Chocolate Hazelnut Mousse Layer Cake

So this weekend I made a cake. A four layer intense chocolate cake filled with hazelnut mousse and topped with toasted hazelnuts and dark chocolate curls. It's a mouthful to say and definitely a mouthful to eat...

It was my dad's birthday on Saturday, and although he loves his sweets, he's very particular about what he likes. He thought Scott's chocolate peanut butter cake was way too rich and he doesn't care for super sweet frosting, so I combined his love for chocolate and the hazelnut mousse I made over winter break to create this massively delicious cake.



The cake was really good -- decadent and moist, with the addition of coffee adding another level of depth to the chocolate. I will definitely use this chocolate cake recipe again! The mousse was a perfect balance for such a rich cake, and the hazelnut flavor was divine. I sprinkled toasted hazelnuts between each layer, which offered a pleasantly crunchy surprise throughout the smooth mousse.



For the top of the cake I used the Pioneer Woman's tutorial for chocolate curls and I think they added a very fancy and professional touch. I planned on wrapping the cake in a solid band of chocolate, but it didn't work out as I had hoped and scrapped the idea altogether. I could have frosted the outside of the cake with more mousse, but I liked the look of the layers, and there was already plenty of mousse/calories throughout the cake.



My dad was very happy with the cake (as were we all) and I was very proud to serve such a delicious treat on his big day! Happy Birthday Dad, here's to many more cakes to come!

Chocolate Cake with Hazelnut Mousse

For the Cake: adapted from I am Baker

1-3/4 cups all purpose flour

2 cups sugar

3/4 cups good cocoa powder

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp kosher salt

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 large eggs

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee

For the Hazelnut Mousse: double recipe from this previous post

- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare you 8" cake rounds by greasing and flouring them

- Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together into a bowl and mix until well combined

- In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry

- With the mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine

- Split the batter into the prepared pans

- Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until cake tester comes out clean

- Cool in pans for 30 minutes, then turn onto a cooling rack to cool completely

- Once cooled, use a large serrated knife to evenly split each layer into 2 and level off any domes from baking

- Layer cakes and mousse, sprinkling toasted hazelnuts between each layer for a nice crunch