Valentine's Foods - Strawberry-Covered Chocolate Cake

A classic Valentine's treat is chocolate-covered strawberries.  Well, I decided for our Valentine's dessert to do the opposite in a cake form.  Strawberry Covered Chocolate Cake!  This is a chocolate cake with a strawberry mousse between the two layers of cake and frosted with a strawberry and cream frosting, topped with fresh strawberry halves.

I decided to make the cake from scratch to avoid any nut allergies (one of the people who was eating with us is allergic to tree nuts, and most store-bought cake mixes have warnings for nut allergies).  First, I mixed together the dry ingredients (sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt).

Then I added the eggs, milk, oil, vanilla extract, and boiling water, and mixed well.

Then I greased my two cake pans and divided the batter individually between them.  I baked them in my oven which had been preheated to 350 degrees for about 30 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center of each cake came out clean.  I let them cool in the pans for about 5 minutes and then removed them to a wire rack to finish cooling.  (Be sure to grease your pans well.  I didn't grease them well enough and the bottoms stuck to the pan a little as you can see.   And no, the cake's not burnt.  I used dark cocoa powder instead of regular cocoa powder.)

Once the cakes were cool, I moved one of the cakes to the serving plate.  (Since both cakes had stuck to the bottom of the pan and fallen apart a little on the bottom, I decided that those sides would be toward the inside of the cake, with the mousse filling the cracks and the tops would still be smooth for the frosting.)

 I made the mousse as described in my post on 25 January 2014 for Easy Jello Mousse (http://alwaystrynewthings.blogspot.com/2014/01/easy-jello-mousse.html).  After it had set in the bowl, I scooped the mousse into a piping bag and piped it over the first cake layer before smoothing it out with a knife.

Then I put the second cake layer on top of the mousse, and set it in the refrigerator until I was ready to frost it.

To make the frosting, I mixed a packet of instant vanilla pudding mix with 1 cup of milk.  Then I added in red food coloring and strawberry extract to add a strawberry taste to the vanilla for strawberries and cream outcome.  Then I gently folded in the Cool Whip to make the frosting.

 Then I frosted the cake, making sure the sides and top were fully covered.

Once it was frosted, I cut the tops of some strawberries off and cut them in half to place on the top.  I also decided to place a whole strawberry in the center for even more decoration.  If desired, you use strawberries that aren't too big, so they still have a point at the bottom and cut a notch out of the center of the tops once they are cut in half and have the tops removed, to make them look like hearts.

M. thought it was finger-licking good, and wanted to eat every last crumb and all the frosting and mousse.

Chocolate Cake with Strawberry Mousse

Cake Ingredients:

2 cups sugar

2 cups flour

¾ cup cocoa powder

2 tsp. baking powder

1 ½ tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

2 eggs

1 cup milk

½ cup oil

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup boiling water

Mousse Ingredients:

3 oz. strawberry jello

1 cup boiling water

4 oz. cream cheese

½ cup cold water

4 oz cool whip

Frosting and Topping:

3 oz vanilla pudding mix

1 c milk

red food coloring

2 tsp. McCormick imitation strawberry extract

8 oz cool whip

fresh strawberries, tops cut off, halved

Make cake by mixing together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add eggs, milk, oil, vanilla, and boiling water and stir until well combined. Split batter between two greased 9” cake pans and bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool cakes completely on wire racks.

Make mousse by dissolving jello in 1 cup boiling water. Pour in blender and add 4 ounces of cream cheese. Process until smooth. Add ½ cup cold water and pulse blender to stir. Add cool whip and process just until smooth and free of lumps. Pour into large bowl and refrigerate until firm, 3-4 hours.

Place one cake on serving plate. Spread mousse over top and place the other cake on top.

To make frosting, mix together pudding mix, half the milk called for on box until begins to thicken. Stir in strawberry extract and red food coloring to a slightly darker shade of pink than you want the final look to be. Then fold in 8 oz. cool whip.

Frost cake and place some fresh strawberries cut in half around the top of the cake. If desired, can cut the strawberries so they look like hearts.