Black Forest Mousse Cake

Looking back over my archives, I haven't posted a cake recipe since last October! I don't make cakes very often, as you can see. I seem to be leaning more towards making healthier baked goods now. But birthdays are another thing, so for E's birthday I made this black forest mousse cake, which combine two of his favourite things - black forest cake and mousse. I was happy that he really loved it and so did everyone else.

The cake is really moist and soft, and it's not your typical black forest cake that I always find to be sickly sweet and have too much cherry. The cherry flavour wasn't too strong as I used a smaller jar of cherries than called for (due to what my grocery store had) and omitted the kirsch. While we enjoyed it this way, I'd like to try it with the recommended cherry amount and kirsch too. Another thing I'd try is doing a whipped cream middle layer, instead of 3 layers of mousse.

Usually I don't ever use icing tips/bags for decorating cakes - I like to keep things simple. But this time I decided to try. It doesn't look fancy (the cherry I drew on top is kind of silly) but I had a lot of fun! Trying to get the chocolate shavings on the side of the cake was also a challenge. Methods I tried included pressing it in with my hand, throwing it at the cake, and putting the shavings on parchment and then pressing them onto the cake. (I found the last method the best.)

If this sounds good, you might also like:
Chocolate Peanut Butter Mousse Cake
Apple Walnut Cake with Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting
Chocolate Beet Cake with Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting
Strawberry Cream Cake

Black Forest Mousse Cake
Adapted from The Complete Canadian Living Baking Book

I used a 500 mL jar of sour cherries since that's what the grocery store had but would recommend using the full 796 mL for more cherry goodness. I also didn't use any kirsch, but if you have it I would use it. (Add 1 tbsp to cherry syrup, 2 tbsp to chocolate mousse.)

1 jar (28 oz/796 mL) sour cherries
2/3 cup granulated sugar
4 4oz oz(113 g) (113 g) semisweet chocolate, chopped
2 1/2 cups whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla

Chocolate Mousse
6 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped
2 cups whipping cream

Chocolate Cake
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Grease sides of two 8-inch (2 L) springform pans or two 8-inch (1.2 L) round metal cake pans; line bottoms with waxed paper. Set aside.

Chocolate Cake:
In large bowl, beat butter with sugar until light and fluffy; beat in eggs, 1 at a time. Beat in vanilla. In separate bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. With wooden spoon, stir into butter mixture alternately with buttermilk, making 3 additions of flour mixture and 2 of buttermilk. Spoon into prepared pans, smoothing tops.

Bake in 350°F oven until cake tester inserted in centre comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Let cool in pans on rack for 20 minutes. Remove from pans; let cool completely on rack. (Make-ahead: Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 24 hours or overwrap in heavy-duty foil and freeze for up to 2 weeks.)

Meanwhile, in sieve over bowl, drain cherries, pressing lightly; reserve 1/3 cup (75 mL) of the juice. In small saucepan, bring 1/3 cup of the sugar and reserved juice to boil; boil until reduced to 1/2 cup, about 5 minutes. Let cool.

In heatproof bowl over saucepan of hot (not boiling) water, melt chocolate. Pour into foil-lined 5-3/4- x 3-1/4-inch (625 mL) loaf pan. Refrigerate until set, about 2 hours. Unmould; let stand until slightly softened, about 10 minutes.

Holding chocolate with foil, slowly draw vegetable peeler across narrow side of block to make curls; with toothpick, transfer to waxed paper–lined baking sheet. (Make-ahead: Lightly cover and refrigerate for up to 2 days.)

Chocolate Mousse
Place chocolate in large heatproof bowl. In saucepan, bring cream just to boil; pour over chocolate, whisking until melted and smooth. Refrigerate until chilled, about 1 hour. Beat until soft peaks form. Cover and set aside.

Slice each cake layer in half horizontally. Brush each cut side with 2 tbsp of the cherry syrup; let stand for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, in large bowl, whip cream with remaining sugar and vanilla.

Place 1 cake layer on cake plate; spread with 1 cup of the mousse. Arrange 3/4 cup of the cherries over top. Repeat for second and third layers; top with remaining layer. Spread reserved whipped cream over top and side. Decorate with remaining cherries. Gently press chocolate curls onto side. (Make-ahead: Loosely cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 24 hours.)