Cake Slice Bakers - September 2012: Chocolate Peanut Butter Mousse Cake

Wow, I can’t believe it’s the 20^th again! I know I always say this, but time flies by so quickly and yet so slow. It seems like forever ago since I posted the Ultimate Lemon Roll Cake, but it seems like every week just goes by too fast.

This moth’s cake happens to be the second to last cake out of The Cake Book by Tish Boyle. Next month the Cake Slice members will be featuring a cake of our choice as a sort of last hoo-rah for finishing the book. 

I am not a big fan of peanut butter and chocolate. I know, shocking! I’m probably one of the 5% in the world that doesn’t like that combination. With that in mind, when I say I really, really, really enjoyed this mousse cake, it means the cake was seriously delightful. That’s the word I was looking for: delightful!

This cake is so light and creamy; I have never tasted anything with this kind of texture.

I decided to make cupcake mousse cakes because I didn’t think an apartment of four girls would be able to consume a full 9-inch mousse cake, but I think I like the presentation more than a slice anyways. The different layers look so pretty.

Now lets talk about taste. The crumb crust was sweet and a perfect contrast to the creamy peanut butter and chocolate layer, but lets face it; crumb crusts are never the stars of the show. The star here, for me at least, was definitely the peanut butter layer.

Usually peanut butter can have a very strong presence in desserts, which is why I prefer to get my peanut butter fix with my daily PB&GJ (grape jelly is the only way to go people). The peanut butter mousse layer was perfect! It was very light and was just peanut buttery enough to cease my peanut butter cravings. You can also taste just the slightest hint of cream cheesy goodness. I had a smidge-worth of trouble with the chocolate part, thought. The chocolate decided not to melt completely, but that did not stop me from enjoying the sweet and smooth layer. I actually thought the chocolate layer could have used a little more chocolate flavor, but it is still tasty nonetheless.

I took some over to my friend’s house on Monday for he and his roommates to share. 30 minutes after I left I got a text from him telling me that he and his roommates loved the little mousse cups. After just two days there are only three left in the freezer. I say this recipe is a success!

Oh and I forgot to mention something. Since we will be finishing The Cake Book next month, the Cake Slice Bakers are starting a new book in November and if you would like to join us in our year long devotion to cake, please email Paloma at love.for.coffee (at) gmail (dot) com with your name, blog name, and blog URL.

Also check out how the other members of the Cake Slice Bakers did here.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Mousse Cake

Adapted from The Cake Book

Makes 12 mousse cups

Ingredients

Chocolate Wafer Crust

90g chocolate teddy grahams

2 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

Peanut Butter Mousse

2 ½ oz. cream cheese (I used 1/3 less fat)

1 tbsp. unsalted butter, soft

72g confectioners sugar

100g smooth peanut butter

Pinch of salt

1 ¼ cups heavy whipping cream

Chocolate Mousse

2 ½ oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped

50g milk chocolate, chopped

2 tbsp. milk

3 tbsp. (33g) sugar

½ tsp. pure vanilla extract

Directions

Place 12 cupcake liners in a standard muffin pan and set aside. Crush teddy grahams into fine crumbs with either a food processor or place in a plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin. Transfer crumbs to a medium bowl and add in melted butter. Stir until combined. Place about 1 tbsp. and 1 tsp. of the crumb mixture into each muffin cup. Pat the crust down with a shot glass or something heavy. Refrigerate while you make the peanut butter mousse.

Beat the cream cheese and butter on medium-low until creamy, about 1 minute. Slowly add the confectioners’ sugar, you don’t want to get lost in a cloud of sugar. Mix until the sugar is well blended. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Add the peanut butter and the salt. Beat until combined, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed

In a separate bowl, beat the heavy whipping cream on high until soft peaks form, about 5 minutes. Gently fold in ½ cup of the whipped cream into the peanut butter mixture to lighten it up. Fold in another ¾ cup cream until light in color and airy in texture. Use a small cookie scoop (I believe mine was 1 oz.) and scoop two dollops on top of the crust. Smooth out the top. By the way, you may have extra peanut butter mousse; do what I did and top off the chocolate layer with some more peanut butter mousse. Refrigerate mousse as you make the chocolate layer.

Place chopped chocolate into a medium bowl. In a small sauce pan, combine the sugar and milk and heat over medium heat. Stir until the sugar has completely dissolved. Pour the hot mixture over the chocolate and stir constantly until the chocolate has completely melted. Add vanilla extract and stir.

Fold in 1/3 of the remaining whipped cream to lighten the chocolate up. Fold in the rest of the cream and mix until light and airy. Dollop two 1 oz. portions of chocolate mousse on top of the peanut butter layer. If you have leftover peanut butter mousse, it’s a good idea to spread that on top of the chocolate, but only if you want.

Place muffin tin in the freezer for at least one hour to firm up. Take the mousse cups out of the tin a few minutes before serving. Store remaining mousse cups in the freezer until ready to be eaten.