Triple Chocolate Cake

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John’s Dad loves this cake, and I don’t normally do 3 types of chocolate because I like raspberries and vanilla mousse, but here you go. I would give this a 9.5:

Chocolate Cake
1 cup cocoa I use dutch process
2 cups boiling water
2 3/4 cup sifted flour I just sift flour to 350 grams
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup butter I do 50& butter and 50% canola oil to keep it moist
2 1/2 cups sugar I do 1 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla I increase this to 2 tsp.

Make the chocolate water and cool it. You cream the fat and the sugar for about 4 minutes, then add the vanilla. Add eggs one at a time. Add dry, alternating with chocolate water in 3rds, ending with flour. Flour, water, flour, water, etc. I fold in 2 Tbs. of mayo at the end. Bake at 350 for about 18 minutes. 3 9-inch pans. I think making this a day in advance would be a good idea. Don’t overbake them or it will be dry.

Chocolate  Mousse Layer
8 oz. cream cheese
2 Tbs. milk
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
shake of salt
Combine these together. Add 6-8 oz. melted dark chocolate. Pour in 1 3/4 cups of wet cream and whip it until it’s barely thick.

Ganache
I did 75% of this recipe and it covered my 9 inch cakes with a bit leftover. Also, this takes almost an hour to get to the right consistency to spread, so make this in advance.

1 lb. dark chocolate
2 cups cream
2 Tbs. butter
pinch of salt
1 tsp. vanilla

Chocolate Bark

8 oz. candy melt, brown
3 oz. candy melt, white

You essentially pour the melted brown chocolate on some wax paper and spread it thin. Then, you use SMALL spoonfuls of white all around and then take a wooden skewer and pull it through the white to get distributed. It hardens fast, so as it hardens, cut it into the shapes you want. You can also add crushed pretzels, sprinkles, raspberries, whatever to it.

In terms of assembly, I put this on an 8.25 inch cake board, and leveled off each layer. Then, I piped the mousse on using an open circle tip and started at the outside going in. Then, I put some parchment onto the top cake board with a bit of mousse, put it on top, frosted it all with ganache except the top, smooth it at a 45 degree angle to get the extra frosting off, and put it in the freezer for 20 minutes. From here, you need to add more ganache to smooth it out. I skipped this part, however. Then, you add some ganache to the top after you have carefully put a knife around the edge of the cake board to take it off. I also think going around the whole thing with a sharp paring knife keeps it straight and consistent. Then, I just stuck the chocolate bark all over.










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