Black Tie Mousse Cake

Category: Pies > Sweet > Black Tie Mousse Cake

If I was to say what my all time favorite dessert is, it would be the Black Tie Mousse Cake from Olive Garden. I feel bad for people who don't have Olive Gardens to eat from. In my opinion, Olive Garden has some of the best desserts around.

Black Tie Mousse Cake is a multilayer dessert. The bottom layer is chocolate cake, then you have a chocolate cheesecake, followed by an Italian Cheese Custard, topped with a dark chocolate ganache. The sides of the cake are covered with chocolate chips and the top is decorated with chocolate mousse. Needless to say, this is a very rich dessert - which is right up my alley. Yum!

I stumbled across this copycat recipe and decided to give it a whirl. I couldn't have been more happy with the recipe. I don't really have much to add to the recipe except a few tips to help you put it all together.





The original recipe can be found at: Meemo's Kitchen

Recipe:

Layer 1 Chocolate cake "crust":

• 1/2 cup Butter, softened
  
• 1 cup Sugar
  
• 3 Eggs
  
• 1 tsp. Vanilla
  
• 1/3 cup Dutch Processed Baking Cocoa
  
• 1/2 cup Flour
  

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease bottom only of a 9" springform pan. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Add eggs, beating well after each addition; add vanilla and mix well. Add flour and cocoa and mix well to combine. Batter will be stiff. Spread in pan. Set aside.

If you don't have or can't find Dutch Processed Baking Cocoa, regular cocoa will work.

Layer 2 Baked Chocolate Cheesecake:

• 8 oz. Cream Cheese, softened
  
• 1/2 cup Ricotta Cheese
  
• 3/4 cup Sugar
  
• 1 oz. Unsweetened Chocolate, melted and cooled
  
• 2 Eggs
  
• 1 tbsp. Flour
  

In a large bowl, cream the cream cheese and ricotta with the sugar until smooth. Add a small amount of the cheese mixture to the melted chocolate and combine well (this is called tempering). Once the little bit of cheese mixture and chocolate are mixed well, add it back to the rest of the cheese mixture and beat until well combined. Add eggs and flour and beat well. Smooth over top of cake batter in pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until cheesecake is set in center. Cover with foil during last 10 minutes to prevent over browning. Remove from oven and cool.

A cheesecake is not like a regular cake. It is considered set when the center is still wobbly. After you chill the cheesecake, it will set without wobbling. At this point let the cake cool. Once it is cool, you need to chill the cake for an hour or two.

Layer 3 Italian Mousse:

• 3/4 cups Heavy Whipping Cream
  
• 12 oz. Marscapone or Cream Cheese, softened (or 6 oz. of each)
  
• 1/4 cups Sugar
  
• 1/2 tsp. Vanilla
  
• 1 tbsp. Cold Water
  
• 1 tbsp. Boiling Water
  
• 1 tsp. Unflavored Gelatin
  

Once your chocolate and cheesecake base has been chilled, you can start making the third layer.

Beat the heavy whipping cream until stiff, set aside. In separate bowl, beat cheeses with sugar and vanilla until smooth. Fold in and combine with the whipping cream. In a small bowl, soften gelatin in cold water for about 1 minute. Pour boiling water over gelatin and stir to dissolve gelatin. Add just a touch of the cream/cheese mixture into the gelatin and stir. Cool five minutes. Fold the gelatin into cheese mixture until just combined. Spread mixture over baked cheesecake layer and chill well (freezing the cake at this point works well and makes spreading the final layer easier). Make sure you chill for several hours to make sure all the layers are set.

Layer 4 Dark Chocolate/White Chocolate Ganache:

• 10 oz. Dark Chocolate or Semi-Sweet Chocolate
  
• 1 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
  
• 2 tbsp. Butter
  
• 1/4 cup White Chocolate Chips
  
• 1-1/2 cups Mini Chocolate Chips
  

Place dark chocolate, chopped, in a large bowl. Heat cream and butter over low heat until just boiling. Reserve 2 tbsp. cream mixture. Pour cream mixture over chocolate and let set about 2 minutes, or until it begins to melt. Stir to combine. Repeat for white chips using reserved cream mixture. Let cool slightly until spreading consistency.

Using a sharp knife gently run blade around edge of cake to loosen. Remove cake sides from pan and place bottom with cake on serving plate or stand. Spread frosting over top and sides.

Drizzle white chocolate lightly over top. Using a knife or toothpick run it lightly over top to swirl to create desired effect. At this point, I would place the white chocolate ganache in a pastry bag and use a small round tip to decorate the top of the cake instead of trying to just drizzle it on top. You have more control.

Press mini chips (regular size works too) into frosting on sides until completely coated to create a "crust". Place cake to chill while preparing the final frosting.

Mousse Frosting:

• 1/2 cups Heavy Whipping Cream
  
• 1/4 cups Powdered Sugar
  
• 1/8 cups Baking Cocoa
  
• 1/8 tsp. Vanilla
  

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and whip until stiff peaks form. Place mousse mixture into pastry bag and use a large star tip to pipe generously around cake top edge and center.

Chill the cake well and serve. Serves 12-16.