Chocolate Bavarian Mousse Strawberry Cake … a birthday cake for the sweet 16th!
“CHOCOLATE CAKE may not fix everything but it’s a darn good substitute”
Time flies and how.It was her birthday a few days ago, the ‘not so terrible anymore {well almost}’ teen turned 16, a day she awaited eagerly. We did too as we have for every birthday, for us every year special. On request was a Chocolate Bavarian Mousse Strawberry Birthday Cake, a cake that looked really nice, and tasted good too.
Strange beginning to the year. Just as I decided to get a handle on time management and better posting, we had a bad thunderstorm 2 nights ago, hailstorms, lightning, heavy downpour … the works. Lightning struck nearby and fried the modem and the poor motherboard of my dear computer! More needless running around, unnecessary expenditure {$$$}, and annoyingly, no internet!
So while I sat in social isolation, I tried to type a blog post in 70 minutes, inspired by this post I read on BlogAdda just before lightning struck. Maybe it was meant to be. So heres a short-ish post {still can’t figure out why writers block hits me when the internet is kaput} for the birthday, and it’s back to the 2nd.
As I said earlier, how time flies! The ‘now threatening to be terrible pre-teen‘ was most excited on his sisters birthday and lavished his love on her all day long. I have never seen him so excited and attentive to her outlandish and whimsical demands and behavior … but he was. The pooch followed suit!!
The teen was uncannily willing to be clicked , of course that was after I literally begged her; she uncharacteristically relented. Job done and she declared like the Queen of England that the pictures were nice and I could use a few for my blog!
Luck wasn’t on my side, and I accidentally deleted the whole lot before they had a chance to get copied onto the computer. I could have wept. No cake pictures, no pretty pink baby shoes vs big feet, and terribly enough, no record of her on her sweet 16th!! She hounded me … “How could you mother? You can’t be joking? Where did the pictures go …..”
It was back to the Google Gods … how to recover accidentally deleted pictures from a camera card etc. I downloaded different softwares each promising the moon for dolts like me. ‘Just get me those pictures‘. I left the software to run through the night…
Sweet success the next morning had software called Recuva recover all my deleted pictures. Lucky me!! I had all the pictures back, pink shoes and all! Gosh, how feet grow was all I could think!!
Her love for strawberries is indescribable. She loves them to bits … right out of the box to enjoying them in desserts, diet or no diet! We are lucky enough to get fresh produce twice a year. Ah, the joys of living in a tropical country!
So here’s the cake I made for her. It came out looking really pretty {if I may say so myself}, and was I glad the chocolate Bavarian mousse set!
I also added a few tbsps of Ghirardelli hot cocoa mix to the Bavarian, the cocoa a gift from a sweet reader of PAB, Indrani. Her words touching and inspiring… “Thank you for all the lovely recipes you are churning out. I’m a better baker and it’s ALL thanks to you.”
Thank you for the sweet gift Indrani. The kids have had a great winter slurping hot cocoa with Whole wheat & oat chocolate chip cookies!!
Now onto the recipe which might seem a bit involved when you first read it, but it comes together fairly quickly. It’s always easier to bake the cake a day in advance {or a few hours earlier} if you are pressed for time {or electricity as my case usually is!}.
[print_this]Recipe: Chocolate Bavarian Mousse Strawberry Cake 
Summary: Chocolaty, chocolaty and chocolaty … a delicious luscious cake with the quintessential combination of strawberries and chocolate, complimented beautifully with a light airy chocolate Bavarian mousse.
Prep Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 45 minutes {plus setting/cooling/chilling time}
Ingredients:
- Chocolate Cake
- 20g unsalted butter, melted
- 4 eggs
- 125g caster sugar
- 90g flour, sifted
- 30g cocoa
- Strawberry Cream Filling
- 150ml low fat cream, chilled
- 2tbsp powdered sugar
- 150gm strawberries, chopped
- Bavarian Chocolate Mousse
- 150gm dark chocolate, chopped
- 3 tsp gelatin
- 70ml milk
- 400ml low fat cream {200ml room temperature, 200ml chilled}
- 30gm sugar
- 3 egg yolks
- ½ vanilla bean, scraped
- Chocolate Glaze
- 150gm dark chocolate, chopped fine
- 200ml low fat cream
- 25gm honey
- Garnishing
- 150-200gm strawberries, halved for the sides {save a few for garnishing if desired}
- Chocolate flakes, cocoa powder
Method:
- Chocolate Cake
- Sift the flour and cocoa. Reserve.
