Chocolate Mousse Cake

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This chocolate mousse cake is made with three decadent layers of chocolate. There's a layer of soft and moist chocolate cake, a whipped chocolate mousse, and fudgy chocolate ganache on top. It's finished off with fresh strawberries for a pop of colour and fruity flavour!

A slice of chocolate mousse cake with a strawberry on top on a plate, showing the three layers of chocolate.

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Why you'll love this recipe
Tools
Ingredient notes
Tips for making the best chocolate mousse cake
Storage
Frequently asked questions
More chocolate cake recipes to try
Recipe

Why you'll love this recipe

Soft and moist chocolate cake. An easy-to-make chocolate cake base that comes together quickly and stays soft when chilled because it's made with oil instead of butter.
2-ingredient chocolate mousse. It melts in your mouth and it's so easy to make!
Chocolate ganache topping. It's a rich and silky layer of chocolate to finish off the cake in an elegant way.
Fresh strawberries. A perfect pairing with chocolate.

A chocolate mousse cake with strawberries lining the sides of the cake and on top of the cake.

Tools

9" springform pan - This recipe is scaled for a 9" pan. You'll want to use a springform pan with a removable bottom plate so that you can easily release the mousse cake from the pan.
Electric hand mixer (optional) - You can make this entire cake with only a regular whisk but a hand mixer can be helpful for whipping the cream if you don't want to do it by hand.
Offset spatula (optional) - An offset spatula has the perfect angle for spreading the chocolate mousse into the pan and for smoothing the chocolate ganache.

Ingredient notes

As always, the full recipe card with ingredient amounts and instructions is at the bottom of this post! Keep reading for more details on each ingredient or skip ahead to the recipe.

All-purpose flour
Natural cocoa powder - Natural cocoa powder is the most common kind of cocoa powder you can find in most grocery stores. Dutch-processed cocoa powder would probably also work but this recipe has not been tested with it.
Baking powder
Baking soda
Salt
Egg - This should be at room temperature for smooth and seamless mixing.
Granulated sugar
Brown sugar
Oil - Use any light-tasting oil like canola oil.
Milk - Use any dairy or non-dairy milk you prefer. It should be at room temperature before adding it to the batter.
Whipping cream or heavy cream - Use whipping cream for a lighter mousse and ganache or heavy cream for a richer and thicker mousse and ganache.
Dark or semi-sweet chocolate - You can use any chocolate you like for the mousse and ganache. Use dark chocolate if you prefer a deeper flavour that isn't as sweet or semi-sweet or milk chocolate for a milkier and sweeter cake. You could also use a combination of both such as milk chocolate for the mousse and dark chocolate for the ganache topping. Your chocolate should be finely chopped to help it melt faster and more evenly.
Strawberries - Use fresh and ripe strawberries. They should be halved for the cake trim and a mixture of whole and sliced strawberries for the decoration on top of the cake.

A slice of chocolate mousse cake with a forkful taken out of it to show the texture inside.

Tips for making the best chocolate mousse cake

Use low and gentle heat when melting the chocolate. When making the chocolate mousse and chocolate ganache, sometimes you'll still have unmelted chunks of chocolate that need a bit more help to melt down into a smooth mixture. I like to only use the warming element on my stove (meant for keeping food warm) to slowly heat the mixture. The chocolate can seize and clump up if it's heated too fast or with high heat.
Don't overwhip the cream (for the mousse). The chocolate mousse will thicken the moment you combine the melted chocolate mixture with the whipped cream. In order to achieve an airy and melt-in-your-mouth mousse texture, whip the cream only to soft peaks. It will continue to firm up when the cake is chilled in the fridge.
Use good quality dark chocolate. Since chocolate is the main ingredient in this cake, be sure to use a good quality chocolate. Chocolate bars from Lindt or Valhrona, for example, are great choices. It's personal preference but I would also recommend using dark chocolate because it offsets the sweetness and gives the cake a deep and rich flavour.

A slice of chocolate mousse cake on a plate in front of the rest of the cake.

Storage

This chocolate mousse cake can be stored covered or in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Leftovers can be frozen in an airtight container for up to 1 month. Thaw in the fridge overnight or at room temperature for about an hour before eating.

Frequently asked questions

Why are your measurements in grams? Why do you mix gram measurements with tablespoons/teaspoons?

Baking by weight is much more accurate than volume. When using US standard cups, ingredients like flour and sugar can easily be overpacked into the cup causing you to add too much of certain ingredients. Recipes with weight measurements are also easier to scale to smaller or bigger batches without dealing with weird fractions. To measure by weight, you simply need a kitchen scale which you can usually pick up for less than $20.

Small measurements are given in tablespoons and teaspoons because most kitchen scales are not accurate under about 10g. Tiny amounts like a ¼ teaspoon may not register accurately unless you have a drug scale. Mixing these measurements is a common practice among other recipe sites and commercial kitchens.