Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Mousse and Butter Cream

Saturday night Eugene and I, with our neighbor and friend downstairs, had a tag team housewarming evening. Things started out downstairs with drinks and appetizers at Ivan's apartment and moved upstairs for dinner, chocolate cake, and Wii later.
I made everyone their own personal size chocolate cake with butter cream icing, double chocolate mousse, and fresh raspberries on top for our decadent dessert. The end product was certainly just right. The cake itself was very moist, rich and tasty. The icing was light with a hint of chocolate. The mousse was cold and melted in your mouth, the flavor of both light and dark chocolate coming through, and all portions were just gently sweet, not overpowering at all.
I really enjoyed my piece, and I know one guest did also. I've gained a loyal fan in my friend Andrew, in the red and white striped polo pictured on the right. At one point during the evening, not long after this picture was taken, Andrew had managed to have his own cake and someone else's cake in front of him and a smile from ear to ear. I wasn't sure if the smile meant he was happy or a warning for anyone not to dare to try to touch his stash of cake... at any rate, Andrew, and everyone else, ate the cakes up and enjoyed their time with friends. Let's hope we can all get together and do this again soon.

Recipe

Chocolate Cake

1 3/4C Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
1 3/4C Boiling Water
4 oz Bittersweet Chocolate
8 oz Sour Cream
1Tbsp+1tsp Vanilla
3C Flour
2 1/2tsp Baking Soda
1tsp Salt
1 3/4C Butter
1 3/4C Sugar
3/4C Brown Sugar
5 Eggs

*Whisk cocoa powder and and boiling water, stir in chocolate
and let sit 5min. stir until smooth, cool, then add in vanilla and
sour cream... set aside
*Sift together flour, baking soda and salt
*Beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy, then add eggs
one at a time beating well after each.
*Next add the flour and chocolate mixtures to the butter and eggs
alternating each beginning and ending with the flour mixture
*Pour into a large buttered and floured pan and bake at 350 for
35-45 min
*I cut the cake into small rounds when it cooled

Butter cream Icing

1 1/2C Sugar
6 Eggs
1Lb Butter
3Tbsp Cocoa Powder
1Tbsp Vanilla

*double boil eggs and sugar until combined and
temp reaches 140
*whip until soft peaks form
*add in butter, slowly until mixed well
*finish with cocoa and vanilla

Milk and Dark Chocolate Mousse

3 1/2C Heavy Cream
5oz Milk Chocolate
5oz Dark Chocolate

*beat 2 1/2C heavy cream until soft peaks form
*bring remaining cream to a boil and pour over
chocolate. whisk until smooth, allow to cool
*fold chocolate into whipped cream

I cut each cake round to form two layers and put a small amount of butter cream inside. Next I iced each cake and put a nice layer of the mousse on, topping with berries.