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Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Mousse Filling

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This Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Mousse Filling belongs in a baking contest! It’s a simply amazing moist chocolate cake filled with dark chocolate mousse, and a warm chocolate frosting poured on top!

A slice of homemade chocolate cake with layers of chocolate mousse filling, on a white plate with the remaining full chocolate cake in the background.

I probably developed a love for baking before my love for general cooking. As a little girl my idea of fun was inventing cookie recipes. My mom would my sister and me have free reign in the kitchen to experiment with our friends.

The cookies never turned out great but it was such a fun learning experience for us and we just loved creating something out of nothing, even if it didn’t taste great.

That’s what I love about baking. You can create something beautiful and amazing out of the most simple ingredients!  This Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Mousse filling is the perfect example of that. An easy homemade chocolate cake recipe, paired with the simplest mousse recipe you will ever find, but put them together and you create a masterpiece!

How do you make chocolate mousse?

The ingredients you need to make chocolate mousse are really simple: water, cocoa powder, chocolate chips, whipped cream, and sugar.

Start by mixing the cocoa powder and hot water together until smooth. Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave, or using a double boiler. I use toll house or Ghirardelli brand chocolate chips and follow the instructions on the package for melting them in the microwave.

Add the cocoa powder mixture to the melted chocolate and stir until smooth. Allow to cool to room temperature.

Side by side photos of the process for making chocolate mousse with the first photo of a bowl of whipped cream and another bowl of melted chocolate and the second photo of the melted chocolate and whipped cream folded together to make chocolate mousse.

Whip the cream and sugar together in a large mixing bowl until very stiff peaks. Add the cooled melted chocolate and gently fold the mixture together to combine. Refrigerate until ready to use.

This easy chocolate mousse recipe does not use eggs, like some recipes, and will last in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 5 days. Fold it again gently with a spatula before using.

How do you make chocolate mousse cake?

This chocolate mousse cake has three parts: chocolate cake, homemade chocolate mousse, and chocolate frosting. If you don’t want to make the cake from scratch, you could use a box cake mix.

Start by baking the chocolate cake in two 8 or 9 inch round cake pans.

Once the cakes have cooled use a sharp serrated knife to torte them in half, lengthwise, so you have four thin layers of chocolate cake.

Process for how to torte a chocolate cake in half, using a serrated knife to cut it straight across the center to make two thin cake layers.

Place the first cake layer on your serving tray. Smooth a thin layer of chocolate mousse over it, and top with the next layer of cake. Repeat to assemble a cake with chocolate mousse between each layer.

You can smooth any extra chocolate mousse you have over the outsides of the entire cake to make a”crumb” coat and seal in all of the crumbs.

Process for assembling a chocolate cake with layers of chocolate mousse filling.

Refrigerate the cake for at least 30 minutes (or up to 1-2 days, covered) while you make the chocolate frosting.

The warm chocolate frosting, similar to a ganache, is made on the stove and gets poured over the assembled cake. Be sure to allow the frosting to cool for at least 15-20 minutes before pouring over the cake. You want it soft enough to still be “pourable” but you don’t want it to be so warm that it melts the mousse into a puddle.

A layered round chocolate cake with warm chocolate frosting being poured on top, next to another photo of the final frosted cake.

You can lay pieces of parchment paper around, and gently under the edges, of the cake to catch the frosting as it drips down. I usually just pour the frosting slowly and catch it as it comes down the sides of the cake, smoothing it along the sides of the cake.

This really is the BEST chocolate cake ever.  It belongs on a restaurant dessert menu, or in a baking contest, if I do say so myself. It’s a must-try for anyone who loves chocolate!

A four layer chocolate cake with a large slice of chocolate cake removed from it, showing the layers of chocolate mousse filling between each layer.

How to store chocolate cake with chocolate mousse:

This cake is best stored, covered, in the fridge.

The cake rounds can be made in advance and frozen. Once baked, cool them completely and then wrap them in a double layer of plastic wrap. Place them in a freezer ziplock bag and freeze for up to 3 months.

The mousse could also be made up to 5 days in advance, stored in the fridge (although its texture is best the day of).

