Chocolate Amaretto Mousse Cake 3.10 That'll Do Pig

“Twelve courses, each paired with a specific wine, and for dessert, individual chocolate amaretto mousse cakes in the shape of a G.” “Sookie, look what you’ve done.” “Over the top?” “On a monumental scale.” “Exactly what I was going for. I’m also going to have individual little menus printed up and placed at each setting.” “I love you for doing this.”

Ingredients:

For the cake:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour

• ⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

• ¼ tsp salt

• ½ tsp baking powder

• 6 tbsp unsalted butter, softened

• 1 cup granulated sugar

• ⅓ cup sour cream

• ½ tsp vanilla extract

• 1 egg + 1 egg white

• ½ cup amaretto

For the chocolate ganache:

• ⅔ cup dark chocolate

• 2 tbsp heavy cream

• 2 tbsp amaretto

For the mousse:

• 1 ¼ tsp unflavored powdered gelatin

• 1 ½ tbsp lukewarm water

• 1 ⅔ cup semi-sweet chocolate

• ½ cup amaretto

• 1 ¾ cup heavy cream

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• ½ cup powdered sugar

For the whipped cream topping:

• ½ cup heavy cream

• ⅓ cup + 2 tbsp powdered sugar

• ¼ tsp vanilla extract

For decoration:

• Dark chocolate shavings

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Grease an 8-inch springform pan and set aside.

For the cake:

1. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in the sour cream and vanilla until smooth.

3. Beat the egg and additional egg white until smooth.

4. Alternate adding the amaretto and the flour mixture, mixing in between until smooth and fully combined.

5. Pour the cake batter into the prepared springform pan.

6. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

7. Allow the cake to cool before assembling.

For the chocolate ganache:

1. Meanwhile, prepare the chocolate ganache by adding the heavy cream and amaretto to a small saucepan and place over medium-high heat. Bring to a low boil and then remove from heat.

2. Stir in the dark chocolate until completely melted.

3. Allow to cool before assembling.

For the mousse:

1. Pour the warm water into a small bowl and add the gelatin. Use a spoon to gently stir a couple times to make sure all the powder submerges into the water, but don’t stir too much. Allow to set for about 5 minutes.

2. Place a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Add ¼ cup of the heavy cream and amaretto and bring to a low boil. Remove from heat and stir in the gelatin until completely dissolved.

3. Then stir in the semi-sweet chocolate until completely melted. Set aside to cool.

4. In a large bowl, whip the remaining 1½ cups of heavy cream, vanilla, and powdered sugar until soft peaks form.

5. Carefully fold in the cooled chocolate mixture a little at a time. Be careful not to stir too much and let the air out. Stir just until the chocolate is fully combined, but the mousse is still light and fluffy.

6. Keep chilled until the cake and ganache have cooled before assembling.

To assemble the cake:

1. Once the cake has completely cooled, spread the chocolate ganache across the cake evenly with an offset spatula.

2. Spread the mousse across the layer of ganache with an offset spatula.

3. Place the cake in the fridge and allow to set for 4-6 hours or until firm.

To decorate the cake:

1. While the cake sets, prepare the whipped cream topping by whisking the heavy cream, vanilla, and powdered sugar until stiff peaks form. Keep in the fridge while the cake sets.

2. Once the cake has set, remove it from the fridge and release the springform pan.

3. Add the whipped cream topping to a piping bag with a star-shaped nozzle.

4. Decorate the cake to your liking with the whipped cream topping.

5. Top with dark chocolate shavings.

Spread the cake batter evenly and bake in a springform pan.

This cake has gone down as one of my favorite things that I’ve made so far for this project. I love how rich and creamy the mousse is. You can honestly just make that if you are impatient and don’t want to wait half a day for the cake to set. As I’m able to see more of my friends now that we are vaccinated, I’ve been able to share some of my Eating Gilmore bakes with them, which has been a lot of fun. I’ve always enjoyed sharing my baked goods, and I‘m glad to have the opportunity to do that again.

I strayed away from Sookie’s dish a little. I didn’t see the point of making individual cakes, and I didn’t want to have to buy G-shaped cake molds. I don’t plan on making any other cakes in the shape of a G. However, I do think Sookie was onto something with this cake, and it would be approved by Trix, Emily, Richard, and Lorelai. Though if this cake is coming after eleven courses, this might be a little too rich of a dessert.

If you don't have a springform pan, you can use any cake tin with parchment paper for easy removal.

I always forget how good chocolate mousse is as a dessert. I think it’s often underrated because we tend to go for other desserts; after all, mousse is essentially just fancy pudding. But if done right, it’s so creamy and decadent, that I’m going to start a pro mousse campaign! Although now that I’ve had mousse cake, I can see how that mousse by itself is more lackluster. For a long time, chocolate mousse parfaits were a Christmas Eve tradition in my family. I don’t really know why it started, but one year my dad made them for us when we sat down to watch a Christmas movie. We didn’t even notice them at first until I saw four glass cups layered with chocolate and cream, and I uttered the now quoted line in my family, “what’s all this?”

The chocolate ganache layer adds an extra punch of chocolate and prevents the mousse from seeping into the cake.

Speaking of family, there’s obviously a lot of family plot in this episode with Trix returning. Even though her character is sort of one note, I do always find her dynamic with Emily to be interesting and enjoyable to watch. And Emily stands up to Trix in her own way in this episode when she eats at her own pace, even if that pace is eating four green beans in an hour and a half. My favorite Trix scene is, of course, purple jogging suit, but renting her house out to Korn is a close second.

This mousse is thick and creamy and decadent!

While Lorelai is having dinner at the Inn with her grandmother and parents, Rory attends the winter carnival, which is always so cringy to me. Many fans of the show like to point out Dean’s jealousy when it comes to Jess, but rarely is Jess’s jealousy of Dean discussed. There is no denying that Jess is jealous of Dean in this episode. He doesn’t want to attend the winter carnival until they run into Dean and Clara. The standoff between Dean and Jess outside of the bathrooms is so cheesy to me and it’s basically Edward and Jacob pre-Twilight. I also don’t like Clara. I think they wrote her character as someone much younger. She’s supposed to be about ten in this episode, but she acts like she’s four.

Spread a thick layer of mousse across the ganache.

What I also don’t like about this episode is the Francine and Rory standoff (honestly, the only good standoff in this episode is Emily and Trix). I actually don’t like any of the Francine plot in this season. I think Rory and Paris could have had a more natural conflict and Francine should have graduated last year. It would make more sense for the president of the Puffs to be a senior anyway.

I do like the scene of Rory and Dean at Weston’s, although their bumping into each other was also really cheesy. I can buy Rory and Dean as friends after breaking up (just friends), but I do think it’s a little soon following their breakup for that. It was just a few episodes ago, and probably only a month or so. This is clearly Dean’s move to try and win Rory back. I mean he straight up admits that to Jess later in the episode, but I do think they can work as friends as we clearly see in A Year in the Life.

Decorate your cake however you want.

Even though I didn’t make any carnival food, I think if I was attending the Stars Hollow High Winter Carnival, I would probably eat a soft pretzel and it wouldn’t even need to be in basket form ;). What would you eat at the carnival if you attended?

Happy Cooking from the Hollow!

Just look at those layers!

If you missed what I made last episode, catch up here!

*Cake adapted from Atwell Cole