Chocolate Mousse Cake With Strawberries is one of our favorite Passover Desserts. We eat it every year at out seder and never have any left for the next day. (Appropriate for Passover I guess). It is a rich and fudgy food while being light and airy and naturally gluten free. It is also dairy free, gluten free, and nut free. A true Passover miracle.
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- We love Chocolate Mousse Cake with Strawberries because it is...
- Ingredients
- How to make the best Chocolate Mousse Cake with Strawberries step by step
- FAQ
- What to serve with Strawberry Topped Chocolate Mousse Cake
- Pro Tips and Suggestions
- Substitutions for Strawberries
- More Passover recipes like this one
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For this recipe, we have to give credit where credit is due. We got this recipe from Susie Fishbein's cookbook Passover by Design. Thank you for the dessert recipe, I hope everyone reading this loves it as much as we do.
We love Chocolate Mousse Cake with Strawberries because it is...
- Non-dairy - this recipe uses no cream or butter so it is pareve and can be served with any meal.
- A family tradition - we have been making this recipe for Passover meals ever since we can remember. It is a dessert that everyone looks forward to every year.
- Worth the effort - this is not a simple recipe to make but the results cannot be argued with. We tried to make this Gluten Free Passover Cake recipe as easy as we could by breaking it down into easy to follow steps.
- Simple ingredients - As much attention as this recipe needs, there are no complicated or hard to find ingredients used.
Ingredients
- Sugar - white sugar is used as a sweetener.
- Eggs - the eggs must be separated into whites and yolks. The yolks are used in the first part of the batter to add richness. The whites will be beaten into a merengue to give the chocolate mousse its body.
- Chocolate pieces - we like bittersweet chocolate pieces for this recipe.
- Margarine
- Vanilla extract
- Salt - helps in baking the mousse into a cake.
- Strawberries - slice and use as garnish after baking.
How to make the best Chocolate Mousse Cake with Strawberries step by step
Step 1 - Prepare the spring form pan
Pre-grease the spring form pan with a non-stick spray. You can also take a paper towel with a little bit of cooking oil on it and wipe the sides and bottom of the spring form pan.
Sprinkle sugar on the bottom of the pan and lightly tap it to make sure that the sugar gets all over the bottom of the pan and the sides. This sugar doesn't completely melt during baking and it makes the bottom and the sides of the cake have a crunchy sugary crust! Very unique to this recipe.
Step 2 - Melt the chocolate
Using a double boiler, melt chocolate pieces and then add the margarine and sugar. The double boiler helps to keep the chocolate from burning as it melts. Stir gently to incorporate each ingredient.
Add the vanilla and salt and stir until fully incorporated and smooth.
Step 3 - Beat the egg whites
Beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until they form soft peaks. This is where the eggs form peaks that stand for a second and then begin to fall.
Add the remaining sugar slowly and keep beating until stiff peaks form. These peaks will stand up and will not fall down immediately. Be very careful with this step as the beaten egg whites will form the structure of the cake and give it the signature airy feel.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks and then add a large spoonful of the warm chocolate to temper the eggs. Tempering is where you increase the temperature of the eggs slightly by adding a warm ingredient (in this case the warm chocolate) so that they do not cook when added to a warm mixture.
Add the tempered yolks into the chocolate and stir until they are fully incorporated. Carefully fold in a large spatula full of the stiffened egg whites. Fold and do not stir. The beaten egg whites are storing a lot of air in tiny bubbles and you do not want to let that out with vigorous stirring. Fold in the rest of the whites.
Step 4 - Bake
Pour the batter into the spring form pan and bake at 350ºF for 25 minutes. Cool the baked cake for 20 minutes. When cool, pour the remaining mousse on to the top of the cake as a second cake layer and place back into the refrigerator until cool.
Step 5 - Garnish the Passover Cake
After the cake has cooled, garnish with sliced strawberries before serving.
FAQ
Egg whites whip up much better and gain up to triple the volume when whipped at room temperature. A quick and easy way to remove the chill from refrigerated eggs is to soak them in a bowl of warm (not hot!) water for about 20 minutes.
The recipe is made from chocolate, separated eggs, non-dairy butter, salt, and vanilla. That's it!
The biggest problem can occur with the egg whites. Beaten egg whites give this recipe its body but it is very delicate. If the egg whites are not fully beaten then the mousse will never firm up and get the required texture. If the egg whites are not carefully folded into the cake batter then they could lose their airy texture and the cake will also not form properly.
Yes, they both work very well. I find that using unrefined coconut oil makes this dessert taste too coconutty for my preference and refined coconut oil is difficult to find kosher for passover.
What to serve with Strawberry Topped Chocolate Mousse Cake
We usually serve Gluten Free Baked Chocolate Mousse Cake after our Passover seders which are meat meal like our Marinated Chuck Eye Roast or Stuffed Chicken Breasts which means that the recipe is also dairy free. It is amazing that a recipe that has so many things that aren't in it can taste so good. "Less is more" has never been so true.
