Cake for Celebration- Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Mousse filling covered with Chocolate Ganache

A year back, this is the day my blog baby was born. Though I had created my blog account much earlier it was left untouched until one fine day suddenly I decided to write something, created a blog, baked and posted- My first post , Simple Vanilla Cake.  I can't believe one year has flown by so quick. In this one year, I have learnt a lot. Blogging has made life more interesting and meaningful. I have made lot of good friends.  Everything is good but the only bad thing (not bad, even that is good) might be am always stuck with laptop or tab or my phone checking blog stats, new posts, visiting other blogs, commenting or just chat with my darling friends in Facebook :D mmmmm.. Life is good.. So it is all because of this blog and my blog baby is turning one today which definitely calls for celebration. We had a dessert party in my Facebook page, where all our blogger friends brought their yummy desserts. Thanks a lot friends for your participation. 

So for this occasion, I baked a special cake, Chocolate Cake with chocolate mousse filling covered with chocolate ganache. Yummy Chocolate'y treat. 

Chocolate cake

Recipe Source: Entenmann's Big book of Baking

What are the ingredients needed?

Butter(room temperature), 1/2 cup

Light brown sugar, 1 1/2 cup

Eggs, 2 nos.

Unsweetened cocoa, 3/4 cup

All purpose flour, 2 cups

Baking powder, 1 1/2 teaspoon

Baking Soda, 1 1/2 teaspoon

Salt, 1 teaspoon

Whole milk, 1 cup

Vanilla extract, 2 teaspoon

Boiling water, 1 cup

How it is made?

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease and flour two 8 inch cake pans and line with parchment paper.
2. Cream butter and sugar together and beat one egg at a time, mixing well.
3. In another bowl, combine all purpose flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt and set them aside.
4. Slowly add this mixture little by little  to the butter mixture alternating with milk. 
5. Then to this add the vanilla extract and boiling water and mix well. 
6. Pour the mixture evenly to the prepared cake pans and bake for 30 minutes or until the fork inserted comes out clean.
7. Remove and let it cool for atleast 10 minutes, before transferring them from cake pan to prevent the cake from breaking. 

Chocolate Mousse

What are the ingredients needed?

Unflavored gelatin, 1 teaspoon

Cold water, 1 teaspoon

Hot water, 1 teaspoon

Cocoa powder, 1/4 cup

Sugar,1/2 cup

Heavy Cream, 1 cup

Vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon

How it is made?

1. Dissolve the the gelatin in cold water and let it sit for a minute. Then add the hot water mix well until the gelatin is melted.Set aside.
2. With the electric mixer, beat the heavy cream till it forms soft peaks. 
3. Whisk together cocoa powder and sugar to remove any lumps. Then add this mixture and vanilla extract to the heavy cream and continue beating for 2-3 minutes.
4. Finally add the melted gelatin and beat till they are completely mixed.
5. Now cover this and keep it refrigerated for 30 minutes.

Chocolate Ganache

Recipe Source: Joy of Baking

What are the ingredients needed?

Heavy cream, 3/4 cup

Semi sweet chocolate chips, 1 cup

Butter, 2 tablespoon

How it is made?

1. Place the chocolate in a heat proof bowl.
2. Heat the heavy cream  and butter in pan and bring it to boil.
3. Then add this mixture to the chocolate bowl and let it stand for few minutes.
4. Then whisk them together gently until it is smooth.

Final assembly of the cake.

1. Once baked let the cake cool completely. 
2. When the cake is baked it  forms a crown and it has to be removed to get a flat surface. That is called leveling. I used a cake leveler to do that. You can use a long serrated knife too.
3. Both the cake are leveled. Place one layer of the cake, apply the chocolate mousse and spread it around smoothly on top and then place the next layer. Such that two layers are sandwiched together. If there are any leftover mousse reserve for decoration.
4. Now brush off any crumbs. Apply a thin coat of ganache to give a coating. Let it set and then cover the whole cake with ganache. Let it set completely before the final decoration.
5. Finally, fill the leftover mousse in a piping bag, with the star tip, drop splotches around the perimeter of the cake and top it with glazed cherries.
6. Store the cake in refrigerator, till it is ready to be served.

Linking this to Vardhini's event, Sweet Luv 2013