This Passover chocolate mousse cake is one of our favorite desserts. We eat it every year on Passover and never have any left for the next day. (Appropriate for Passover I guess). It is rich and fudgy while being light and airy and naturally gluten free. It is also dairy free and nut free. A true Passover miracle.
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.
Who can eat this recipe?
This recipe is for a flourless, baked chocolate mousse cake. If that sounds like a mouthful, just wait until you taste it! It is usually served after a meat meal which means that the recipe is also dairy free. Since there is no flour, the recipe is gluten free and can be enjoyed by people that have gluten intolerances or allergies. 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.
A Step by step guide to making this recipe
Time needed: 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Passover chocolate mousse cake step by step
- Preheat oven and pre-grease pan
Preheat the oven to 350ºF and 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
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.
- Melt the chocolate and add margarine and sugar
Using a double boiler, melt the chocolate pieces and then add the margarine and sugar. Stir gently to incorporate each ingredient.
- Add vanilla and salt
Remove the bowl from the top of the double boiler and add the vanilla and salt.
- 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 sugar to the egg whites
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.
- Beat yolks and temper
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
Add the tempered yolks into the chocolate and stir until they are fully incorporated.
- Fold in the whites
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.
- Bake
Pour the batter into the spring form pan and bake for 25 minutes. Cool the baked cake for 20 minutes before proceeding on to the next step.
- Mousse
When cool, pour the remaining mousse on to the top of the cake and place back into the refrigerator until ready to serve.
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.
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.
More Passover recipes like this one
Passover Chocolate Mousse Cake
Equipment
- spring form pan
- double boiler
- electric mixer
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
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 ready to serve.
Notes
Nutrition
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