Consider trying these popular desserts:

 

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4.63 from 27 votes
A slice of homemade chocolate cake with layers of chocolate mousse filling, on a white plate with the remaining full chocolate cake in the background.
Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Mousse Filling
Print Recipe
Prep Time
40 mins
Cook Time
40 mins
Cool time
45 mins
Total Time
2 hrs 5 mins
 
A delicious, moist chocolate cake with layers of dark chocolate mousse filling and a warm chocolate frosting poured on top!
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: chocolate, mousse layer cake
Unit: cup, large, Tablespoon, teaspoon
Servings: 15
Calories: 649 kcal
Author: Lauren Allen
Ingredients
  • 2 cups granulated sugar
  • 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 cup milk , or buttermilk
  • 1/2 cup oil (vegetable or canola oil)
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 cup boiling water
For the chocolate mousse filling:
  • 1/2 cup hot water
  • 4 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 2 cups heavy whipping cream
  • 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
For the chocolate frosting
  • 6 Tablespoons milk
  • 3 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1/2 cup butter (one stick)
  • 3 3/4 cups powdered sugar
Instructions

  1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 8 or 9 inch round baking pans. (I like to line the bottom of mine with wax or parchment paper).

  2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl.

  3. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes.

  4. Stir in boiling water (the batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.

  5. Bake for about 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. 

  6. Allow cake to cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then remove to wire cooling racks. Cool completely. (You could freeze the cake rounds at this point, if desired. See note above)

For the chocolate mousse filling:

  1. Stir the cocoa powder and hot water together.  In a double- boiler (or in the microwave) melt the chocolate chips, just until smooth.  Add the cocoa mixture to the melted chocolate chips and stir well to combine.  Allow to cool to room temperature.

  2. In a separate large bowl, beat the cream and sugar until very stiff peaks form.  Add the chocolate mixture and fold in with a spatula until well combined.  Refrigerate until ready to use, up to 5 days.

For the chocolate frosting:

  1. In a medium saucepan, add milk, cocoa, and butter.  Bring to a boil.  Remove from heat.

  2. Add powdered sugar and mix with electric beaters to get rid of any lumps.  Allow to cool for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

Assembly:

  1. Once cakes have cooled, use a sharp serrated knife to torte each cake (cut each cake evenly in half, horizontally, so that you end up with four, thin, 9'' cake pieces).


  2. Place your first cake layer on your cake serving plate. Spread a big spoonful of mousse on top of that cake layer. Repeat with the remaining cake layers, adding a layer of mousse filling between each layer of cake.

  3. Use remaining mousse filling to spread it evenly around the entire outside and top of the cake. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.


  4. (I usually make the warm chocolate frosting while the cake is in the fridge.)


  5. Remove cake from fridge and very slowly pour the cooled chocolate frosting over the top. Use a spatula or knife to gently spread the frosting evenly over the outside of the cake as you pour. 

  6. Refrigerate until ready to serve!

Recipe Video

Recipe Notes

Chocolate cake recipe is the Hershey's Chocolate cake. 


Have you tried this recipe?!

RATE and COMMENT below! I would love to hear your experience.

 

*I first shared this recipe in May 2014. Updated May 2018.

This Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Mousse Filling belongs in a baking contest! It's a simply amazing moist chocolate cake filled with dark chocolate mousse, and a warm chocolate frosting poured on top! #chocolate #cake #mousse #dessert #chocolatecake #best #easy #homemade #layered
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Comments

  1. Lauren, this is the best chocolate cake I’ve EVER eaten! My daughter and I made this today for a friends birthday cake. IT WAS A M A Z I N G!!!
    Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! I’ve saved it in my bookmarks, pinned it on Pinterst, and shared it Facebook!
    This will be our “go to” chocolate cake from now on!

    Reply

    • I made this cake yesterday. The cake and the mousse are both good, but the icing has to go!
      I think the cake would have been fine with just the mousse, the icing seemed to ruin it for me.
      Sorry.

      Reply

  2. Okay like the author I too wanted to make my own birthday cake. This sounded like the one I wanted. So I decided, perfect, I’m going to do this one. The cake came out fine enough, cut it into large layers . Now for the mousse filling. Got the chocolate part done . Now for the whipping cream part.I got the heavy cream in the mixer and started mixing and got to medium speed and went to get the next step ready. Well now comes the iinteresting part. The wife comes in to “see” how its going ,comes over to the mixer and says “oh you need to turn this up faster” and she does. We bicker then I go back to doing what I was doing. It gets thicker, she keeps mixing . Then I hear “oh no it went back to liquid.” Guess what happens next . I go to the bowl and voila she has gone to far and now we have butter and liquid. I never knew you could do that . So I tried to recover it and decided to make the best of it, because the next steps were mute. So I mixed this heavy cream “butter” mix into the chocolate chip mix and put it on the layers. “At this point what have I got to lose.” The cake has just taken a new turn. No frosting. This fiasco is now over. So I put it in the fridge over night. This cake turned out to be so moist and delicious the next day. Incredible. Not the same recipe I wanted but delicious just the same. I am going to remake retry it the correct way and teach my wife how to whip heavy cream. But she loved the first way as well. We may have run into something here. Great recipe. And loads of fun

