Chocolate Mousse Cake

1 seven-inch cake

# of Servings:   8

Ingredients

1 recipe Chocolate Chiffon Cake

1 recipe Chocolate Charlotte Mousse

1 recipe Midnight Glaze

Chocolate Shavings, as needed

Special tools and equipment needed:

• One 7†by 2 ⅜†stainless steel cake ring¹
• 21†plastic pastry bag and plain round ½â€ tip (Ateco #806), optional 
• Long metal icing spatula
• 7†cardboard cake circle²
• 8†cardboard cake circle, optional
• Small offset spatula 
• Small kitchen torch

Pre-recipe preparations:

• Prepare the pastry bag and tip, if using.

Directions:

1. Bake the Chocolate Chiffon Cake at least two hours before proceeding, as the cake slices into layers best when thoroughly cool. The cake may be baked a day in advance and wrapped in plastic film or up to one-month in advance and frozen, well-wrapped.  Defrost at room temperature, and slice when still cold. 
2. Make the Chocolate Charlotte Mousse, set aside. 
3. Using the cake ring to trim the cake to 7â€.  Using a long serrated knife, slice the cake horizontally into three layers. 
4. Fit the cardboard cake circle in the bottom of the ring. Place the bottom layer from the cake into the ring, bottom side down. 
5. Pipe or spread mousse to fill ¼ of the ring. Place the top cake layer, top side down, on top of the mousse and press gently.
6. Pipe or spread mousse to fill another ¼ of the ring. There should be about ¾ cup of mousse left. Place the final cake layer on top of the mousse, and press down gently. At this point you will have two layers of mousse and three layers of cake. There should be about ⅛†to ¼â€ of space between the cake and the ring.
7. Pipe or spread the remaining mousse on the cake, and using a long metal icing spatula scrape off the excess mouse to level the mousse with the cake ring. Place the cake on the larger cardboard circle or a flat plate and refrigerate for five hours or overnight. Do not cover as it will mar the smooth mousse. 
8. Using a knife on a block of chocolate, or a vegetable peeler on chocolate bar, make chocolate shavings. Set aside.
9. Make the Midnight Glaze and pour about ¾ of it over the top of the mousse. Holding the cake from the bottom, angle it from side to side to have the glaze cover the top. Do not spread with icing spatula.
10. Once the glaze has covered the entire top of the cake, place back in the refrigerator for 15 minutes to set the glaze, 
11. Warm the outside of the cake ring with a kitchen torch, and remove from the ring from the cake.
12. Press the chocolate shavings all around the sides of the cake. Place back on the larger cardboard or a cake plate and refrigerate.
13. To serve, place on a cake plate and let sit at room temperature for approximately 15 minutes for the mousse to soften slightly. 
14. To freeze any leftovers, place plastic film against the exposed cake and freeze, leaving the glaze alone. Once frozen, wrap the entire cake well with plastic film.