- Whisk the eggs and sugar together, and then beat over a bain-marie {simmering} water for 8-10 minutes until it doubles in volume and become mousse like {don’t let it become too hot}. Once doubled, remove from water, and continue beating with an electric beater till it becomes cool, and the batter falls in a thick ribbon.
- Gently fold in the sifted flour and cocoa in 2-3 batches, taking care not to release to much volume.
- Quickly yet gently add the melted butter and pour the batter into the prepared tin.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes until the sponge is firm to touch, and springy. Cool in tin to 10-15 minutes, then turn onto rack to cool completely.
- Strawberry Cream Filling
- Beat the cream with sugar to stiff peaks. Gently fold in the chopped strawberries.
- Bavarian Chocolate Mousse
- Soften the gelatin in a ¼ cup of cold milk. {Place in a bowl of warm water until dissolved}.
- Place the chocolate in a large bowl.
- Heat 200ml cream, milk and half the sugar {15gm} until simmering. Meanwhile whisk the egg yolks with the remaining sugar with a balloon whisk, and add 1/3rd of the hot milk mixture over it, whisking continuously until well combined. Pour this back into the pan with the remaining milk mixture. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until the cream is thickened and coats the back of the spoon. {Don’t allow it to boil}.
- Remove from heat immediately and stir the gelatin into this hot milk mixture well, then quickly strain this over the chocolate. Stir until smooth. I added 2 tbsp of Ghirardelli hot cocoa mix into this. Cool over a bowl of crushed ice, stirring frequently.
- Once cool, beat the remaining 200ml chilled cream to soft peaks, and gently stir into the mousse.
- Chocolate Glaze
- Place chocolate in a bowl.
- Heat the cream and honey in a pan until simmering. Pour over the chopped chocolate and stir until smooth.
- Assembling cake
- Cut the sponge horizontally into 2 layers. Place in dessert ring on serving platter. {Dessert ring should fit nice and snugly. I use this adjustable dessert ring I bought in Sydney.} Place one layer of cake, top with the strawberries and cream mix, followed by the second layer of cake. Chill for about an hour while the Bavarian cools.
- Line the sides of the dessert ring with strawberry halves, gently pour the Bavaria chocolate mousse into the ring and gently level it. Cover and refrigerate overnight preferably. Next morning, prepare the glaze and pour half of it evenly over the set Bavarian mousse. Chill for 30 minutes for the glaze to set, then top with flakes and strawberries, and dust the edges with cocoa powder.
- Unmold from the dessert ring, slather the bottom half of the cake with the remaining glaze {optional} and chill until ready to serve.
- Note: The setting strength of gelatin varies according to climate. You might want to increase it if the weather is warm. It was 5C here.
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Also find me on The Rabid Baker, The Times of India
Deeba @ PAB
About me: I am a freelance food writer, recipe developer and photographer. Food is my passion - baking, cooking, developing recipes, making recipes healthier, using fresh seasonal produce and local products, keeping a check on my carbon footprint and being a responsible foodie! I enjoy food styling, food photography, recipe development and product reviews. I express this through my food photographs which I style and the recipes I blog. My strength lies in 'Doing Food From Scratch'; it must taste as good as it looks, and be healthy too. Baking in India, often my biggest challenge is the non-availability of baking ingredients, and this has now become a platform to get creative on. I enjoy cooking immensely as well.
46 Comments
Happy Cook / Finla
Wowo she got 16, Happy birhtday to lillle Miss there.
And the sounds of it it was indeed a bad start loosing the pics. Here the external disk got busted and that is were i kept all my blog pictures till 2010 , i just have the pics from 2011 in the computer 🙁
Cake looks and sounds beautifuL
Miriam/The Winter Guest
First of all happy birthday to your daughter! Secondly, so lucky that you could recover all your photos, OMG, I could have gone crazy if I had lost such important images!!