    Reply

  3. Hi Lauren, Love the look of this cake.I’m from the UK and was wandering if you Would know the measurements in grams/ounces?Thanks in advance x

    Reply

  4. Looks very delicious. Next week is my son’s birthday and I am going to try it. Mine is not a very big oven and hence I am planning to bake it in two batches to make a 4 layered cake. Can the mixed ingredients stay at room temperature while one set bakes? Or should I refrigerate it?

    Reply

  5. I tried this cake and it tasted awesome however the cake was too soft that I couldnt cut in between to apply the filling. Any tips to make it cuttable? I appreciate your response

    Reply

  7. Oh my Lord!!! I have been truly blessed with your recipe!! I made this cake for my daughter and daughter-in-law’s b’day and Easter it is amazing!! I the cake with the mousse mostly because hubby saw the bar of chocolate and started to eat it until he realized it wasn’t sweet!! LOL!! what a face….couldn’t be mad at him. To make matters worse I was missing about 1/4 cup of cocoa and hubby was gone in the car – the neighbors are all gone – and no stores around! but I fudged it with some hot coco mix and can’t even tell. As I was frosting the cake, I took a couple of licks and ohhh!! is ever good…can’t wait to finish it off with some chocolate eggs. I saw there is also a carrot cake (my son’s favorite) sadly son in law and grandkids are lactose intolerant (so they claim) so cream cheese is out, I make cupcakes for them!!! LOL!!
    thanks for the recipe!

    Reply

    • Hi, I know you posted this last year but I saw that some of your family is lactose intolerant. My sister in laws are too and we’ve made this dairy free cream cheese frosting for our carrot cakes and it’s delicious. You can hardly tell the difference. You can find dairy free cream cheese in the natural section of the store or at your local natural store.

      Reply

  10. Also, what other tools are necessary for the recipe? Is an electric mixer needed to mix the ingredients for the cake batter?

    Reply

  11. Hi Lauren, it looks amazing! Iwould love to bake this cake, however, I can’t seem to find the chocolate mousse filling recipe on this page. Has there been any changes? Thanks!

    Reply

  12. Hi,
    I waa going to make this cake, it looks delicious already, but the mousse recipe asks for granulated sugar, but then it isnt used in the instructions. When is this put in?

    Reply

    • Hi Laura, sorry I have been transferring my recipes over to a new format the last few days and had some trouble with the mousse recipe transferring. I just barely updated it! Sorry for the confusion. Hope you enjoy the cake!

      Reply

  13. Thank you so much for sharing your awesome cake recipe, I made it for a birthday party yesterday. WOW, it was so Amazing and Delicious, everyone loved it……BTW, I got a request to make it again! LOL I followed your instructions and it turned out perfect. It’s the best chocolate cake I’ve ever made, it was outstanding. Thank you very much, we all love you Lauren!

    Reply

  15. Hello. I have just been reading about your chocolate cake with chocolate mouse filling. U said something about high attitude please tell me more about it. I want to bake the cake tonight.

    Reply

  16. I made cthis cake last night;and it sunk in the middle. I tried it out again this morning and it sunk again in the middle. I stay in an area which is about 4800 above sea level about 1400 meters so the issue of high altitude should not be an issue . What could i be doing wrong ? Why are my cakes sinking ?

    Reply

    • Just keep trying ! Maybe try not to open oven too much! Also be sure to add baking soda & baking powder if it calls for it! Prayer works as well!! 🙂

      Reply

  19. I made this for my hubby today as it’s his birthday. I’m not sure where I went wrong but after I layered it the cake just kept sliding. We put skewers through it and popped it in the freezer for about 20 minutes. Seemed too work until I poured the icing on it and tried to spread it gently down the sides and it started too slide off again. I gave up trying to make it look good and ended up with a drizzle style cake that was lopsided. Popped it back in the freezer for another 10 minutes. It tasted divine but could not serve it others. Any suggestions would be appreciated

    Reply

    • Maybe try to cut top of cake off! Just the beveled part! Sometimes it puffs up a little,& needs to be leveled so it won’t slide all over! Also be sure to chill for a bit after it cools! Then it gives the filling time to firm up a bit which will also keep the cake from slip sliding away!!! 🙂

      Reply

  21. I saw this same recipe only the frosting ingredients are different. You use more butter and another recipe called for evaporated milk and vanilla extract. After making it, the frosting was delicious but too liquidy. I’m your opinion, does it matter if I use regular milk or evaporated ? And more butter and powered sugar?

