Triple Chocolate Orange Mousse Cake!

As I've probably said before, no one in our house really likes traditional Christmas pudding, so when I offered to make a dessert as well as a starter this Christmas I needed to come up with something that the whole family would like. Following on from the relative success of my attempt at an Orange Blossom Honey Entremet (see my previous posts for details!), I decided that another layer cake would be the perfect way to blend textures and flavours to ensure everyone was happy, whilst also creating a visually striking Christmas Day dessert!

The cake didn't last very long!

The jewel in the crown of my 8-hour Christmas Eve baking marathon, this Triple Chocolate Orange Mousse Cake is probably my most showstopping creation to date! Consisting of five layers, this cake comprises a chocolate orange joconde sponge base, a milk chocolate mousse, a white chocolate mousse, a chocolate mirror glaze, and encased within all this is a layer of orange jelly! This is another of those posts where I break down the method for each step, so naturally there's a lot to get through here too!

I fell in love with joconde sponges when I first made the entremet, and a chocolate orange sponge felt like the perfect base for this mousse cake. By whisking together egg whites and sugar to form a meringue, then gently folding in ground almonds, cocoa powder, flour, orange zest, orange blossom water, and melted butter, you end up with a beautiful sponge that is both light yet sturdy enough to support the layers that will top it! Don't be fooled though, the joconde is definitley the most foolproof of the layers!

A bit of leakage from the milk 
chocolate mousse!

Just like with the Entremet, after baking the joconde sponge I needed to create an acetate collar to sit inside the cake tin. This was a little fiddly, and I mustn't have secured the collar properly as the cake experienced a bit of mousse leakage, which I'll get to soon.

The second layer I needed to prepare was the orange jelly, as this would likely take the longest to set. The joconde and the resulting layer cake was prepared in a 20cm cake tin, however I wanted the orange jelly to be a surprise "bonus" layer that isn't revealed until a slice is cut from the cake. Therefore I used a 15cm cake tin lined with cling film to set the jelly, so that the second layer of mousse would encase the jelly! The jelly itself was very simple to prepare, I just had to combine soaked gelatin leaves with sugar dissolved in hot orange juice! 

As with my last few bakes, there were a few elements to this cake that I hadn't tried before. I'm always eager to try something new, and attempting two flavours of chocolate mousse felt like a perfect little challenge. The mousse itself was relatively easy to prepare. Bloomed gelatin (powdered gelatin that has been soaked in a little water) is added to a milk chocolate ganache, before extra whipped up double cream is added. The milk chocolate mousse is then poured on to the joconde sponge in the tin and is left to set. The method for the white chocolate mousse was exactly the same, just with white chocolate ganache in place of milk chocolate.

The set orange jelly is placed on top of the set milk chocolate mousse, as central as possible so that the next mousse layer can encase it. The cooled white chocolate mousse is then poured on top of and around the jelly, before being left to set in the fridge again. This bake really does require some patience, what with all the different layers that require setting! 

Finally, the only layer left to prepare was the chocolate mirror glaze! I'd made a bit of mistake here though, as I'd miscounted the amount of gelatin sheets and powder I'd need for the entire cake. As a result, I had to use a mixture of leaf and powdered gelatin in order to set the mirror glaze layer. As with the mousse, I'd never attempted a mirror glaze before, but I think the mixture of different forms of gelatin prevented the glaze from reflecting like it should! It still tastes lovely though!

The jelly sits on top of the 
milk chocolate mousse, and the 
white chocolate mousse surrounds
it so the jelly is "hidden" until the cake 
is sliced! 

After allowing the glaze layer to set and removing the acetate collar, the only thing left to do was decorate the cake! I'd initially planned to use caramelised orange slices for decoration, however when I placed them on the cake I decided they were just too big and imposing, and competed for attention with the chocolate decorations. Instead, I went with curls of tempered chocolate, curled by spreading the tempered chocolate on a sheet of acetate and curling it into the shape of an empty toilet roll tube, blobs of Chantilly cream, and orange rind!

We just about had some room left after our Christmas dinner to sample some of this cake, and I was honestly blown away by just how well it had turned out! I think I'd overcompensated on gelatin just a little in the jelly, using a bit too much to ensure the jelly set in time. The jelly was a little firm as a result, but it was far from unpleasant! 

Overall, I'm very proud of my Christmas day showstopper, and I can't wait to have another go at a jelly-related bake!

Gibby x