Chocolate Mousse Entremet Cake

What is an Entremet Cake?

An Entremet Cake is a French dessert made of multiple layers, usually including mousse, ganache, cake, and covered with a mirror glaze. You can create various textures within the cake such as adding a crunchy ‘dacquoise’, a moist fruit compote, or a creamy mousse. The opportunities to decorate the top of your entremet cake are also endless, and may include sprinkles, edible gold leaf, nuts, or anything you desire! This cake will definitely WOW your family and guests!

My recipe here is based on a tutorial by Sugar Geek Recipes which I tried to visually condense into fewer steps. It’s a wonderful recipe featuring smaller individual cakes made in 2-inch high metal cake rings. Although there are multiple steps involved, you can spread them over several days to make it easier- it’s worth it!

Day 1: Prepare the chocolate cake, ganache, mousse, and assemble the entremets

Day 2: Prepare the glaze, decorate, and serve!

Word of caution: do not use chocolate chips for this recipe since they will prevent your chocolate from melting smoothly. Recommended to use ‘real chocolate; with at least 60-70% cocoa content.

Chocolate Fudge Cake

This cake will be the foundation (bottom part) of your dessert. To make the cake, combine all dry ingredients into a large bowl: flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate smaller bowl, whisk together the water, mayonnaise, and vanilla extract. Using an electric mixer (or stand mixer) set on low speed, gradually add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients until the batter is combined, then increase the speed to ‘medium’ setting for one more minute until the batter is smooth and fully incorporated. Pour the batter into a parchment-lined 1/4 sheet pan (15×10 inches) and bake for 15 minutes or until the center the of the cake is set.

Let the cake cool for 15 minutes, remove from pan, cover in plastic wrap and place in freezer for 2-3 hours.

Tip: If the cake is too large for your freezer, you can cut it in half before wrapping in plastic.

Preparing the Dark Chocolate Ganache to place on top of cake

This ganache is rich and smooth, helped by the addition of butter and glucose into the batter. First, break up the dark chocolate and milk chocolate into small pieces and place into a heat-proof bowl. Combine the cream, sugar, and glucose (or corn syrup) in a medium-sized pan and bring to a boil. Pour 1/3 of the hot cream onto the chocolate and whisk until the chocolate starts to melt. Continue adding the cream in thirds until you’ve added all your cream and the mixture is shiny and smooth. Place the butter into a tall container or pitcher and pour the chocolate mixture over it. Using an immersion blender, mix the ingredients together until shiny, then pour into a large bowl or small casserole dish. Cover the ganache with plastic wrap so that it is touching the surface of the mixture. Let the ganache set at room temperature for 5-6 hours or cut the time in half by chilling in the fridge.

Tip: Adding the hot cream onto the chocolate in thirds helps to prevent the ganache from splitting.

Ganache after it has set

After the ganache has set, remove cake from freezer. Using a 3-inch cake cutter, cut small cake rounds that measure about 1/4 of the height of your cake ring/entremet mold you are using. If necessary, trim the height of your cake rounds.

Place the chocolate ganache into a piping bag and pipe several teaspoons onto the center of each cake round. Freeze the cake rounds for at least one hour while you continue onto the next step.

Preparing the Chocolate Mousse

This is an important step since the Mousse will fill a major part of the cake mold. First, whisk the cream until soft peaks form: this can be done either by hand or using an electric mixer; set aside. Next, break up the dark chocolate into smaller pieces into a heat-proof bowl, then heat the whipping cream until it starts to boil. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate in thirds, whisking vigorously after each addition. The ganache should be smooth and shiny.

Whip cream to soft peak stage Make ganache using hot cream and chocolate

Next, place your three egg yolks in a heatproof bowl and set aside. Place the water and sugar in a saucepan and heat to 244 F (118 C). Gradually pour the hot mixture over the egg yolks while whisking continuously with an electric mixer. Continue until the mixture has reached the ‘ribbon stage’; the texture has thickened and the color has now changed to a lighter yellow color.

Next, combine all three components together to form the Mousse: first, transfer the whipped cream into the bowl of the chocolate ganache to lighten up the texture of the ganache. Then transfer the egg yolk mixture into the mixed chocolate ganache and fold it in until fully combined.

Next, line your metal cake rings with acetate. I cut my acetate in strips measuring 2-inches by 11-inches to fit my 2 x 10-inch cake ring (allowing for a 1-inch overlap around the circumference).

Coat the inside of each cake ring with cooking spray. Place the Mousse into a piping bag and pipe into each cake mold ending about 3/4 from the top. Next, take each frozen cake round topped with the ganache and gently press it into the mousse-filled mold with the ganache facing down (cake is facing on top). The mousse will begin to fill around the edges to the top. Flatten out the mousse and scrape any excess off the top. Place the molds in the freezer for at least three hours or preferably overnight.

Fill Chocolate Mousse 3/4 to the top of ring Press cake topped with ganache into the mousse-filled mold

Preparing the Chocolate Glaze

The trick to making a perfect glaze is making sure the temperature reaches 104 F (40 C) before pouring it onto the cake. Otherwise it will be too runny or too thick to spread evenly.

First, place your gelatin sheets in a bowl of cold water for about 5 minutes to soften. Heat the water, sugar, and a few drops of red food gel on the stovetop until the mixture reaches 222 F (106 C). In a separate bowl, mix the glucose (or corn syrup) and cream together then microwave for one minute until warm. Now pour this into the pan holding the sugar/water mixture, whisking continuously, then bring to a boil. Add the cocoa powder, remove from the heat and continue to mix.

Squeeze out the excess moisture from the gelatin leaves, then place in a pitcher or large measuring cup. Pour the sugar/cocoa mixture on top of the gelatin and mix with an immersion blender until all bubbles are gone. (If there is too much glaze to fit into one container, you can divide it into two receptacles). Let temperature reduce to 104 F (40 C) while preparing your cake molds.

To unmold the frozen entremet cakes, use a hair dryer to heat up the sides of the cake ring for a few seconds, then gently push the cake out of the mold onto a cooling rack placed on top of a baking sheet. Remove the acetate sheet from the cake.

Before applying the glaze to the cake, make sure the glaze temperature is 104 F (40 C). Gradually pour the glaze onto the cake starting from the center outwards, fully covering the top and sides. (The excess glaze that has accumulated in the pan can be scraped up and re-used).

After the glaze has settled a few minutes, transfer the cake to a serving dish; decorate with some gold leaf and serve.