The first time I made my 4-Layer Chocolate Cake with Strawberry Mousse Filling, it was a Valentine’s Day treat for my wife.
But it’s such a delicious and easy-to-make cake it’s made appearances for friends and family throughout the year.
Wouldn’t this cake be a great way to say I love you? Even if you just make it for yourself, self-love is a good thing!
Ingredients to make a chocolate cake with a strawberry mousse filling
Let’s start by gathering the ingredients we need to make my chocolate cake with a strawberry mousse filling. In Chef Speak, this is called the “Mise en Place” which translates to “Everything in its Place”.
Not only does setting your ingredients up ahead of time speed up the cooking process, it also helps ensure you have everything you need to make the dish.
How do I make a Chocolate Cake?
Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees F. and prepare four cake pans using parchment circles in the bottom of each pan and lightly coat the sides and parchment with butter.
*I use 9-inch cake pans for all my cakes.
- Blend the flour, salt, baking soda, cocoa and sugar together, set aside
- In the bowl of your mixer, whip softened butter and yogurt together (make sure all of your wet ingredients, including the eggs, are at room temperature).
- Add the eggs one at a time, fully incorporating them before adding another.
- Scrape down your bowl in between each addition.
- Add vanilla and mix until blended.
- Add the dry ingredients and mix just enough to blend them into the wet ingredients.
- Divide the cake batter between 4 cake pans, spreading the batter evenly using an offset spatula.
- Bake the layers for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Let the layers cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then remove them from the pan to continue cooling.
How do I make strawberry mousse?
To begin, start by sprinkling the gelatin over ¼ cup of water in a small bowl and let it sit for 5 minutes.
- Add the strawberries and sugar to the bowl of a food processor.
- Puree the strawberries and sugar until smooth.
- Transfer strawberry mixture to a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
- Remove from heat, and add the gelatin mixture to the strawberry mixture, stirring constantly until the gelatin dissolves.
*Cover and chill the strawberry mixture until slightly thickened, about 30 minutes. Stir the mixture every 10 minutes to keep it smooth.
- Whip cream at low speed until foamy; gradually increase speed to medium-high, and beat until soft peaks form.
- Fold whipped cream into strawberry mixture until well blended.
- Cover and chill for 30 minutes or until the mixture has firmed up enough to be used as filling.
How do I make Chocolate Mascarpone Frosting?
- In a double boiler, melt the chocolate and set aside.
- Add Mascarpone to a large bowl and beat with ⅓ of the confectioner’s beating until smooth.
- Continue adding the remainder of the 10x sugar in two additions beating until smooth.
- When all the confectioner’s sugar has been incorporated, add the vanilla extract.
- Gradually add the melted chocolate to the mixture
- Whip the frosting until light and fluffy
- Begin frosting the cake as soon as the chocolate mascarpone frosting is finished. If you wait or refrigerate the frosting, it will set and be hard to work with.
- Frost the entire cake and garnish with chocolate chips.
If the frosting sets before you can use it, rewhip until fluffy.
Can’t you picture this on your table? Whether you make it for your significant other or a gathering of friends, it’s sure to be a hit!
This cake was as good as it looks. The strawberry mousse was light and flavorful and offered enough of a distraction from the chocolate to keep the flavors balanced.
Recipe FAQ’s:
Yes, you can. Cream cheese can be substituted in the frosting recipe. I prefer the creamier texture and less pronounced flavor of mascarpone to cream cheese, but they are easily substituted.
Yes, you can. Raspberries or blackberries would make a delicious mousse filling, but you would want to strain the seeds out of the pureed fruit before making the mousse.
You could also make a white chocolate mousse to use as a filling.
Yes, you can. Just divide the batter between the number of pans you want to use. You will have to adjust to a longer cooking time depending on how much batter you use in each pan.
Yes, you can. Make one and one-half times the recipe to make a thicker layer of strawberry mousse filling.
More Cake Recipes You’ll Love!
Chocolate Valentines Day Cake
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake
- 2 ⅔ cup all purpose flour
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 8 oz unsalted butter softened
- ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa
- 1 cup Greek yogurt
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 3 large eggs
Strawberry Mousse Filling
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 cups strawberries fresh or frozen
- ½ cup graulated sugar
- 1 envelope Knox unflavored gelatin
Chocolate Mascarpone Frosting
- 4 ounces semi sweet chocolate chopped
- 16 ounces Mascarpone
- 4 cups 500 g confectioner’s sugar
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup mini chocolate chips to garnish top of cake
Instructions
Chocolate Cake
- Prepare 4 cake pans using parchment circles in the bottom of each pan and lightly coating the sides and paper with butter. I use 9 inch round cakes pans.
- Preheat oven to 350
- Blend flour, salt, baking soda, cocoa and sugar together, set aside
- Make sure all of your wet ingredients are at room temperature.
