This is our 13th wedding anniversary cake – a delicious chocolate cake filled with chocolate ganache, chocolate mousse and wild berry mousse. The frosting is the chocolate ganache buttercream I shared with you before.  Also, I sprayed the cake with a thin layer of tempered  chocolate. I fell in love with the velvet texture I used for my Spider Cake and I think it gives such an elegant look to this cake. I’m just in love with the dark blue colour and the texture! 

In case you have your cakes, fillings and frosting ready, then you can watch this video tutorial that shows you how to assemble and decorate the cake. If not, read through the sections below. 

Ingredients

Cake (x2):

• 7 large eggs
• 40 ml water (7 Tbsp)
• 160 g flour 
• 50 g cocoa powder
• 210 g sugar 

Double the ingredients to make two 25 cm (10 inch) round cakes. 

Sugar Syrup to Moisten the Cake:

• 150 ml water
• 4 Tbsp sugar
• 5 Tbsp wild berry syrup (or 3 Tbsp rum extract) 

Ganache, Chocolate Mousse & Strawberry Fillings:

• Unwhipped chocolate ganache filling made of 150 g dark chocolate, 180 g milk chocolate and 300 ml whipping cream. Optional: you can add 4 Tbsp of Nutella if you like the hazelnut flavour. 
• White chocolate mousse made of 150 g white chocolate, 300 ml whipping cream and 8 g of unflavored gelatine softened in 90 ml of water
• Strawberry mousse made of 350 g frozen wild berries, 70 g wild berry syrup, 400 ml whipping cream, 100 g powdered sugar and 16 g of unflavored gelatine softened in 180 ml of water

If you prefer a thicker layer of filling, then use 1.5 x the ingredients above to make the ganache and mousses. 

Chocolate Ganache Buttercream Frosting:

• 450 g white chocolate 
• 450 ml whipping cream
• 450 g butter, at room temperature 

Velvet Texture Frosting:

• 100 g white chocolate 
• 4 tsp powdered cocoa butter 
• Blue and black oil-based food colouring to achieve the dark blue shown 

Decorations:

• fresh blueberries & black berries 
• chocolate balls – see tutorial on how to make these here
• metallic cake paint (optional) 

Note: All chocolate should be a good-quality baking or couverture chocolate. 

Directions

Making the Cake

Use the ingredient quantities listed in this recipe and follow the step-by-step instructions here to make two chocolate cakes. Let the cakes cool off.

Use a serrated knife to cut the top of the cake to level it off and then, cut each cake horizontally in two.

Make your sugar syrup by boiling the water with the sugar and adding the wild berry syrup at the end. Let it cool off.

Making the Filling

Make the unwhipped chocolate ganache following the steps in this post. You should make this at least a few hours before you are ready to assemble the cake as it needs to cool off and have a thick pouring consistency before you use it.

To make the chocolate mousse use the ingredients listed above and follow the steps in this post. 

For the wild berry mousse, thaw the berries and bring them to a boil on the stovetop. Once boiled, some of the liquid will evaporate and you should have ~330 g left.

Puree the berries with a hand blender. Mix in the wild berry syrup. Let the mixture cool off, it can be warm to the touch but not hot when you mix in the gelatine and whipping cream. 

Soften the gelatine in water for 10 minutes. Melt it in the microwave a few seconds until all the granules are melted. Before you start melting your gelatine, beat the whipping cream with the powdered sugar with a mixer on high speed until soft peaks form. 

Pour the melted gelatine over the berries and mix it slowly until it’s well incorporated. Add the whipped cream over and mix slowly. 

Assembling and Decorating the Cake

This video tutorial will show you how to assemble and decorate the cake. For a more detailed video on how to use a chocolate spray gun to create the blue velvet texture on top, check out the other video in the section below.

Assembling the Cake

Line the pan in which you baked the cake with plastic foil on the bottom. Then, use acetate sheets to create a collar and raise the sides of your pan to a height of 18 cm (7 inches).  If you don’t have acetate sheets, you can use any soft plastic that bends and allows you to create a collar (e.g. plastic folders). 

Place the first cake layer and moisten it with sugar syrup. 

Spread 1/3 of the unwhipped chocolate ganache filling and pour 1/2 of the berry mousse. 

Add the 2nd cake layer, moist it with sugar syrup, spread 1/2 of the remaining chocolate ganache filling and pour the chocolate mousse. 

Add the 3d cake layer and moist it with sugar syrup. Spread the remaining chocolate ganache filling and pour the remaining wild berry mousse. 

Lastly, add the 4th cake layer and moist it with sugar syrup. 

Cover the cake with plastic foil and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight. Then, carefully remove the cake from the pan and remove the acetate collar. 

Frosting and Decorating the Cake

To make the Chocolate Ganache Buttercream Frosting, use the ingredients listed above and follow the steps in this post.

Apply a thin layer of frosting to crumb coat the cake. Smooth it out using a spatula. Refrigerate the cake for at least 1 hour before applying the next coat of frosting. 

Apply the remaining frosting and smooth it out using a spatula and a cake scraper/smoother or a bench scraper. When the sides are fully covered with frosting, hold the cake scraper at a 90 degree angle, parallel with the cake, as you rotate the turntable. Use the spatula to swipe the outer edges of the frosting on the top of the cake toward the centre of the cake. This will allow you to create sharp edges around the top of the cake. 

Refrigerate the cake for at least 6 hours before applying the chocolate velvet frosting on top. 

You can read the instructions below or watch this video to see how to use a chocolate pray gun to create the velvet texture using melted chocolate:

For the chocolate velvet frosting, melt the white chocolate until it reaches 42 degrees Celsius (107 degrees Fahrenheit). You can use the microwave to melt it a few seconds at a time, stirring it each time. Then add cocoa butter powder, a teaspoon at a time, and mix it in until it reaches a temperature of 30-32 degrees Celsius (86-89 Fahrenheit). 

Colour the chocolate using a mix of blue and black oil-based food colouring. 

Spray the melted chocolate using a spray gun like the one below.

Refrigerate the cake for at least 1 hour. Use a brush to sprinkle metallic cake paint on the sides and top of the cake. 

Decorate the cake with fresh blackberries, blueberries and chocolate balls. Use the same method to melt and temper some chocolate to make the chocolate balls. For a full tutorial on how to make the chocolate balls go to this post. Attach the chocolate balls to the cake using some melted chocolate. 

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