Pro Tips and Suggestions
- Fold the egg whites into the chocolate, do not stir. The reason for this is that you just spent all that time beating the eggs to get those stiff peaks. The beaten eggs have tons of tiny little bubbles that are holding air, this is what gives the chocolate mousse its texture. If you fold the eggs into the batter then you will preserve most of those bubbles. If you stir them, you risk collapsing the egg/bubble structure and will have a flat and runny cake.
- When first removing the cake from the pan, run a sharp knife along the sides and bottom of the pan to loosen the cake from the pan. This will make it easier to remove it without damaging the cake.
- Use the double boiler method to melt the chocolate. If you try to melt the chocolate in a pot or pan by itself you run the risk of burning it. The best way to make a double boiler is to use a small pot of water with a large empty bowl or pot on top.
- Do not forget that this recipe calls for separated eggs and not whole eggs. The reason for this is that the yolks and the whites serve different purposes and are needed in different steps of the recipe.
- Serve this recipe after the first seder and then serve our Gluten Free Flourless Chocolate Cake recipe after the second seder (or on the first night Chol HaMoed if you are in Israel).
Substitutions for Strawberries
- Raspberries
- Blueberries
- Sliced bananas
- Blackberries
- Dried cranberries
More Passover recipes like this one
📖 Recipe
Chocolate Mousse Cake with Strawberries (Kosher for Passover)
Equipment
- double boiler
Ingredients
- non-stick cooking spray or cooking oil for greasing the pan
- 6 tablespoon sugar
- 12 oz chocolate pieces chopped
- 1 cup margarine
- 4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 6 egg large and separated
- 7 strawberries slice for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
- Grease the sides of the springform pan.
- Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of sugar into the springform pan and tap on the sides to make sure that it is evenly distributed over the bottom and sides.
- Melt the chocolate pieces in the double boiler.
- Add the margarine, and 3 tablespoon of sugar to the double boiler.
- Remove the bowl from the heat and stir in the vanilla and salt.
- Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add 2 tablespoon of sugar. Once the sugar has been added, continue beating the mixture until stiff peaks form.
- In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks.
- Mix a large spoonful of the warm chocolate into the egg yolks.
- When the eggs have been tempered, pour them into the chocolate and stir.
- Fold a large spatula full of the beaten egg whites into the chocolate mixture and then fold the remaining egg whites in as well.
- Pour 3 cups of the mixture into the pre-greased springform pan and bake for 25 minutes.
- Cool in the refrigerator for 20 minutes. Pour the remaining batter onto the top of the cake and refrigerate until cool.
- Slice strawberries and use as garnish
Notes
- Fold the egg whites into the chocolate, do not stir. The reason for this is that you just spent all that time beating the eggs to get those stiff peaks. The beaten eggs have tons of tiny little bubbles that are holding air, this is what gives the chocolate mousse its texture. If you fold the eggs into the batter then you will preserve most of those bubbles. If you stir them, you risk collapsing the egg/bubble structure and will have a flat and runny cake.
- When first removing the cake from the pan, run a sharp knife along the sides and bottom of the pan to loosen the cake from the pan. This will make it easier to remove it without damaging the cake.
- Use the double boiler method to melt the chocolate. If you try to melt the chocolate in a pot or pan by itself you run the risk of burning it. The best way to make a double boiler is to use a small pot of water with a large empty bowl or pot on top.
- Serve this recipe after the first seder and then serve our Gluten Free Flourless Chocolate Cake recipe after the second seder (or on the first night Chol HaMoed if you are in Israel).
- Do not forget that this recipe calls for separated eggs and not whole eggs. The reason for this is that the yolks and the whites serve different purposes and are needed in different steps of the recipe.
Donna S says
Looks good but the top layer of cake stays is not baked? How long will this keep in fridge?
Ben says
It is not baked in order to give it that creamy chocolate mousse layer on top. This cake will keep for up to 7 days in the refrigerator. Honestly, we have never had one last past day 1 🙂
Eleanor says
Hi! I just made this choc mousse cake and think I missed something. Where is the rest of the mousse to put on top. I mixed everything all in, I did exactly as it said, melt choc, sep whites etc beat eggs, put some of melted choc in the eggs, then I added egg to the melted choc, folded the whites and baked and now where is rest of mousse to put on top. lol help
Ben says
Step 12 of the recipe says to use only 3 cups of the batter as the cake; the rest is supposed to be used as the chocolate mousse topping. Don't worry, you did the hard part already and you can still save the cake. I would make about 1/2 of the recipe again but skip the baking steps and use the batter as the topping.
Susan Littlefield says
I followed the recipe & it came out perfect! It was a huge hit. I was a bit concerned as the remaining batter was a bit runny when I baked the 3 cups of batter. It firmed up during baking. I’ll definitely bake again. It was creamy & not dense.
Ben says
Thank you for the positive feedback!