Anita Menon
Belated wishes to the teen. She’s so pretty and your boy so handsome. The cake looks splendid. You outdo yourself each time. Seems like a long list of processes in this one. But the every bit of the effort shines through these photos.
the wicked noodle
Gorgeous! What a lucky girl she is. Hope everything is wonderful with you, Deeba!
Barbara @ Barbara Bakes
A beautiful cake for a beautiful daughter! Happy Birthday! So glad you were able to recover your pictures. How frustrating!
Abhilasha Venkatesh
Happy Birthday !! to your girl who has just turned the ohhh so sweet sixteen 🙂
your son is growing into a handsome teen indeed …… spoiling his sister with all the pampering and love on her birthday…..ah I so miss my brother !
The chocolate strawberry combo is something to die for…….. love love the mousse cake !!
Cheers
Abhilasha
indu
Love it! So dangerously chocolaty…
I somehow felt sad seeing the tiny pink shoes, and the more grown up feet…. 🙁
indu
Amost forgot, belated brthday wishes to the teen! and she is right is thinking the pictures look good……
gloria
This look georgeous and amazing of course dear Deeba and Happy birthday to your daugther, my have 17 (and son too) bus this was a difficlt year (teenager is terrible) the puppyis adorable and the pictures too, Blessings to you:)))
Vimitha
The cake looks so gorgeous and perfectly done.
And happy birthday to the teen…
indrani
Very Very Happy Birthday to your darling daughter..!!
Im very thrilled that you mentioned me in your blog post… !!
No words to express my surprise..!!
Happy New Year..!!
Regards,
Indrani
Rosa
Happy Birthday to the miss!
That cake is magnificent! She is such a lucky girl to have a mum like you.
Cheers,
Rosa
Laura
Happy Birthday to your daughter! I think it is amazing that her brother love her so much, my kids seem to hate each other….
Great photos!
Rebekah @ Making Miracles
What a wonderful post!! LOVE the beautiful photos of the gorgeous cake and your beautiful teenager too!! 🙂 Happy birthday to her!
Sylviane Nuccio
Wow, this Bavarian chocolate mousse cake looks divine. I’ve got to try it. This is my first time here and will be back. Thanks for sharing.
Poornima
Belated wishes to your daughter and what a gorgeous cake!! You outdo yourself each time Deeba!
Zee
Happy Birthday to your daughter and Congratulations to you for recovering all your photos.
And that cake is really really awesome. Birthday girl is so lucky to have a mum who bakes her such pretty cakes 🙂
marcellina
Happy birthday to your daughter! We too, are preparing for our daughters birthday, her 17th! Isn’t it amazing how they grow before your eyes and are asking for tortes instead of the theme based birthday cake. I might run this one by my daughter. We have a few in mind. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
SHALINI
hey deeba…thanx for stopping by my blog…your blog is like the mother superieur to my novice newbie blog…lolz
happy birthday to your 16 year old …and you too…your cake looks lovely…only where I live half of the ingredients are a mystery …the shopkeepers look as though I am “loco” if I mention most of the stuff…so I cart…wont you do something simple yet PRETTY …
thanx
arundati
belated wishes to the gorgeous birthday girl.. loved the pic of the baby shoes with her grown up!
Valerie
This chocolate is so good! I love it! I don’t know if we have it here in Spain, never seen it! But I devore it each time I go to the US! Your pictures are fantastic! And this chocolate bavarian mousse looks amazing! What a great B-day cake!
ramya
happy birthday to the pretty teen!And what a lovely cake……she must be so proud of her mommy!
Sanjeeta kk
Happy..happy B’day to the lovely princess ! Those pretty pink shoes..a treasure for life indeed. Am worried about my son entering Teen age this year..hope I remain calm and controlled as you are.
