White Chocolate Mousse Cake

I meant to post this entry sooner, but I've been so busy recently that I don't know where all the time goes!


Anyway, as promised, here's a look at my third cake ever! It's the White Chocolate Mousse Cake from Salty's on Alki, a really well known and beloved seafood house in Seattle. I am so in love with this cake! It's one of my favorite desserts!

A significant part of the cake batter consists of egg whites beaten to soft peaks, giving the cake a super light and fluffy texture. The crumb is absolutely perfect! It's covered in white chocolate mousse and white chocolate curls, to finish! The white chocolate mousse is basically fresh whipped cream with melted white chocolate mixed in. It's the most fantastic blend of flavors and textures! It's so delicious and light on the palate that you'll find yourself eating slice after slice! I can never get enough of this cake!

(1) The Fluffy Egg-White Cake

Mix & sift the dry ingredients.

In a separate bowl, cream together butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.


Then add the vanilla.



Next, add the flour mixture, alternating with milk...


...until everything is well combined. Set aside.

Now, onto the egg whites! The eggs are supposed to be at room temperature. But if you don't have ones readily available, you can set them in warm water before separating out the whites. Beat until soft peaks form.

Only fold in 1/3 of the egg whites first.

Use a cutting motion from the middle of the bowl, and turning it as you fold.

Gently fold the rest of the egg whites into the batter until just combined. Don't over mix, or you'll destroy the air whipped into the egg whites and your cake will turn out to be tough and dense. This cake is supposed to be super light and airy.

Ok, now onto the baking part...when I last blogged about the White Velvet Matcha Cake, remember how I talked about the sides browning too quickly and the cake creating a dome in the center? Well, this is how to solve that problem:


You'll need some baking strips. You can find these at any specialty baking store. They are also available on Amazon for a pretty reasonable price. You gotta make sure to get the right sized strips- they come both for 8 inch and 9 inch pans.


So here's how you use them: wet the strips through entirely and then wring out the excess water. Wrap the strips around the pan and you're ready to go! This makes sure that the cake bakes evenly throughout, not browning the edges before the middle is fully done. It will also help with the dome shape. Grease the pan, and bake your cake as usual. I used 9 inch spring form pans and lined the bottom with parchment paper rounds.

Ok, one warning about the baking strips: the first time you use them, you'll think that your kitchen is on fire after about 5 minutes. It produced a super strong stink in my kitchen: like burning rubber. I kept checking on the cake every other minute, worried that the strips had caught on fire. I think it was just because they had never been used before. The second time I used them, the smell was hardly there. So don't be alarmed! hehe.

After I posted about the Matcha cake earlier this week, I received the most wonder email from a reader. She had some pretty fantastic tips for resolving these issues. Here's what she said:

Regarding the dome, the strips work great. But for your fans, they can also save a buck and make their own. Take an old terry towel and cut in strips that are twice the height of the pan. If the pan is 2 inches high, cut the towel in a 4 inch wide strip that is several inches longer than the circumference of the pan. Fold the strip in half lengthwise. Wet and wring out just like the boughten strip. Wrap around the pan and attach with a metal t-pin, safety pin (you don't need to close it) or a metal office binder clip. Works just like the boughten strips. It also helps to lower the oven to 325 when baking.

And if you take a metal flower nail, spray with some Pam, and after you pour the batter, place the nail upside down in the center of the pan. So the top of the flower nail is touching the pan and the nail is sticking up. The strips slow down the baking on the outside edge of the pan, the nail brings more heat into the batter in the center of the pan. Both allow the center to bake at the same time as the edge. When I use the strips, 325 oven, and a flower nail I never have a dome. Nice and flat with no cutting a dome off or having uneven layers.

Wow! I was so amazed by how savvy and creative she was! I never thought to make my own strips! The flower nail tip was pretty cool, wasn't it? I haven't tried it yet, but the next cake I bake, I'll be sure to put it to the test! Flower nails can be found anywhere- even at Michael's. It's the kind you use to pipe buttercream roses. Thanks so much, Denette, for the awesome tips!

(2) The Red Currant Filling

The recipe called for red currant jelly as the filling. Basically all you do is whisk the jelly until it becomes smooth. There's not actually a whole lot of it once you spread it around the cake. The idea is to have a tiny bit of flavor in the center. However, I always wish there was more! I'd double what the recipe calls for, to get a more flavorful cake!

(3) The White Chocolate Curls

The chocolate curls are super easy to make. Be sure to use a high quality white chocolate bar, with real cocoa butter in it. I usually get mine from Whole Foods. All you have to do is take a potato peeler to it. I have a nice red one with a ceramic blade from Sur La Table. It works perfectly on white chocolate.


A great trick to getting perfect curls: warm up the surface of the chocolate first, before curling. Do this by placing the palm of your hand over the bar of chocolate for a few seconds before shaving the chocolate. This will make sure it's soft enough to curl easily, without breaking.

(4) The White Chocolate Mousse

First, melt your white chocolate and make sure it's had ample time to cool down completely.

In an electric mixer, beat heavy whipping cream until stiff peaks form.


Yay! I love freshly whipped whip cream!


