

A recent baby shower for a friend gave me another chance to bake a cake. I always try to do something different and after some mulling around, I decided on strawberry cake with chocolate mousse filling.



I also decided that this cake would be my first leap into fondant. I planned on icing the cake with regular buttercream, but I wanted the decorations to be in fondant. I found a recipe for marshmallow fondant and had a blast working with it! More on that tomorrow.

 

The strawberry cake part didn't turn out quite as I'd planned, as the cake looked more like a whole wheat cake than a strawberry cake! Thankfully, the strawberry flavor came through ever so delicately. The chocolate mousse filling was truly fantastic, and I was definitely excited that I had a little bit left over to save for dessert another night.



Strawberry Cake with Chocolate Mousse Filling
Source: Slightly adapted from Good Things Catered, here and here

For the cake, I modified Angie's Strawberry Cupcake recipe to use pureed strawberries since mine were frozen and I didn't think they would work well, chopped. I also baked it in two 9" round pans rather than in cupcake form. For the mousse, I cut the recipe in half.

For the cake:

• 2 1/2 cups cake flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 cup sugar (or a little less)
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup buttermilk
• 1/4 cup oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup pureed strawberries

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare two 9" or 8" round cake pans by spraying with baking spray.  Sift flour, salt, and baking soda in medium bowl.  In bowl of mixer, cream butter and sugar until fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time until combined.  Add buttermilk, oil and vanilla until combined.  Add flour mixture and stir until just combined.  Stir in pureed strawberries.

Divide batter between two cake pans.  Bake for approximately 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Cool cake in pans on wire rack for 10 minutes.  Remove cake from pans and continue to cook on wire rack until thoroughly cooled. 

For the mousse:

• 4 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 cups heavy cream, divided
• 1 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 egg yolks
• 1 Tbsp granulated sugar
• 1 pinch salt

Directions:
In large double boiler, add chocolate, 2 tablespoons cream and butter.  Heat over medium heat, stirring occasionally until melted.  Let cool for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, in a medium sauce pan over medium heat, add egg yolks, sugar and 2 tablespoons cream. Whisk to combine over heat, stirring well, until mixture reached 160 degrees, about 2 minutes.  Remove saucepan from heat, add chocolate mixture and set in saucepan in ice.  Stir mixture until cooled, about 7-10 minutes.

Meanwhile, in bowl of stand mixer, whip remaining 3/4 cup of cream until just forming stiff peaks.  Fold whipped cream into chocolate mixture.  If not filling cake right away, place into bowl, cover with plastic wrap and place into fridge overnight.

To assemble the cake, place one layer on serving platter, and pipe a border of icing around the edge of the top surface of the cake (to build a well for holding in the mousse).   Generously top bottom layer with chocolate mousse.  Apply top layer of cake, then frost cake as desired.