Chocolate Easter mousse cake

Ingredients

For the base

• A 25 centimeter chocolate sponge cake sliced horizontally to a thickness of ±1 cm

For the mousse

• 500ml fresh cream
• 50g castor sugar
• 10g gelatin powder
• 250g dark couverture chocolate buttons

For the ganache

• 200ml evaporated milk
• 300g dark couverture chocolate buttons
• 50g glucose

For decoration

• 1 punnet of fresh strawberries
• Chocolate curls
• Mini Easter eggs

Other

• 1 round cake board
• 1 round cake ring

Instructions

To make the chocolate mousse

1. Whip cream and castor sugar until cream is half whipped.
2. Melt the chocolate slowly in a microwave on medium power until melted (stir every 30 seconds).
3. Melt gelatin in hot, not boiling, water (follow on-pack instructions).
4. Combine chocolate and gelatin.
5. Add two scoops of cream to the chocolate mixture (to ensure that the chocolate does not receive a cooling shock from the cold cream).
6. Stir in the remainder of the cream.

To make the ganache

1. Boil evaporated milk and glucose.
2. Pour milk and glucose mixture onto the chocolate buttons.
3. Stir until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth.

To make the chocolate curls

1. Melt the chocolate and spread thinly on a cool marble or stainless steel table.
2. Pull a knife or scraper through the chocolate so that it forms a curl (a wallpaper scraper is perfect for this job!).
3. Practice makes perfect, as success depends on getting the temperature of the chocolate right and on the angle of the scraper. If the chocolate does not curl the chocolate is too soft; if it breaks it is too hard.

To assemble the cake

1. Place one piece of sponge cake in the bottom of the cake ring and spoon chocolate mousse on top of it.
2. Add the second piece of sponge cake.
3. Top with mousse, leaving a space of about 4 mm from the top of the cake ring to allow for the ganache. Place cake in the freezer for at least 2 hours. Remove and pour lukewarm ganache onto the mousse cake and spread evenly on top.
4. Allow the ganache to cool and then remove the cake ring by running a warm knife around the inside of the ring.
5. Stick the chocolate curls vertically around the entire cake, using the remainder of the ganache. Decorate the top with sliced strawberries and mini Easter eggs.

Recipe from:

Geldhof Chocolates (011) 792 8346