Pour in the white chocolate..


...and mix until well combined.

If your chocolate is still slightly warm, you'll get chunks of white chocolate in your whipped cream, and it won't be as smooth. It's fine if this happens, it'll still taste just as great!

What you can do is slowly drizzle the melted chocolate in while the mixer is running. This will also reduce the chances of getting clumps. (I find that folding it in by hand usually creates more lumps.)

(5) Putting it all together

Start with the first layer. Spread the red currant jelly evenly.

See how beautifully the sides of the cake turned out to be this time?! =) The baking strips worked like a charm! (Thanks Patricia!) Although, there was still a tad bit of a dome on top that I had to trim down, but it wasn't such a big deal this time. It was a tiiiiiiiiiny dome that probably wouldn't have made a difference if I didn't trim it. But I wanted to get rid of the "brown top" anyway, so I gave it a tiny trim. I will be sure to try the nail thing next time! It sounds so cool! hehe. And wouldn't it be nice to get a completely flat layer?! I'll be sure to let you know how it goes. =)

Anyway, moving on... spread some white chocolate mousse over the red currant layer.



Continue to frost the cake completely, until the entire thing is covered with the white chocolate mousse.

Then top with white chocolate curls to finish!

I didn't mean to do another cake with white chocolate curls. It just so happens that this cake was designed that way. The curls are super forgiving and will cover a lot of flaws. Whipping cream is hard to get smooth anyway, so the curls are perfect. But I really need to do some cakes with "real" decorating, by using a SMB or IMB. That's what I really need to practice!

Remember how I last talked about icing tips that I got from my readers? Well, Denette had something to say about those too:

To use the roller (or viva paper towel technique that is also popular and effective) you need a buttercream that crusts. You have to be able to lightly touch it with your finger and the buttercream won't come off on your finger.

I'm glad she told me this because I was super excited about trying out the roller technique. But as you all know, I don't ever use American buttercream that crusts. So, she saved me from a lot of potential frustration! hehe. I wasn't aware that some techniques don't work on certain buttercreams. See what I mean about being a novice? hehe. =)

Ok, so how did this third one turn out??

Definitely better, since I had the baking strips. But I still had problems with the layers. I didn't weigh out the batter to make sure it was even this time- I should never skip that step!! hehe. because you can see here that my layers weren't even. I put more batter in one pan and less in the other. Also, when I went to trim the top, I didn't trim it entirely flat. And also, I seemed to have trimmed the edges more than the center..? lol. Not sure how I pulled that one off! oh well, this just means that I have to practice more, right? hehe.


As for how it tastes: AMAZING! I brought it to a party and everyone loved it! A lot of people commented on the fact that it was super light and fluffy. Of what little we had left over, people were signing up to take some home!

It truly is a great cake! It's subtly sweet, but has a great flavor at the same time. I hope you will put this on your list of To-Trys, it truly is an amazing cake!



Click HERE for the recipes shown in this entry.

Flourless Dark Chocolate Cake with White Chocolate Mousse and Raspberry Coulis

The second I saw this recipe featured on Eating Well, Living Thin, I knew I had to try it. It sparked my curiosity, to say the least. I didn't really understand how you could make a healthy chocolate cake, let alone one without flour! I was instantly intrigued. And since I love experimenting with unique recipes, this one immediately made it to the top of my To-Try list.


The secret ingredient? Canned BEANS. Yes, that's right. BEANS- kidney or black, either would work. Isn't that crazy? I just couldn't believe it! In the back of my mind, I thought: wow, this is going to be nasty. But I couldn't help myself. Now I really really had to try it, just to prove that little voice wrong. Especially since the author of Eating Well, Living Thin insists that this will turn out to be a "super moist and delicious cake."

(1) The Flourless Cake

After reading through some of the comments, I noticed that a lot of people left responses saying that Kidney beans work better- they give a better flavor. So that's what decided to use.

Drain and rinse the can of beans.


Pulse them in the food processor with vanilla and 1 tbsp of coffee until smooth. It'll look kinda like a freckled paste/mush. Set aside.

This bean mixture smelled delicious! Like vanilla. Vanilla Beans! Tee-hee.

Don't skip out on the coffee, even if you're not a coffee drinker. This small amount of coffee will really bring out the flavor of the cake. It makes it taste really dark and decadent- like dark chocolate. For you coffee haters out there, you can rest assured that it won't make the whole cake taste like coffee. Just do it. You'll see that I was right when you taste the cake. =)


Combine the dry ingredients- unsweetened cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.


I always use a high quality cocoa powder - Ghirardelli. It'll really make a difference. Your end product is only as good as the ingredients you put in it. =)


Beat butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. This recipe uses very little butter and sugar. Which is what makes it a healthier cake. (One cup of sugar and less than one stick of butter for the entire cake!)

The original recipe called for a synthetic sugar, in order to make it a completely healthy and sugar-free cake. However, synthetic sugar scares the crap out of me and I would never feed it to my family. (In fact, we're moving towards organic right now, which is completely on the other end of that spectrum.) So I just went with real sugar. This cake is already healthy enough, a little real sugar won't hurt. =)

Add in 5 eggs and beat until light & fluffy.
There's a lot of protein in this cake!

