Strawberry Chocolate Cake

Strawberry Chocolate Cake is like the best chocolate covered strawberries you’ve ever eaten!!! Moist chocolate cake topped with fresh strawberries, rich chocolate mousse, chocolate ganache and chocolate curls on top. This is serious chocolate fix, plus the cake looks pretty darn impressive! But I’ll tell you a secret, this show-off cake is quite simple to make!

Ingredients

For Chocolate Cake:

• 1 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons cocoa
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup boiling water

For Chocolate Mousse:

• 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter
• 12 oz. high-quality semisweet chocolate(chopped)
• 3.5 oz.white chocolate(chopped)
• 1 3/4 cups heavy whipping cream
• 2/3 cup powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons unflavored gelatin
• 2.5 Tablespoons cool water
• 2 quarts strawberries ( try to find small strawberries)

For Chocolate Ganache:

• 2/3 cup heavy cream
• 5.5 oz. semisweet chocolate( chopped)
• For Chocolate Curls:
• 3.5 oz. semisweet baking chocolate
• 1 tablespoon vegetable shortening (or vegetable oil)

Instructions

NOTES: to assemble the cake you’ll need 9x3 inch springform pan.

To make the chocolate cake :

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F, grease 9 inch round baking pan and line the bottom with parchment paper. (for this step DO NOT use springform pan because the batter is very runny, it might leak)
2. In a large bowl stir together dry cake ingredients: sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. Add egg, milk, oil and vanilla and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add ½ cup boiling water and mix until combine.
4. Pour the batter in the pan and bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean (25-35 minutes). Cool 10 minutes in the pan, than remove from pans to wire racks upside down (this flattens domed cakes) and cool completely.

To make chocolate mousse filling:

1. In a small dish soften 2 teaspoon unflavored gelatin in 2.5 tablespoons cool water, set aside.
2. In a heat-proof bowl combine chopped semi-sweet chocolate, white chocolate and butter. Melt over double boiler or microwave. Stir until smooth and set aside to cool.
3. Heat softened gelatin on low heat and stir to dissolve and became completely free of lumps, set aside to cool.
4. Mix 1 3/4 cups heavy cream and vanilla extract until medium peaks form, gradually adding powdered sugar. Mix in gelatin.
5. Stir a few tablespoons of whipped cream into melted chocolate mixture to lighten it. Then transfer chocolate mixture into remaining whipped cream and gently fold in with a spatula, scraping the bottom to incorporate the cream completely.

To assemble the cake:

1. Place cooled chocolate cake onto serving plate and set the ring from springform pan around the cake.
2. Spread a thin layer of chocolate mousse filling onto cake (about ½ cup should be enough).
3. Cut the stem ends of the strawberries flat. Cut in half vertically as many strawberries as needed to go around the inside edge of the pan, than fill in the entire bottom with whole strawberries(if some strawberries are too tall just cut off more when stemming them because all strawberries should be about the same size).
4. To spread the filling easier and not to disturb strawberries, transfer it into piping bag and fill in all the gaps between strawberries (be careful not to skip some gaps!). Spread the rest of the mousse on top of the strawberries and smooth the top. Place in the fridge for 4-6 hours, or overnight to set.
5. When the mousse has set make the ganache. Simmer 2/3 cup heavy cream and pour over 5.5 oz chopped chocolate. Let it sit for a couple of minutes, then start stirring gently until all chocolate has melted and the ganache became smooth. Spread on top of the cake and place back in fridge until the ganache has set.
6. Run a thin knife around the cake and release the ring from springform pan.

To make the chocolate curls:

1. Melt 3.5 oz. semisweet baking chocolate with 1 tablespoon vegetable shortening (or vegetable oil) and spread in a thin layer onto baking sheet(but not too thin or the curls will breaking) Place in the freezer for 6-8 minutes to harden. Take out the chocolate from the freezer and leave on the counter for 2 minutes. Use a metal spatula and begin to scrape along the end of chocolate. If the chocolate is too hard it will break so wait for a while to soften at room temperature. If it’s too soft and won't make the curls place the chocolate back in the freezer.
2. Gently arrange the curls on top of the cake and garnish with strawberries.
3. Store in the fridge.