Nutella Mousse Cake. Fudgy chocolate cake base topped with a Nutella cream cheese mousse, followed by Nutella chocolate mousse, and topped with chocolate ganache. Decadently amazing. Pure heaven on a plate.
A few months back I made a Peanut Butter Chocolate Mousse Cake as a thank you gift for a friend. When I was working on the base of the cake, I made it several times, and froze the extra layers. Since it was a gift, I didn’t get to eat very much of it, but loved every last bite that I ate.
I store my coffee in the freezer. I’m not sure why I do that. At some point in time it seemed like a good idea, and I’ve stuck with it. I hear it tastes better if you don’t freeze it, but I’m happy with my system. So, every morning I have to open my freezer to get my coffee, and every morning I’m confronted with the extra mousse cake bases. I have driven to work several times thinking about them and what I was going to do with them.
For the past few weeks I’ve been thinking about how at least once of those cake layers was destined to be a Nutella mousse cake. This past Saturday, my dream finally had its time to shine.
We had some friends over for a cookout and asked everyone to bring a side or dessert to share. Before the cookout I was reading through the texts and realized that no one had offered to bring a dessert. I knew what had to be done. THIS Nutella mousse cake had to be created.
This cake is not labor intensive, but it is time consuming as after each layer has been made, it needs to set in the freezer for a couple of hours. Since I already had the base made, that was nothing. I made the Nutella cream cheese mousse and put that in the freezer. As soon as it was in the freezer I started on the egg mixture for the Nutella chocolate mousse since it needs to sit in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. You definitely have to plan ahead for this cake, but it’s not bad.
The cake was finished with its last stint in the freezer after the cookout had already begun. That was okay because it only took a few minutes to come in and top it with the ganache. Then I snapped some quick photos! Okay, my photos are never quick … my friend Scott actually found me in my photo shoot and documented it ….
When it was time for this cake to be served, it was nothing short of a success. This thing was DELICIOUS. I mean super delicious. As in make it right now and give it to all the people you love. Give a piece to someone you want to love. Give a piece to someone you want to love you. This Nutella mousse cake just brings pure happiness to the world.
Nutella Chocolate Mousse Cake
Ingredients
Cake Layer
- 1 ounce semi-sweet chocolate chopped
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1/3 cup strong hot coffee
- 2/3 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup buttermilk
- 1 egg
Nutella Cream Cheese Mousse
- 4 ounces cream cheese softened
- 1/2 cup Nutella
- 1/3 cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- pinch salt
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
Nutella Chocolate Mousse
- 4 large egg yolks
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 cups heavy cream divided
- 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
- 2 tbsp Nutella
Chocolate Ganache
- 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 8" round pan with parchment paper, and butter/flour sides. I use Baking Pam for this.
- In heat proof bowl, pour coffee over cocoa and chopped chocolate. Let sit for 2-3 minutes, then whisk together. Set aside.
- In mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Once mixed, add in chocolate/coffee mixture, oil, sugar, vanilla, buttermilk, and eggs. Beat until well combined.
- Pour into prepared baking pan.
- Bake for 16-18 minutes, or until toothpick in center comes out with just a few crumbs. Let cook in pan for 5 minutes, then remove to rack to finish cooling.
Nutella Cream Cheese Mousse
- Using a mixer, beat cream cheese, Nutella, powdered sugar, vanilla and salt on medium-high for about 5 minutes, or until mixture is light and smooth.
- Set bowl aside. In another bowl, using whisk attachment, beat heavy cream until peaks just begin to form, about 4 minutes. Fold cream into Nutella mixture until well incorporated.
- Next, put plastic over inside and sides of baking pan that you used for the cake. Then, fold a large piece of wax paper into thirds so that you have a long, thick piece. Place wax paper into pan so that it makes a tall side all around the pan.
- Put the cake into the bottom of the pan. Spread Nutella mousse evenly over the cake. Put pan in freezer for at least 2 hours.
Nutella Chocolate Mousse
- In large bowl or stand mixer with whisk attachment, beat eggs for about 4 minutes, or until light colored and thickened. Then, beat in sugar.
- Heat 1 cup of heavy cream in a medium sized sauce pot over medium heat. Once cream is hot, slowly pour a little over half of the cream into the egg yolk mixture, stirring continuously (it is important to do it slowly, and stir, so that you do not cook the eggs). Then, pour the mixture back into the remaining heavy cream in the pot, still stirring continuously.
- Turn heat under pot to low, and stir continuously until mixture begins to thicken, about 5 minutes. After mixture has thickened, remove from heat and whisk in chocolate chips and Nutella until smooth.
- Place the egg mixture in a bowl in the refrigerator for at least two hours.
- After mixture has chilled, beat remaining 1 cup of whipping cream with whisk attachment until stiff peaks form, about 5 minutes.
- Fold whipped cream into chocolate/egg mixture until well combined.
Assembly
- Remove cake with Nutella cream cheese mousse from freezer. Spread Nutella chocolate mousse evenly over Nutella mousse and return to freezer for at least 2 hours.
- After chocolate mouse is firm in freezer, make ganache. To do this, place chocolate in a heat proof bowl. In another heat safe bowl, heat heavy cream until boiling (I use a glass measuring cup in the microwave for about 30 seconds). Pour cream over chocolate and cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let sit for 5 minutes, then whisk until smooth.
- Once smooth, spread ganache over top of cake, letting it run down the sides.
Disclaimer: All nutritional information provided on this website is an estimate only and is not guaranteed.
If you enjoyed this Nutella Mousse Cake you will probably enjoy these other SugarSpicesLife recipes:
Chocolate Covered Cherry Cake
Muddy Buddy Cupcakes
Peanut Butter Chocolate Mousse Cake
Hazelnut Shortbread Cookies with Nutella Filling
A delish wish!
In the ingredients, it calls for baking powder for the cake base, but in the instructions, tells you to add baking soda. They do very different things. Which do we use?
It’s baking powder. I’ll fix the instructions, thank you!!