Lora
Gorgeous cake. Happy birthday to your daughter. I am sure she loved it. p.s. the baby shoes pix is so fab.
belllii
Your daughter is turning into a beautiful young woman Deeba. It is hard to believe both of your children have grown. As for the cake who wouldn’t want to celebrate with such lusciousness.
Cindy
Such a beautiful birthday-cake! Wow that’s what I call delicious! Such a beautiful cake… And your daughter looks so cute! She really deserves this wonder-cake;)
RookieQookie
I must say Deeba, you inspire many with your honest writing and lovely recipes. Needless to say, you are always open to share and just a mail away from helping 🙂
Warm wishes for your Daughter..
Suma
Well, all’s well that ends well! I know the feeling when you would have lost the pictures and heartening to know that there IS a way to retrieve them! Love the pictures of your kids, specially the one with little pink shoes vs the the big ones..Lol about your daughter approving and giving you permission to put the pics on the blog :))
Lucky daughter to get this lovely, delish cake from a very talented Mom! Birthday wishes to her!
Jamie
Happy Sweet Sixteen to the girl!!! And she is so lovely…and how charming that the lad was so sweet to her all day. Beautiful photos – especially with the little pink shoes. And wow she is so lucky to have you to bake each and all of those magnificent strawberry (and chocolate) treats, each one more stunning than the next. Gorgeous! xoxo
Sue
What a relief to retrieve your beautiful set of photos!
That is SOME cake! DELISH!
Happy Birthday to your SWEET 16 daughter!
baker in disguise
What a beautiful cake..i love the part on how u’ve set the bavarian mousse on top…the photos as usual are gorgeous!! Have you ever thought of a cook book??!!
Sarah
Happy Birthday! Such a happy day with so many strawberries and such a magnificent cake, a time to celebrate…and a time to reflect. Beautiful photographs!
Sylvie @ Gourmande in the Kitchen
“CHOCOLATE CAKE may not fix everything but it’s a darn good substitute” – so true! I’m glad you were able to recover those images. I’ve had that happen to me before and it’s an awful feeling losing your work especially of such a special day.
Sneha
Happy Birthday to the sweet sixteen! She’s indeed lucky to have a mom who bakes her such gorgeous stuff!
I’ve been enjoying the strawberries too, Spar was hosting a buy one get one offer on strawberry boxes, I picked a dozen, good stuff. Made a yummy no bake cheesecake!
Jen Laceda
As usual, your dessert looks Ah-mazing!
Casey
What a perfect cake for a birthday girl. Happy birthday.
I am a fan of mousse, chocolate and strawberry so this is just right for me.
chinmayie @ love food eat
I wish I can bake cakes like these when my daughter turns 16! Happy Birthday to your gorgeous daughter 🙂
Arjee
Hey! This cake looks so delicious. It’s mouth watering and I can’t stop myself craving for it!
marieljackson
Delicious! I love to try to bake these one also.
Alli
The cake looks beautiful. Your poor daughter only getting Strawberries twice a year, my hubby works for a strawberry co-operative and brings them home by the crate…you must visit NZ in strawberry season :o)
Deeba @ PAB
By the crate Alli? Beam her in my friend, pretty please. She inhales them. Lucky lucky you!!
Happy Cook / Finla
Be lated b’day wishes to the sweet sixteen. And she is a beauty.
Deeba @ PAB
xoxo Finla, and HNY!! Welcome back to the foodie world!
Los Angeles SEO Guy
Cute dog, tasty cake.
deepa
Amazing photos………….
rosesandgifts.com
Soma
Hello Deeba, came across your blog while searching for baking supplies in India…really nice info and made me all nostalgic…was in delhi till 2009 and le march and modern bazaar were my favorite places to shop in Priya….as a phd student..after few years in USA, planning to relocate back and start home baking as a side….will definitely check up on all shops you mentioned…I was so amused to see the whipping cream problem…one of my fav things here….I too was fretting abt the same to DH, and remembered buying loose cream from halwais in Ber Sarai….also wish we had gas ovens like USA in India….one more thing made me smile…the mention of buying software promising you the moon for getting back deleted photos..I have been in these shoes…:)..glad to know which worked for you….hope to be able to meet you someday….best wishes…