Chocolate mousse cake

Ingredients

For the sponge

• 220 g flour
• 240 ml milk
• 400 g sugar
• 75 g cocoa
• 115 g melted butter
• 2 eggs
• 240 ml hot water
• 6 g baking powder
• 7 g baking soda
• 5 ml vanilla essence

For the mousse

• 300 g dark chocolate
• 100 g milk chocolate
• 800 ml whipping cream (30% fat)

For the decoration

• 50 g white chocolate
• 100 g marzipan
• 1 g food coloring

Preparation

1. In a bowl, mix the flour, cocoa, sugar, melted butter, milk, baking powder, baking soda, eggs and vanilla essence for 3 minutes. Pour in the hot water, stir first with a wooden spoon, then beat with a mixer for 5 minutes. The batter will be runny. 2. Pour the batter into a 24 cm round pan lined with baking paper. Bake at 180°C for 50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the sponge comes out clean. 3. Let the sponge cool and chill it for 8 hours, then cut it into 3 layers. 4. Break the dark and milk chocolate into small pieces. Put them in a saucepan with 400 ml of whipping cream and melt over very low heat for 5 minutes, stirring until smooth. Refrigerate for 2 hours, until completely cool. 5. Whip the remaining 400 ml of whipping cream for 3 minutes, until it holds its shape on the whisk. Gradually fold it into the cold chocolate cream until you have a smooth mousse. 6. Put one sponge layer on a serving plate and spread some of the mousse on top. Repeat with the other layers and the remaining cream, then refrigerate the cake for 8 hours. 7. Grate the white chocolate over the sides. Color the marzipan with food coloring and shape it into little flowers. Using a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle, pipe rosettes on top and decorate with the flowers.