Italian chocolate mousse cake

Today is my daughter's seventh birthday.

She requested this cake for her birthday cake. I have made this before for my own birthday; it is impressive, delicious and I think, relatively easy to make.

The children helped to make this one, as there is lots of mixing, and hence, spoon licking afterwards.

The inspiration for this recipe came from taste.com.au. I have changed the recipe slightly.

Sorry, but you'll need to start this one the day before.

What you'll need

This cake will serve 10 - 12 people. You will only need a small slice as it is so rich.


450g good-quality dark chocolate
4 eggs
250g caster sugar
500ml thick cream, lightly whipped
100ml rum
500ml prepared instant black coffee
450g savoiardi sponge finger biscuits
Berries to serve - I used red currants and blueberries.


* The recipe calls for a 24cm springform pan.
I didn't have one and didn't want to buy one,
so I lined a plastic colander with glad wrap as an alternative. The final shape of the cake turned out like a Christmas pudding, but it worked really well.

What to do

Melt the chocolate in a bowl. I melted mine in the microwave,
which is a real 'no-no' apparently, but this is what I always do.
Set aside to cool.

Whisk the eggs with half the sugar until pale and fluffy.
Fold the chocolate into egg mixture,
then carefully fold in the cream and cool in the fridge.

Put remaining sugar and the rum into a bowl with the hot coffee,
stirring to dissolve sugar. Line your springform pan or
colander with gladwrap, leaving lots
overhanging that you can fold over the top later.

Dip half the biscuits in the coffee mixture
and place a layer in the base
of a 24cm springform pan
(or colander), completely
covering base and sides.

Pour chocolate mixture over top.
Dip remaining biscuits in coffee/rum mixture
and place over top. Cover and freeze overnight.

Remove from the freezer about 30 minutes
before you want to serve this. Use a knife
heated under hot water to slice easily.

Serve with berries. I used red currants and blueberries, which were rather tart, but complimented the rich mousse beautifully.

* You might notice some white splotches in the cake once I'd sliced it. This is because I used mascapone cheese in place of the cream in my recipe and it was rather difficult to 'fold' into the chocolate, hence the lumps. The final result was a delicious, think and super-rich cake. However, to make it slightly lighter, next time, I think I'll stick with just plain cream.

I sliced the leftover cake into pieces and stored in the freezer in a container with baking paper in between each slice so it doesn't stick for easy serving later on.