    Reply

    • Hi Felicia, using evaporated milk would be just fine. If you use evaporated milk you should not need to adjust the butter and powdered sugar. If it seems too runny in the future, make sure it has a chance to cool and set up and you could consider adding more powdered sugar!

      Reply

  23. Shocking! Made this as a goodbye cake to a close friend, after making the mousse and it being delicious I had high hopes for the actual cake but no! The cake was salty and absolutely disgusting, I actually could barely eat it! What a waste with such expensive ingredients!!! Absolutely terrible

    Reply

    • I’m so sorry that your cake didn’t taste right. The cake recipe is just the Hershey’s brand “perfect chocolate cake” recipe. I’ve never had an issue with it and I’ve made it countless times (it also has amazing reviews on their website). I wonder if you used a different kind of salt, or possibly added too much salt.

      Reply

  24. The cake & mousse filling were awesome; the warm chocolate filling tasted great! However the warm chocolate frosting, even if cooled to barely tepid, caused the mousse layer to melt and/or slide right off the cake, creating a disaster chocolate cak3 that tasted great. I don’t understand. What is the preferred temperature for the frosting to pour on the cake? I’d love to make this successfully.

    Reply

  25. I used the mousse and icing recipe to top a boxed cake mix that I made for my dad’s birthday. Absolutely delicious! The laying of the mousse topped with the icing made this dessert a special treat. Next time I will try the cake recipe from scratch.
    Thank you.

    Reply

  27. My name is freda Da costa I made this cake I left the mousse filling in the fridge overnight it was not to soft should I have best it up again also how do stop the plate getting messy when you pour the frosting how do I transfer my cake to a clean plate the cake looks lovely don’t know how to post picture

    Reply

  28. As I said before I made the cake but I left the filling in the fridge overnights so it was a bit hard should I have blended it again to soften it. Also how do you pour the frosting without getting the plate all messy don’t know how to post picture. Will let you know more when the family have tasted it.

    Reply

    • Hi Freda, Hope you family loved it! For the filling, next time I would just give it a quick mix with electric beaters for a seconds. To pour the frosting without getting the plate messy, I would suggest putting the cake on the dish you will serve it on. Then take a few big squares of parchment paper and place them under the outer edges of the cake and covering the plate. Pour your frosting and smooth it around the cake as much as you can as it drips down. Excess messy frosting can then drip onto the parchment paper. Allow the frosting to set for a few minutes and then carefully pull out the parchment paper from around the edges of the cake and discard it, along with the frosting mess that may be on it. Hope that helps! I’d love to hear how everyone likes the cake 🙂

      Reply

  29. This cake was super tasty, and the mousse was particularly delicious BUT the 20 minute prep time, 40 minute cook time, and 1 hr total was just completely unrealistic. I would have needed two other people assisting to make the cake that quickly. I made the mousse first, and it was a complete flop. I then googled how to make whipping cream and made a second batch (do put the bowl and mixers in the freezer, do not add the sugar until after the cream thickens). I then made the cake, which was easy enough, but it has to cook for 35 minutes and then cool for another 30, and then be sliced (very thin layers – I wish I had just made four cakes). Even then, it was still too warm for the mousse, and the mousse melted into it a bit. I then refrigerated the cake again and made the icing, which had to cool 10 minutes per the recipe. This was definitely not enough cooling time, and the cake started falling in once I began pouring the icing over it. I bake from scratch a lot, and this was the most difficult cake I’ve ever made. The flavor was great, but it just wasn’t worth the effort.

    Reply

    • Hi Ashley,
      Thank you for the feedback. I have updated the time to be more accurate and reflect that fact that there is about 40 minutes of refrigeration/cool time with this recipe! When I make this recipe I like to make the cake the day before so that the whole process goes quicker. You could also make the frosting ahead of time!

