I didn’t have to ask my mother because she knew me well enough to know that the answer would always be the same. “What sort of cake would you like for your birthday?” was always followed with “Chocolate!” and probably some dancing around. And so has the story been all my years of birthdays. Chocolate and dancing.
In truth, I am not a huge cake fan. I do love the cornmeal layer cake with lemon cream from Comfortable in the Kitchen, but most of the time if I’m offered a piece of cake it really needs to be chocolate in order for me to get excited about it.
This cake recipe might look a little daunting to you because it has quite a few steps. You have to make the raspberry mousse filling, you have to make the cake layers and you have to make the ganache that gets poured over the top. But don’t give up or walk away! All of these steps are very easy and straightforward and I look after you every step of the way in the directions. You can do this and just think how impressed everyone will be…. if you share, that is!
I made this cake for my mom’s birthday and it turned out amazing! I’m only 16 and this was my first time making a cake without a box mix, but the instructions were super easy to follow and it turned out perfect! Absolutely delicious!
Good for you, Abby!! I bet your mom loved it!
Can the mousse be made a day ahead and kept refrigerated? Thank you.
Yes you can make the mousse the day ahead but it will start to set up. You will need to stir it before spreading on the cake.
ML
Looks so good. can one make with light chocolate? I can print just yet hope to save it, thanks. suzanne
Hi Suzanne. I would use semi-sweet chocolate for the cake, but you could substitute milk chocolate for the dark chocolate in the ganache if you like. Using milk chocolate in the cake can change the texture because it has more sugar and more fat than dark chocolate.
Is the nutritional information for 1 piece or for the whole cake? Just curious!
Sadly, that is for one piece of cake if you slice the cake into 10 slices.
Hi! I’m planning on making this cake for Christmas! Just wondering how far in advance can this cake be assembled?
Hi Lauren. I think you could assemble the cake a day ahead of time. I probably wouldn’t do it sooner than that.
If this is made a day in advance must it be refridgerated?
Yes, it is best to refrigerate the cake if you make it ahead.
I made this as a birthday cake today. I tasted part of the trimming from flattening the top of one of the baked layers…this is the moistest, most delicious chocolate-tasting cake I have ever made! Thank you for this recipe, Meredith!!! As one of our chefs at NECI said: “Good cooking is not rocket science; it’s just a series of small steps, each done carefully.” This cake’s recipe is a perfect example of that statement and so well worth the effort to make it!
I am making a 13 by 9 cake. 2 layers. Should I make double raspberry mousse?
Thank You,
Stephanie Barrett
You should probably only need an extra 1/2 batch of the raspberry mousse for a 13×9 cake. Unless you want a really thick mousse layer, then I would go ahead and double it.
Disaster! The ganache (1.5c Heavy cream & 10oz dark chocolate) did get shiny and smooth but it’s thin like milk? As expected pouring it over cake just covered top thinly – ran down edges going everywhere……like a lake. Didn’t dare try to smooth sides as there’s nothing really there to smooth…..all pooled everywhere below cake. Layers were cool as could be….. wondering if I should collect that runny ganache and cool and whip….what a mess. Dunno why this happened – but maybe neighbor will take this cake off my hands
Sorry you had a problem with your ganache. If it is too thin, you can either let it cool down as it will thicken as it cools, or you can whip it which will also cool down the ganache and make it thicker. Anotherr fix is to add more chocolate if your cream is still hot enough for it to melt. But letting it cool down or cooling it in the fridge usually does the trick.
Can you substitute coconut oil or canola oil for the butter in the cake. My boss cant have butter?
You could use canola or vegetable oil instead of butter. The taste could be slightly less rich but it should still taste good and will be moist.
Generally when I am doing a ganache for a cake my proportion of chocolate to cream is higher, 16 oz chocolate to about 10 oz of cream. I took this from a weird venetian chocolate cake recipe that’s kind of like tiramisu covered in ganache.
I would appreciate more instructions for the ganache please. My cake eventually got enough ganache to cover the sides but so did my kitchen. It’s very thin even when cooled to room temperature. It tasted great but the finished product had just a very thin layer of chocolate down the sides and it would have looked nicer with more.
Hi Emma. If you’d like more ganache to stay on the cake, just cool it in the fridge for a little while before pouring. The cooler it gets, the thicker it will be to pour. You can also increase the amount of ganache you make so there’s more to go around.