- Oscar Night Cake -

Tonight is the biggest night in Hollywood, and I've been going all out to try and create a dinner menu to match. My first thought was an elegant, three course, small portion, 4 star restaurant look, but I soon scratched the idea in favor of bow tie pasta. Bow tie pasta with garlic cream sauce to be precise. I decided to mimic the gents' look with the shape of the pasta. Joining them were sides of garlic bread and salad. And, to mimic the lovely ladies, I created my Oscar night Chocolate Cake with Raspberry and White Chocolate Mousse. Now, I love to make cakes look great, but they never seem to turn out the way I envisioned...  But this one did, and I am more than thrilled with the look, not to mention the chocolaty, raspberry, goodness delight that is the taste!

Raspberry Mousse sounds difficult, but really is a fairly simple process. Frozen raspberries, sugar and lemon juice are mixed together over a medium heat until they cook down. Then it is all pushed through a strainer.

Then it gets folded into the whipped cream... and voila! Easy.

The White chocolate mousse is just as simple. 

Then Everything gets piled on to little round cakes and stacked, with chocolate ganache then drizzled on the top. And this is the end result:

Oscar Night Chocolate Cake with Raspberry and White Chocolate Mousse

The Cake:

Any chocolate cake recipe that will fit in a 9x13 pan. You can even use a boxed cake mix. 
With a 2 1/2 inch round biscuit cutter, cut out eight rounds from the cake. Set each round on its side and cut in half so you have sixteen rounds. 


Raspberry Mousse:

Ingredients:
8 oz. bag Frozen Raspberries
2 T. Granulated Sugar
The juice of 1 lemon (I used my hand to squeeze the juice out. If you use a juicer, I would add a bit more sugar as well)
1 tsp. water
1/2 tsp. gelatin
1 cup Heavy Cream

Directions:
In medium saucepan put raspberries, sugar, and lemon juice. Cook over medium heat until the raspberries have thawed and everything has cooked down and melded together in a mush. Press through a fine strainer so you get most of the juice, but not the seeds. 

In small bowl pour the gelatin into the water. Let sit for 5 minutes. Then put into the microwave for thirty seconds. In mixing bowl fitted with whisk attachment, start whisking  the heavy cream, add the gelatin and whisk until the whipped cream holds stiff peaks.

Take 1/4 cup of the whipped cream and whisk it into the raspberry juice. Then take 3/4 cup of the raspberry juice and fold into the rest of the whipped cream. And now you have  raspberry mousse!


White Chocolate Mousse:

Ingredients: 1/4 cup Heavy Cream
3/4 cup White Chocolate chips
1 tsp. water1/2 tsp. gelatin
1/2 cup Heavy Cream

Directions:
In a microwave safe bowl, heat in the microwave the first amount of heavy cream until it starts to boil. Pour over the white chocolate chips and let sit for 3 minutes. Whisk together until the chocolate is melted and everything is smooth.

Add gelatin to water and let sit 5 minutes. Then heat in microwave for 30 seconds.
In electric mixer fitted with whisk attachment whisk the second amount of heavy cream with the gelatin mixture until it forms stiff peaks. 

Add 1 T. of the whipped cream into the white chocolate mixture. Then fold in 1/4 cup of the white chocolate mixture to the whipped cream.


Chocolate Ganache:

Assembly:
1/4 cup Heavy Cream
1/2 cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips 

Directions:
Heat heavy cream in a microwave safe bowl in the microwave until it starts to boil. Add in the chocolate chips and let sit 3 minutes. Whisk together until smooth. 


Cake Assembly:
Set out cake rounds on a cookie sheet in four rows of four. Top eight of them with the raspberry mousse and four of them with the white chocolate mousse, piled about a 1/2 an inch high (You can place the same biscuit cutter over each and spoon in the mousse for cleaner edges). Put the cookie sheet into the refrigerator for 30 minutes to an hour to firm up the mousse a bit. 

Then stack the four cakes: raspberry topped cake on the bottom, then white chocolate mousse topped cake, then raspberry again, and top them each with the last four cake rounds. Put some plastic wrap around the sides and top and refrigerator for another hour. 

Unwrap from the plastic wrap and pour the ganache on top of each and enjoy!