Chocolate Mousse & Cream Puff Cake

I was inspired to make this cake by a cream puff cake that I purchased at Fortinos - and because I love profiteroles! I made it very basic - only 2 layers of vanilla butter cake, filling is vanilla & lemon zest pastry cream and profiteroles, the top is chocolate whipping cream, profiteroles, and poured chocolate ganache on top.





What you need:

• Vanilla Cake (I used 2 8 inch layers)
• Pastry cream- enough to use as a filling between the cakes, about 1.5 cups for my cake
• Cream Puffs- enough to use as a filling and on top of the cake, I used about 40-50
• Chocolate Icing/Mousse- I used chocolate whipping cream which I think complements this cake the best

For the Cake:

I used the vanilla buttercake recipe that I have previously posted - for this cake I substituted the vanilla extract with vanilla bean! This was my first time experimenting with vanilla beans in a cake (I used the seeds, hence the little black specks in the picture).








Profiteroles & Pastry Cream & Chocolate Ganache:

The profiteroles I used are the Poppies Profiteroles from Costco - I previously made a post of them.

Adding more chocolate to the ganache will give it a richer taste and thicker texture while adding less will have the opposite effect. I made the ganache quite thick as I like the rich chocolate taste although this does tend to overpower the rest of the light refreshing flavours. If you want the cake to look more aesthetically appealing, it is best to make a runnier ganache as it will sit smoother once you pour it on top of the profiteroles. For next time I would make my ganache with less chocolate for this cake.

Let the ganache cool slightly until it is luke warm or room temperature. It will look smoother on the cake if it is not too hot as it will have a runnier consistency. If you place it in the fridge, heat it up a little to get back the runny consistency if you made a thick ganache.

Chocolate Whipping Cream/Mousse: 
The chocolate whipping cream complements the light flavours of this cake, a chocolate buttercream would overpower the rest of the light flavours with the sweetness. The taste is similar to a light chocolate mousse.

• 500 ml whipping cream (If you want to cover the whole cake flawlessly, I used a thinner layer and didn't worry too much about my icing job on this cake so I used less than 500ml)
•  3-4 tbsp icing sugar (or to taste)
• Cocoa powder (to taste)

Make sure the bowl and beaters are free of any water or moisture. Beat the whipping cream using a hand/stand mixer until almost the right consistency then add in the icing sugar and cocoa powder. For best results, use a chilled bowl and beaters. Cool the whipping cream in the fridge for at least 15 minutes.

Assembly: 

The recipe I have previously posted makes enough for 2 8-inch cakes filled almost half way. For the cake I made here, I only made one 8-inch cake and cut it in half with a serrated knife, also make sure to level the cake if it has the dome when baked.

It is easiest to assemble and ice cakes on a turntable so place the cake on a cakeboard then on the turntable if you have one. If not, simply place the first layer on a cake stand or another tray that works.

Make a dome around the edge of the cake with stiff icing. We do this so the cream puff filling doesn't splatter when we add the second later on top. It is best to use a double dome (pipe around the edge then do it again on top) as the filling will be quite tall with the cream puffs inside. This technique is shown here. I will soon be starting a series of "Basic How-to's" and make a post on how to fill a cake.

Use a spatula or a spoon to add the pastry cream. Place the cream puffs densely packed on top of the pastry cream. add more pastry cream on top to level it off.

Place the second layer of cake. Ice the cake with the chocolate whipping cream, you can pipe a border if you would like. Place the cream puffs on top and pour the cooled chocolate ganache on to

Soon I will be starting a Basics How-to section on my blog - my first few posts will be how to fill and ice a cake using different methods

-Bon appetite!