Sunday 23 June 2013

Chocolate mousse and raspberry cake

Ironically, after writing just the other day how I haven't really had a craving for chocolate cake, I was going through my pins and saw this chocolate mousse and raspberry cake I have pinned ages ago, and all of a sudden I got a crazy craving for chocolate mousse cake. Fortunately my craving hit just before our weekly grocery shop run, so I just added a ridiculous amount of chocolate, some raspberries and whipping cream to the grocery list.

Actually, this cake is perfect to celebrate the fact that our mortgage application was accepted just the other day. It was taking time because of some ridiculous technicalities which there is no point of going into here, but for a while I was slightly worried. Not only is that settled, the survey also came back with no major issues. In addition to being perfect for celebrating, the cake is also perfect as it doesn't need baking. I'm still no closer to figuring out how to get along  with the oven in the bachelor pad.

The recipe is stolen directly and unaltered from BBC good food.
Chocolate mousse and raspberry cake (serves 8)
For the base:
100 g dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa solids)
100 g butter
1 tbsp golden syrup
200 g Hob Nobs (I used dark chocolate covered digestives)
For the mousse:
200 g milk chocolate
100 g dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa solids)
4 eggs
300 ml whipping cream
3 x 150g punnets of raspberries (I only had 2 punnets)


The howto:
Using a food processor, crumble the cookies to the consistency of coarse sand. If you don't have a food processor, you can put the cookies in a bag and use a rolling pin to crush them. Melt chocolate, butter and golden syrup either in a water bath or in the microwave. Mix the chocolate and butter with the crumbs, and spoon onto the bottom of a springform tin. Place in the fridge and let set. 
While the base is setting, prepare the mousse. Melt the chocolates in a waterbath or the microwave. Cool until lukewarm. Separate the egg whites from the yolks. Using an electric whisk, whip the egg whites until soft peaks form. Whip the cream to a soft consistency. Mix the chocolate with the egg yolks, and mix with the whipped cream. Fold in the egg whites. Pour the mousse onto the base, and let set over night. Before serving, add raspberries on top.
The verdict:
I have to admit there was no way I was going to wait over night for the cake to set. The mousse wasn't completely set and the slice didn't turn out very elegant. But it was really delicious. Rich and very decadent. The combination of raspberries and chocolate is so perfect.
If I ever make the cake again, I will make a small change. The base hardened up so hard that it was hard to break with a knife, much less a spoon. So I would halve the amount of butter, possibly even leave out the butter completely and only use chocolate to bind the biscuit crumbs together for a more crumbly base. But it's obviously a matter of taste. The texture of the mousse got a bit grainy, so maybe there would be room for leaving out one of the egg yolks as well. But possibly I just didn't make it right.

These small faults are however nothing compared with the amazing flavour combination of chocolate and raspberries. I had to leave a lot of mousse in the bowl for licking as well, because it was so good. 

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