Earl Grey Chocolate Mousse Cake

Last week, I made a chocolate mousse cake for my birthday.

I always wanted to make an earl grey chocolate mousse cake & finally got around to make it for my special day.

I wasn't happy with the decoration overall, I wanted a dome shape & the chocolate ganache wasn't smooth.

I wasn't going to post this but it did taste really nice & rich so I decided to post it anyway.

I might try to make this again sometimes & I believe decoration will become better with practice.

I tend to design the cake before getting to make it e.g. the look & the flavours.

It's not always turn out like the drawings but I find it inspiring :)

I draw more often now as I have an iPad which is great for drawing but I rarely show my works here.

Jenny also made me an apple & red wine mousse cake which was pretty & delicious.

Recipe (6" dome):

Vanilla Crème Brûlée (5" round)

100 g whipping cream

18 g milk

1/4 vanilla pod, split & seeded

26 g sugar

1 egg yolk (L)

3 g sheet gelatine

Soak sheet gelatine in cold water & squeeze out excess water.

In a large bowl, mix egg yolk & sugar until smooth.

In a saucepan, bring whipping cream, milk & vanilla pod to boil, pour the vanilla cream to egg mixture & whisk while pouring.

Return to heating & bring to 82C.

Turn off heating, add bloomed gelatine & mix until smooth.

Pour into a 5" round container & refrigerate to set.

Chocolate Cake Base (5" round)

2 large eggs

50 g sugar

33 g all purpose flour

10 g cocoa powder

20 g unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 180C, line a 6" square loose base pan with parchment paper & grease the side.

In a large bowl, whip the eggs & sugar until pale & fluffy (approx. 3-4 min).

Mix & sieve all flours 3 times, add to the batter & fold until smooth.

Gently fold in melted butter.

Pour into the prepared pan & bake for 15-20 min or until a skewer comes out clean.

Remove from oven & cool on a wired rack.

Earl Grey Syrup

2 teabags earl grey tea

40 ml boiling water

10 g sugar

1 tsp Grand Marnier

Mix all ingredients & let it stand for 10 min.

Remove teabags & leave to cool.

Earl Grey Chocolate Mousse

5 teabags earl grey tea

105 g milk

240 g dark chocolate 72%, melted

300 g whipping cream

2 tbsp sugar

In a saucepan, bring milk to boil, infuse teabags & leave to cool before removing teabags.

Whisk up the whipping cream.

Fold in melted chocolate & earl grey milk.

Chocolate Ganache

30 g whipping cream

45 g sugar

30 g water

16 g cocoa powder, sifted

2.5 g sheet gelatine, bloomed with cold water

In a saucepan, mix & warm all ingredients except gelatine, stir until smooth.
Go through a sift to remove any lump.
Add bloomed gelatine & stir to dissolve.

Assembling

Cut the chocolate cake into 2 pieces. 

Pour 1/3 chocolate mousse into the mould, refrigerate to set.

Put in a piece of chocolate cake, brush generously to soak with the syrup.

Put crème brûlée on top & then chocolate cake, brush with the syrup.

Pour in the remaining mousse, refrigerate to set.

Remove from the mould, cover with chocolate ganache, refrigerate to set.

Decorate as you like & enjoy!