- In the bowl of your mixer whip softened butter and yogurt together .
- Add the eggs one at a time fully incorporating before adding another, and remember to scrape down your bowl in between each addition.
- Add vanilla and mix until blended
- Add the dry ingredients and mix just enough to blend them into the wet ingredients.
- Divide between 4 cake pans,spreading batter evenly using an offset spatula
- Bake 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean
- Cool on wire rack for 10 minutes then remove from pan to continue cooling.
Strawberry Mousse
- Sprinkle gelatin over ¼ cup water in a small bowl and let stand 5 minutes.
- In a food processor, puree 2 cups sliced strawberries and ½ cup granulated sugar until smooth.
- Transfer strawberry mixture to a small saucepan; bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Remove from heat, and add gelatin water mixture to strawberry mixture, stirring constantly until gelatin dissolves.
- Cover and chill until slightly thickened about 30 minutes, stir the mixture every 10 minutes
- Whip cream at low speed until foamy; gradually increase speed to medium-high, and beat until soft peaks form.
- Fold whipped cream into strawberry mixture until well blended. Cover and chill 30 minutes or just until mixture has thickened enough to be used as filling
- Spread about 1 cup Strawberry Mousse between each cake layer, cover and chill 3 hours or until mousse is set.
Chocolate Mascarpone Frosting
- In a double boiler melt chocolate, set aside.
- Add Mascarpone to a large bowl and beat with confectioner’s sugar in three additions until smooth.
- Add vanilla and gradually add the melted chocolate.
- Whip frosting until light and fluffy and frost cake immediately, before chocolate can set.
- Sprinkle mini chocolate chips on top of cake.
- Refrigerate cake until serving, but allow it to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving.
Brandy Ellen Writes
Bring on the chocolate! Woah this is the perfect cake for that time of the month when my oldest and I are all craving chocolate LOL I’ll be saving this to whip up!
Jamie H
This looks so amazing! I love the combination of chocolate and strawberries, so I know I would love this cake! Can’t wait to try it!
Rena
That looks so deliciously amazing! I’ve never tried to make a cake from scratch but this one I have to try!
Sarah Bailey
Oh my goodness this sounds absolutely delicious – I could definitely tuck into a slice or two on Valentine’s I may have to try and make one so I can!
Liz Mays
I’d be pretty excited to make this for a special occasion like Valentine’s Day. It’s just beautiful and we’d love that filling.
Amber Myers
Oh yes, I’d love it if someone made this for me on Valentine’s Day. It looks incredible. I just love chocolate desserts.
cait
oh my gosh i adore chocolate cake but this takes it too a new level- i cant wait to try and make it for vday this year
Tasheena
This cake looks so yummy. I wish I had everything on hand to make this right now. I know my family would love it.
melissa chapman
It sounds like you really loved your dad. I would love to make a great layer cake and it seems perfect for Valentine’s Day.
Gagirl Jen
Hi Chef D,
I would like to change the strawberries to either raspberry or blackberries. Would you prepare the same? Also, could it be strained to remove some of the seeds?
This looks amazing and I can’t wait to bake it! Thanks for sharing such a great recipe.
Chef Dennis Littley
That sounds like a nice change to me and you shouldn’t need to make any changes. And yes I would suggest straining it to get rid of the seeds.
Yvette
Can I use this mousse with candy, like filling chocolate cups?
Chef Dennis Littley
as long as you keep them refrigerated
online cake delivery
This looks delicious.
I really like this recipe. I am very excited to try this recipe. Thanks for sharing a useful
I’m so glad tomorrow is Sunday because that means I have a little extra time to make these! Yay – they look fabulous, I’m always searching for a delicious cake recipe.
Neenu
Hi Chef Dennis,
For the filling, can i use frozen strawberries instead of fresh ones? I bought fresh but i freezed them so they dont be stale. Is there anything to be aware when using frozen strawberries?
I really appreciate it. I want to make it for my friend but will cut out sugar too.
Thanks
Chef Dennis Littley
if you’re going to use frozen berries thaw them first and drain off any extra liquid that comes from the defrosting. As for cutting out the sugar from the mousse that shouldn’t affect anything other than the sweetness of the mousse.
Coleen
What do you mean by “envelope of gelatin”. I have envelopes of unflavored gelatin, and there are about 2 to 3 teaspoons of gelatin powder in each envelope. Is that amount what you are recommending? I want to make this for husbands birthday soon, so please answer as soon as you can. It looks like a lovely cake !!
Chef Dennis Littley
hi Coleen
yes its one envelope of unflavored gelatin.
Maria
That Bill Cosby skit is one of my favorites too! I used similar logic the other day with a peanut butter cup trail mix. Your cakes always look so picture perfect!! I love chocolate sand strawberry together. This looks so heavenly!! Oh my!
Chef Dennis Littley
Thanks Maria, it’s good to know I’m not the only one using that reasoning!