Strawberry Chocolate Mousse Cake

Happy New Year!

This is my first bake for 2006.
I made two cakes for our new year's party at my in-laws' last night, Strawberry Chocolate Mousse Cake and Blueberry Cheesecake. The mousse cake is so aromatic, rich and creamy because I used just enough gelatin to set the mousse and you don't get those rubbery type of mousse. Of course, anything chocolatety is a "big-seller" among kids.
I did one big tray of Hello Kitty Jelly Candies too. It was a hit among adults and kids! Take a look at the photo below and see how lovable the jelly candies are!
For details of Blueberry Cheesecake, please click here!

A photo of the whole cake after the final touches!


Photo of the sliced cake taken before the last piece was gobbled up!


Hello Kitty Jelly Candy - A "big seller" among adults and kids!


This is the 3D Hello Kitty Jelly Mould.


Champagne Time!
This is the Giant 3 Litre Taittinger Brut Champagne that we opened last night.
Uncle Joe is draining the last droplets from the bottle.


Drool over some of our party goodies!


Ingredients: (20cm round cake pan)

Cake:
Refer to Black Forest Cake for the cake base.
Cut the cake into 2 equal layers of about 1.5 cm thick and trim the cake to be slightly smaller than the cake pan.

Chocolate Mousse:
155g 66% Valrhona chocolate (chopped)
100g whipping cream
2 tsp rum
400g whipping cream + 2 tbsp icing sugar (whipped)
8g gelatin dissolved in 4 tbsp boiling water
Strawberry slices

Method:
1. Whip 400g whipping cream till mousse state and chill till ready to use.
2. Dissolve gelatin in water and keep warm for use later.
3. Heat 100g whipping cream till hot but not boiling, add in the chopped chocolate pieces and stir till you get a smooth paste. You might need to warm this in a hot water bath, if the chocolate pieces are not dissolved completely. Stir in the gelatin and rum. Cool the chocolate mixture a little.
4. Stir some whipped cream into the slightly warm chocolate mixture a few times. Pour chocolate mixture into the whipped cream and mix gently till well combined. If the mixture is runny, chill in the refigerator for 2 - 3 minutes.
5. Line the cake pan with a cake board and put in a layer of the cake.
6. Pour more than 1/3 of the chocolate mousse on top of the cake layer and top it with strawberry slices. Chill for 2 - 3 minutes.
7. Top it with another layer of the cake and then all the mousse and do some tilting to even out the mousse.
8. Chill the cake for about 2 - 3 hours before doing the ganache.

Chocolate Ganache:
90g 66% Valrhona chocolate (chopped)
25g butter
60g skim milk

Method:
1. Warm butter and chopped chocolate over a basin of hot water and stir till a smooth chocolate paste is formed.
2. Stir in milk a third at a time.
3. Stirring the ganache constantly till it is slightly warm, smooth and runny, pour this ganache over the chilled cake.
4. Tilt pan left and right gently to even out the ganache. Chill till ready to serve.
5. Decorate with whipped cream rosettes, halved strawberries and grated white chocolate or as you desired.

Notes:
To remove the cake from the springform pan, use a hair dryer to warm the cake ring and the cake will release itself smoothly from the pan.