Perfection: Chocolate Truffle Mousse Cake

Over 50 guests sampled my cake and I received many compliments and requests for the recipe...I consider that a success! The cake was delicious and the presentation was lovely, and I'm very proud of how far I got in developing my recipe.

Each component of the cake was perfected and decided as such:

• Base: moist, dense chocolate brownie, baked evenly in a mini-springform pan
• Truffle: most simple combination of half cream, half very good dark chocolate, melted together, thickened, spread on the brownie and cooled
• Pecans: one half of the turtle flavor--chopped, toasted, and sandwiched between ganache and caramel
• Caramel: delicious and sweet caramel sauce, tasting just like that from the jar or ice cream shop (but homemade! and so simple too!)
• Chocolate Mousse: whipped cream and dark chocolate; I found it was actually easier to warm the cream, pour over the chocolate to melt, combine evenly, chill, then whip--it yield a smooth mousse since you are avoiding the chance that the chocolate will cool and harden upon being whipped with the cold cream

It was a wonderful process, searching and continually recreating what I knew would be a decadent chocolate treat. I'm so glad I did it, and I can't wait to find another pastry project to work on in the same way!

Trials 2-6: Modify, Modify!

Well, the end of the semester caught up with me, so while the tasting fair for my final mousse cake has come and gone, my blog remains the same. I do want to post the final project and mention how I came upon the decision for the final recipe.

• Trial 2: Changed cake base to a brownie base-this yielded a denser bottom, a nice ending place to land your fork after sliding though layers of mousse, caramel, nuts, and truffle. An excellent choice!
• Trial 3: Flavor change to mocha-this added a subtle coffee flavor in the brownie and mousse, which was good, but I eliminated the nuts and caramel since I didn't want such a crazy medley of flavors. I employed the use of mini-springform pans which helped tremendously with the ease in preparation and look in presentation.
• Trial 4: Even though I loved the mousse, for the sake of modification, I changed it to incorporate some cream cheese. I had seen recipes with cream or mascarpone mousse, so I gave it a try. It was ok, but too thick and sticky for my liking.
• Trials 5 & 6: I combined these trials together to change the truffle ganache to add some cream cheese (again, something that I had seen for a truffle recipe online) and to change a flavor component by adding Oreo's (from a friend's request). I preferred the traditional ganache, but I got great reviews with the Oreo's, so I had to really evaluate and decide what would be best for the final recipe.

Trial One!

The best ingredients will yield the best product, but for my college budget and lack of proximity to real pastry supply stores, all the ingredients are simple and fairly inexpensive. However, if you can get you hands on Cacao Barry, it's definitely worth it! To purchase online, click here.

Gather together all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, eggs, vanilla, butter, cream, cocoa powder, baking chocolate and pecans. The cake base needs to be made first so it can cool for later. Although I eventually want a brownie base, I decided to start with the basic sponge for trial one.

Separate the yolks from the whites and whisk both with sugar. The yolks will begin to lighten and become thick and sticky. The whites will get frothy and gain volume. (With the whites, don't add the sugar until you have whipped them a few minutes and they have soft peaks. Continue to whip after adding the sugar until they are more firm and keep their shape.) Fold the yolks and the flour and cocoa mixture into the whites gently. Watch the video below for proper folding technique. Gently pour evenly onto a parchment lined baking sheet and bake at 38o until it springs back when touched. Sponge, or génoise, is one of the first things we learned to make at Le Cordon Bleu.

The next two components are simple and only take a few minutes. For chocolate ganache, simply pour hot cream into a bowl of chopped chocolate. After a minute, stir slowly to incorporate. Let it cool. For mousse, whip cream in a large bowl to soft peaks, then drizzle in melted chocolate while whipping to combine. Refrigerate.

I had never made caramel sauce before, but it turned out really well! I heated some sugar in a saucepan until it began to brown and bubble, then I added butter and whisked in cream. It looks just like the kind you buy at the store! (see below for the color it should be when bubbling with butter on the stove)



Now that all the components are made, it is time to assemble. Cut circles out of the cake and fill into a parchment paper ring (or ideally a metal pastry ring). Next, pour on a layer of chocolate ganache and spread to cover the entire circle. Sprinkle with chopped, toasted pecans and cover with the caramel sauce.


Fill a pastry bag with the chocolate mousse and pipe onto the cakes as the final layer. Refrigerate for several hours or you can't wait any longer! Remove the paper rings from the outside of the cake and place on a dessert plate. You can either pipe a chocolate design (for technique on using a chocolate cornet, watch this video) or drizzle with extra caramel sauce and garnish with pecans.


The end result earned rave reviews from my parents, but I know there is work to be done and improvements to be made. As my pastry idol Jacques Torres says:

“If you love to work with dough and chocolate and sugar, then you give it everything you have" and “you have to come up with something new, something else, always, always”.

Chocolate Turtle Truffle Cake

It's the beginning of a new area of pastry testing: Chocolate Turtle Truffle Cake! I'm leaving scones in the sketchbook while I reminisce my pastry days at Le Cordon Bleu Ottawa.

The task is to develop and perfect a recipe over the course of several weeks, culminating in a Tasting Fair for faculty and staff at Liberty University in late April. I'm excited to embark on a new quest for pastry perfection! I'll be posting pictures and videos of the changes I make, showing each step in the process and ending with the final recipe!

Butter and Cake

What is cake without buttercream? That seemed to be the theme of the week with my cooking. We made a Succès--Dacquoise with praliné buttercream--on Monday. I worked in the production kitchen on Tuesday, and then celebrated 'Christmas in July' with a Bûche de Noël on Wednesday. It's a traditional Christmas log, a white cake rolled up with a chocolate buttercream and marzipan decorations. It was so much fun, and I'll be sure to make them for Christmas this year!

Fun Saturdays Minus the Rain

The Basic Pastry picnic got cancelled, but it cleared up just enough to attend the Saturday night Orchestra in the Park show of Natalie MacMaster. I had heard of her before and was really excited to go with some friends from the dorm. She's a fantastic fiddle player from Cape Breton, and if there's ever another event with her playing, I'll be sure to go!

So It's Been a While...

I have actually had a busy week, though there were plenty of opportunities (i.e. rainy weekends) when I could have posted but didn't. Now, however, it is the end of the halfway point of the pâtisserie course, and I feel like I should catch up a bit. My favorite recent creation was Black Forest Cake, simply because I love cakes--the creation, decoration, and dégustation...haha. I gave most of it away to willing tasters, and here's the leftover.Then I made choux pastry for chocolate éclairs, coffee réligeuses, and chantilly swans. I should probably start taking photos before bringing my food home, for I'm afraid that after my swan was crammed in a box and re-assembled, it looked quite sad (but eating it took away the misery).

On Friday, we made Petits Fours Secs, or little cookies--cigarettes (I had to roll thin cookies around a spoon just when they came out of the oven--ouch!), madeleines (I piped the batter into molds and they look like seashells), and palets de dames (little round discs, plain and with raisins). They turned out pretty well, but what a relief it will be working with cakes again this coming week!