Add in the bean paste.

Mix until well combined.


Mix in the dry ingredients.

The mixture seemed a bit liquidy to me. It wasn't as thick as usual cake batters. (But later, when the cake came out, I realized that it didn't matter.)


Pour into a nine inch, greased springform pan. Bake at 325 for about 35 - 40 minutes.


Allow to cool. Optional, but highly recommended: refrigerate overnight. It smelled pretty good when it came out of the oven - like a chocolate cake. Seemed promising!

(2) The Raspberry Coulis

Raspberry Coulis is basically a fancy name for raspberry sauce or syrup. It's really delicious on pancakes. You can use fresh berries or frozen ones. I used a bag of sweetened frozen raspberries.

It's really easy to make. You just combine water, sugar, and the berries in a sauce pan. Bring to a boil, then reduce and simmer for about 8-10 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

You can adjust the sugar to your liking. Add more for a sweeter sauce, less if you like it tart.


Puree with a blender or food processor. Then here comes the hard part: push the sauce through a fine mesh sieve. Sounds easy but it actually takes a long time to do, because of all the seeds. You'll need a large sized sieve. A small one won't work. Put the sieve over a bowl.


Use a spatula to push the raspberry sauce over the sieve, using a back and forth, side to side motion. Spread it over the entire sieve as much as you can. The sauce will be thick, so it won't just run out the other side. Once in a while, turn the sieve around and scrape the sauce from the back side. This will allow more to be pushed through.

Do it in batches. Pour 1/3 of the sauce into the sieve each time. When you can't get any more out, and it's mainly just seeds left (pictured above), discard and pour another 1/3 of the sauce into the sieve. It takes practice. You'll see what I mean when you start to do it. It sounds more complicated than it actually is. Ok, I retract what I said earlier- it's not necessarily hard, just time consuming.


But it's worth it! Afterward, you'll get this gorgeous and oh-so-delicious raspberry sauce!

(3) White Chocolate Mousse

The white chocolate mousse is really easy to make. It's basically melted white chocolate folded into whipped cream. Start with your white chocolate. Make sure to use a good quality one with real cocoa butter in it.

Chop it up into pieces, then melt until completely smooth. Set aside to cool.

Now, start on your whipped cream.

Beat the heavy whipping cream until stiff peaks form. Then add in the melted white chocolate. Beat for another 30 seconds until everything is well combined.

When you're done, it should still pretty much look like whipped cream. Only now it's white chocolate flavored whipped cream! =) Use right away- this does not keep well.

(4) Putting it all together

You'll need some fresh raspberries, of course!

I dusted it with powdered sugar, then added the mousse and fresh raspberries on top! Simple but elegant.


To serve, drizzle the raspberry coulis over the cake and decorate with extra whipped cream and fresh raspberries!


Wow, this cake turned out to be gorgeous! Wouldn't it be the perfect dessert for a romantic Valentine's day dinner? =) You can serve it up in many creative ways!

Alright, here's the moment you've all been waiting for: The REVIEW. How did it stack up?

*Drumroll*


*Suspense*

It was absolutely DIVINE. I can honestly say that it was one of the best chocolate cakes I have ever tasted! And by far one of my favorites!!!

I tested it out on my family and friends. No one could guess that there were beans it in! And everyone went crazy for it- saying that it was one of their favorite cakes! Crazy, eh? I can't believe that so many different people came to the same independent conclusion: that a crazy bean cake was one of the best they've had!

Here are the facts:

1. It was insanely moist and fluffy! It can definitely hold its own among "real" cakes.

2. It tasted so decadent, like biting into a really awesome dark chocolate bar. And I don't even like dark chocolate! The splash of coffee really enhanced the chocolate flavor, giving the illusion that you're eating a really fancy dark chocolate cake.

3. Although it tasted decadent, it wasn't actually heavy on the palate, amazingly enough! You know how when you bite into a chocolate torte or heavy chocolate cake, it's so rich that you take three bites of it, and you're done? Well, this one's just the opposite! It was light and fluffy, therefore making it light on the palate. You could literally sit there and eat the entire cake without feeling like it was too rich! And without feeling too guilty! =)

4. The raspberry sauce and white chocolate mousse were the perfect parings for this cake! Since the cake lacked sugar and tasted like a great dark chocolate bar, the sides really complimented its flavor and added a little bit more sweetness, without having it be too sweet. All of the components put together was simply... perfect.

5. I would highly suggest refrigerating it overnight before decorating and serving. I found that the flavors of the cake really pulled together the next day. It's one of those rare cakes that tastes better when cold and straight out of the fridge. When I tasted it after it had cooled on the first day, I thought that I could detect a little bit of the beans in it. But after it had rested in the fridge overnight, it was perfect! It tasted like a super fancy dark chocolate cake- with no bean flavor what so ever!


So there you have it: my favorite cake of all time is not even a legitimate cake! lol. I urge all of you to give this cake a try- for no reason other than the fact that it's strange and interesting!



Click HERE for the recipes!