German Chocolate Mousse Cake
This is a new twist on the German Chocolate cake. Instead of just having the German cake with the coconut pecan frosting, this also includes a German chocolate mouse which I’ve based off the frosting. I’m really hoping this is going to work. I’ve had to completely make the mousse from scratch.
Now, there is one major difference between this cake and my other ones…I’m not using the normal rectangle size pan, but instead a 9″ round pan. Hence the reason why I’m only using one cake mix instead of two.
German Chocolate Mousse
When it comes to this recipe, I’ll be honest, I did some mixing. Basically, I took a chocolate mousse recipe and added what I needed for the “German chocolate” flair and prayed it would come out. Normally, when I do anything with chocolate mousse, I go the easy route and get the chocolate pudding and mix some whip cream into it. But this time, since I was trying something new, I wanted the chocolate to work well and I wasn’t sure how the chocolate pudding would hold up.
Thankfully, the mousse can be chilled up to a day, so it worked for making it ahead of time and adding it to the cake. Also, when I was looking up various chocolate mousse and German chocolate frosting recipes, I noticed a lot of them added about 2 tsps of instant-espresso powder or some other form of coffee. I’m not sure how it would taste with the German chocolate, but if you’re a coffee lover and want to experiment a little, you could try it. Some other variations I’ve seen are: 3 tablespoons Grand Marnier or 2 tablespoons Cognac (either one whisked into strained custard).
The mousse came out really well. Kind of. Once the nuts and coconut was added, it really didn’t resemble a mousse anymore, however, it made it super easy to use as a filling. For once, I didn’t have mousse oozing out between the two layers as I was frosting the cake. So all of the mousse has stayed inside.
If you’re looking to keep this resembling a mousse and not just another filling, then something needs to be done with the liquid. The coconuts soak up all the available liquid and I think that’s why it came out more clunky than smooth. For this reason, I’m cutting the coconut and pecans in half.
Ingredients:
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup flaked coconut
2 cups chilled heavy cream
4 large egg yolks
3 tablespoons sugar
7 oz fine-quality german chocolate (not unsweetened), chopped
Directions:
- Heat 3/4 cup cream in a 1-quart heavy saucepan until hot. Whisk together yolks, sugar, and a pinch of salt in a metal bowl until combined well, then add hot cream in a slow stream, whisking until combined. Transfer mixture to saucepan and cook over moderately low heat, stirring constantly, until it registers 160°F on thermometer. Pour custard through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl and stir in vanilla.
- Melt chocolate in a double boiler or a metal bowl set over a pan of simmering water (or in a glass bowl in a microwave at 50 percent power 3 to 5 minutes), stirring frequently. Whisk custard into chocolate until smooth, then cool. Mix in pecans and coconut.
- Beat remaining 1 1/4 cups cream in a bowl with an electric mixer until it just holds stiff peaks. Whisk one fourth of cream into chocolate custard to lighten, then fold in remaining cream gently but thoroughly.
German Chocolate Cake
This is my standard cake recipe using package cake mixes. However, this time around, I made this one to be a round cake instead of the large rectangle. So there’s a couple of little changes.
Ingredients:
1 package of German chocolate cake mix
1 (16oz) package of whipped chocolate frosting
Directions:
- Prepare cake according to package directions, using the round 9″ pan size setting. You need to make two round cakes. Cool completely.
- After the cakes have cooled completely, layer the german chocolate mousse lavishly onto the top of one cake. Once completed, gently add the second cake on top of the mousse.
- Frost all sides of the cake.