There's almost 4 lbs. of Ghirardelli chocolate in and on this cake. It has a cake layer, chocolate mouse and a raspberry mousse layer all topped with a chocolate ganache. Decorate the sides with Ghirardelli Valentines' Impressions.
Ingredients
Cake
10 oz. Ghirardelli 60% Dark Chocolate
1/2 cup butter (softened at room temperature)
4 large eggs
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
Chocolate Mousse
10 oz. Ghirardelli semisweet chocolate
1-1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
2 tablespoons cool water
Raspberry Mousse
1 (10 ounce) package frozen raspberries, thawed
1/3 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons orange liquor - use water as a substitute
2 teaspoons gelatin
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
6 ounces white chocolate, chopped
1 - 2 drops red food coloring - optional
Chocolate Ganache
8 ounces Ghirardelli semisweet chocolate
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 teaspoons light corn syrup
Ghirardelli Valentines' Impressions to decorate sides of cake with (I used one bag of each)
Instructions
Bake at 350 degrees. Prepare a 9 or 10 inch springform pan. Put a piece of parchment on the bottom. Spray the inside of the pan with cooking spray.If you have baking strips wrap them around the outside of the pan. If you don't use 2 layers of aluminum foil around the outside of the pan. You need a pan the springform will go into as you are going to bake this cake in a water bath.
Melt the dark chocolate in microwave at half power. It will take a couple of minutes.Whisk in the butter. Let cool.
Divide the eggs and put the whites in a mixing bowl with the sugar, cream of tartar, salt and vanilla. Beat on low to start and increase to medium. Beat until soft peaks form and the egg whites are shiny.
Whisk the egg yolks into the chocolate mixture after the chocolate cools. Add about a third of the meringue to the chocolate. Use a spatula and fold the meringue into the chocolate. Add the other third and then the remaining egg whites. Be careful not to deflate the mixture too much. When adding egg whites to a chocolate like this you want to do a lift and fold method. Go to the bottom of the bowl and lift u a portion of the mixture and then fold it back into the bowl. Repeat until almost no white streaks remain.
Add the batter to the springform pan. Put the pan in the oven. Add the hot water if using the water bath method for baking. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes until a tester comes out clean.
Remove cake from the water bath, Run a sharp knife around the edge of the pan. Do not remove or loosen the springform pan. The cake will have raised to about an inch from the top of the pan. Let cool The cake will fall as it cools to about 1 1/2 inches tall. Lightly press down around the edges and try to level the top the best you can. When completely cool, refrigerate the cake.
Make the chocolate mousse. Now remove the ring from the springform pan and wash it. Lightly coat it with a little cooking spray. Put it back on around the cake.
Add the semisweet chocolate to a bowl. Bring 1/3 cup of the whipping cream to a boil in a saucepan. Pour it over the chocolate and stir until melted..If it won't all melt put it in the microwave in 30 second intervals.
Add the gelatin to a small bowl with the cool water. Stir, let set until it blooms. Heat 3 tablespoons of the whipping cream, pour it into the gelatin and stir until it all melts. Add it to the chocolate mixture. Let chocolate mixture cool to about 80 degrees.
Add the remaining 1 cup of heavy cream to a bowl. Mix on medium speed until soft peaks form. Carefully add half of the whipped cream to the chocolate. Try not to deflate the cream. Add remaining whipped cream. Spread on top of cake. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before making the raspberry mousse.
To make the raspberry mousse, blend the raspberries in a blender. Pour thru a sieve to remove seeds.
To make the raspberry mousse melt the white chocolate chips in the microwave with 1/4 cup of the heavy cream.
Add the gelatin to the orange liquor. Let set 5 minutes for the gelatin to bloom. Add to the white chocolate chips and stir until the gelatin dissolves. Stir in the raspberries and food coloring if using.
Whip the remaining 1 1/4 cups heavy cream to soft peaks. Fold into the white chocolate and raspberry mixture. Add on top of the chocolate mousse layer. Smooth it out as flat as you can get it. Refrigerate cake for at least 2 hours.
To make the ganache, Add the heavy cream, butter, whipping cream and corn syrup to a saucepan. Put over low heat and whisk until it all comes together. Let cool to about 80 degrees before putting on top of cake.
Use a knife and go around the edge of the springform pan. Loosen the ring around the cake. Remove the cake from the bottom of the springform pan. (I use a round metal disc that comes in a quiche pan with a removable bottom) Slide it under the cake and move the cake carefully to a cake plate.
Pour about 2/3 of the ganache over the top of the cake. Using a spatula spread the ganache gently to cover the top of the cake. If it goes down the sides that's okay.
Unwrap the Ghiraradelli Lasting Impressions Valentines Chocolates.Put a dab of the ganache on the back of the chocolate and stick it on the cake, Continue until you've gone all around the sides of the cake. Refrigerate!
Take the cake out of the refrigerator 20 minutes before serving.
Notes
Times are really approximate. It really depends on how long you wait between the layers to make it. Each layer will take about 15 - 20 minutes to actually make it depending on how familiar you are with making the components of the cake. I would say this cake is about medium on the rate of difficulty. You could also just make the cake and 1 mousse layer with the ganache and it would still be delicious!
Recipe by Recipes Food and Cooking at https://recipesfoodandcooking.com/2015/02/05/raspberry-chocolate-mousse-ghirardelli-cake/