      Reply

  30. I’ve made this cake twice; once with the mousse from the recipe and once with just the cake and a white chocolate buttercream. Something this delicious shouldn’t be this easy too. Awesome recipe and my new go-to chocolate cake.

    Reply

  31. Hi just to be sure of the amount of flour i will put, is it 1 and 3/4 cups or 1 cup to 3/4 cups? Sorryi just dont want to mess withmy ingredients thanks!

    Reply

  32. Lauren, this is a sensational cake. Thank you for sharing the recipe. It was really lovely the first day but was even better on day two. I received rave reviews from everyone who tried it. Thanks so much! Louise, Sydney Australia

    Reply

  34. I made the mousse and when it was done it seemed very loose, like a topping. Is that how it Ian supposed to be or did I do something wrong. All the amounts were as the recipe calls. Tastes great though.

    Reply

    • Hi Adrian, you may have needed to whip the cream more, or the chocolate may have been too warm when you added it. Either way, if you stick it in the fridge for a little while it will firm up nicely. 🙂 .

      Reply

  35. Hi! Love everything about this cake. I made it about three years ago for Easter! It has become a go-to recipe! If I attend a get together and don’t take it, someone always asked why I didn’t make it. Thank you for your continuous work and for sharing the fruits of your labor!
    Tonyia

    Reply

  36. This was one if the best cakes I’ve ever made. Made it for my daughters 7th birthday cake at her request and it went down a treat. I halved the amount of moouse as I didn’t have enough cream but it was more than enough. Will definitely make again. Thanks.

    Reply

  37. Hi there! I am making this cake for my son’s birthday. Im gona follow exactly as you stated but with a change.Rather than chocolate mousse filling, how can I change the recipe to vanilla mousse filling? I need a vanilla mousse recipe enough to fill and frost a 2 layered 9 inch cake. Looking forward to hear from you. Thank you.

    Reply

  38. This is the recipe on the back of the Hershey’s cocoa box, so you cant go wrong! I’m looking forward to making the mousse though. I always make the Hershey’s cake recipe on the box (the dark choc one is amazing), but having a mousse filling will definitely bring it up a notch.

    Reply

  39. OMG!!!! This cake is delicious however, it took 4.5 hours from start to finish. I’m beat!!!! I had to keep putting the moose in the fridge to stiffen back up. I put it on the cake per the instructions. Placed cake in freezer while I made the frosting. After the frosting cooled I brought out the cake and poured the stiff icing over the cake. Now the moose is falling off the cake. Using the cake spachula I’m scooping the moose and icing that is falling. Not to worry… I quickly returned the cake back to the freezer. After one hour I’m able to transport the cake to my granddaughter for her birthday. It may not look the best but it still waste WONDERFUL.

    Reply

  40. The cakes didn’t rise much and were only 1.5cm thick. The mousse was too runny (consistency of milk) and spilled out all over the bench. I probably need to freeze the mousse next time. Tastes delicious. Looks awful. Any suggestions for the rise?

    Reply

    • Hi Leney, I’m sorry you had trouble with the recipe.
      If the mousse didn’t set, it’s most likely because the chocolate mixture was too warm when you folded in the whipped cream. The chocolate needs to be completely cool! As for the cake, what type of flour did you use? Were your leavening ingredients fresh?

      Reply

  41. I just wanted to thank you for this awesome recipe! My dad said he wanted a “mousse cake” for his birthday and this was the perfect blend of mousse and cake! This recipe was super fun to make, and as a teen inexperienced with baking, i found it was super easy. The only changes I made were I replaced half a cup of the semisweet chocolate with unsweetened, and it gave it a wonderful richer and darker less sugary flavour which my dad loves! I did have quite a thick layer of mousse left over so I only dripped a small amount of chocolate ganache on the sides for a drippy effect and topped with whipped cream. My cake came out quite dense and filling, but other than that everything was great! Thank you for this wonderfully simple recipe!

    Reply

  42. This was my first ever cake from scratch and it turned out spectacularly!!!! Thank you so much! Not too sweet, plenty rich and chocolatey, without being cloying – just right! Thank you for this confidence builder and a delicious, special, and impressive dessert, of which a beginner was able to be proud.

    Reply

  43. Made this for my husband’s birthday as he loves chocolate cake and this was his response, “this is the best cake I have ever had. Ever!” 🙂 It was delicious and have no doubt I will be making again.

    Reply

  44. I made this cake for my son’s birthday, and was disappointed. It was much too sweet! I think it was the frosting. But the mousse was tasty.

    Reply

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