The BEST Chocolate Mousse Cake Filling Recipe

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A decadent chocolate mousse cake filling can take desserts to that ultimate luxury. Rich, creamy but light and airy, whipped chocolate cream between layers of light and fluffy cake. In fact, desserts filled with mousse are just some of the goodies you can make with this homemade chocolate mousse filling. And, NO matter what is the dessert, a chocolate mousse is bound to wow your guests.

A chocolate mousse is a treat in any form, right? Whether it's served in a fancy dessert cup with a dollop of fresh cream or whether you have it in between two cake layers, you cannot be mistaken that light and airy texture for anything else.

My mom would say a good mousse does not need an introduction. And, you should know what it is, the moment it hits your palette. It's the effort of adding all that whipped air into the ingredients making sure it's as light as can be.

Chocolate mousse is my favorite. And, as you can see, I have shared quite a few variations with you. For example, my classic mousse, vegan, eggless mousse as well as desserts like chocolate mousse cake with mirror glaze and chocolate mousse for two and cream cheese chocolate mousse tart.

And yet, this cake filling is a little different because it's a little less light than what you get in a dessert cup. Why? I added a little more cornstarch to add stability to the cake filling. This helps me especially when I need to cover a cake with fondant. And, also when I need to stack layers for a wedding cake with chocolate mousse cake filling. But, it's still the filling everybody raves about.

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What is the difference between mousse and ganache?

A ganache is a combination of chocolate and cream, often equal amounts or more. It's rich and creamy but dense and decadently chocolate heavy.
A mousse is made with a combination of pastry cream, cream, whipped egg whites, and chocolate. It's rich and creamy but light and airy. When making mousse you aim to make it as light as possible. A mousse can be sweet or savory.

So what is the difference between mousse and pudding?

Well, chocolate pudding is made with milk, sugar, cornstarch, and chocolate. It may or may not have eggs and it may or may not have whipping cream. A mousse is of course made with pastry cream which usually is rich in egg yolks, heavy cream, egg whites and of course chocolate. A pudding is rich and creamy but dense while a mousse if rich and creamy but light and airy in contrast.

How to fill a cake with chocolate mousse the right way?

We've spoken about this many times already but I cannot stress this enough. You need to have a buttercream or frosting dam around the edge of your cake layer before you add any soft filling be it this mouse filling, strawberry, blueberry or any of those exotic cake filling recipes.

The frosting dam has to be a thick consistency so it helps keep the filling from oozing out of the cake. Once you have a dam securing the filling you can do all kinds of decorations whether you just making a simple dessert cake or whether you want to cover it with fondant and add more accessories.

What cake works best to fill a cake with chocolate mousse cake filling?

This is one of the most important questions you must be asking before you even start making your chocolate mousse cake filling? A mousse is a light and airy mixture so you want to avoid using dense cakes like chocolate mud cake. While the cake dams will hold the filling what happens is the weight of the cake usually gets it's way as soon as you cut into it. Everything just oozes out with the weight of the top layers. So, what cake works best for light and airy cake fillings like this chocolate mousse cake filling or vanilla pastry cream filling? Here are some of my cake recipes that would work wonderfully.

• Simple Moist Chocolate Cake with American Buttercream
• Espresso Cake with Whipped Espresso Ganache
• Brown Butter Cake with Whipped Cream Buttercream
• Vanilla Cafe Latte Cake with Coffee Buttercream
• Classic Gingerbread Cake with Vanilla Buttercream and Ganache
• One Bowl Vanilla Cake - Naked Cake
• One Bowl Chocolate Cake - Naked Cake
• Earl Grey Cake with Italian Meringue Buttercream
• Chocolate Cake with Whipped Cream
• Light and fluffy Vanilla Cake
• Vanilla Cream Cake Recipe made with Fresh Cream
• Chocolate Chiffon Cake with Kahlua Chocolate Buttercream
• Devil's Food Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Ganache
• Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake

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Ingredients and substitutes (pin)

• Milk - always use full-fat milk when making desserts so you don't have an issue with the milk solids and water separating when cooking
• Cream - I always use heavy whipping cream no less than 38% when making desserts
• Eggs - I use large eggs about 50 to 60 grams each. If you do have very small eggs you can add an extra egg yolk
• Chocolate - this is the star of this cake filling so you want to make sure you use good quality chocolate that you like to eat. Most of my desserts use between 65 to 70 % Callebaut chocolate.
• Egg whites - Adding whipped egg whites adds another layer of lightness to the mousse but you can omit the egg whites as well.
• Cream of tartar - this helps keep the protein and water in the egg whites from separating. You can also add the same amount of salt, lemon juice or vinegar instead.

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Step by step instructions (pin)

Make vanilla pastry cream/custard base

• Have all your ingredients ready.
• Heat milk, cream and vanilla in a saucepan over medium heat.
• Let it come to almost a boil but do not boil.
• While the milk/cream mixture is heating.
• In a bowl combine egg yolks, sugar, vanilla, and cornstarch.
• Whisk until light and foamy.
• Once the milk has almost reached a boiling point.
• Carefully add the milk/cream mixture to the egg mixture.
• This has to be done really slowly.
• Start with ¼ cup of the milk to eggs - mix thoroughly.
• Followed by another ¼ cup - mix thoroughly.
• Once almost half the milk/cream mix has been added the eggs should have been tempered.
• Pour egg mixture into the saucepan with the remaining milk/cream mix to continue cooking.
• Place the saucepan back on low heat and continue to cook stirring constantly.
• This has to be cooked slowly on low heat with constant stirring or the mixture will curdle.
• The mixture will slowly start to thicken and thick bubbles will start to disappear.
• Continue to cook on low until the custard is thick and coats the back of your spoon.
• When done - strain through a sieve to remove any curdled eggs.
• Chop the chocolate into small pieces then add the chopped chocolate and stir until dissolved.
• The heat in the pastry cream should be enough to melt the chocolate.

Melt gelatin

• Place gelatin in a microwave-safe bowl with ¼ cup water.
• Dissolve and set aside - keep warm.

Whip egg whites

• Whip egg whites in a mixer bowl with ⅛ tsp cream of tartar or (a pinch of salt).
• Set aside for now.

Make the mousse

• Add a tablespoon or more of the chocolate custard to the dissolved gelatin to temper it.
• Then add the gelatin to the chocolate mixture.
• Let the custard come to room temperature for 5 to 10 minutes.
• Fold the whipped egg whites making sure it's well incorporated.
• Cover with a cling warp place in the fridge to cool completely.
• Once chilled your mousse is ready to be used as the cake filling, or in trifles, etc.
• You can use a whisk to loosen the set mouse before you use it.

How to flavor the chocolate mousse

There are endless ways to flavor a chocolate mousse. The most common would be Baileys or Kahlua for me. In addition, you can also add berries such as raspberry, strawberry or blueberry. Also, orange liquor, mint or even licorice. It all depends on what you fancy.

And yet, a word of advice - make sure you are confident that your guest is going to appreciate the flavor you add. For example, I'm not a huge fan of the combination of orange or mint, with chocolate. So, never assume that everyone will like what you like.

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Frequently asked questions

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