Mocha Frangelico Mousse Torte

 Spiced Hazelnut Cake with a Mocha Frangelico Mousse filling, covered in Chocolate Ganache and topped with Frangelico Candied Hazelnuts.

I'm SO over cupcakes! Give me a proper slice of cake dammit!!

So, it was my husband's birthday the other day and I had asked him to think of what flavour cake he would like. He absolutely adores anything hazelnut and I also realized I have never made a mocha based cake before, coffee yes, but not mocha. I then remembered that there was something that ticked all those boxes in the ever brilliant Vegan Cupcakes take over the World cookbook - the "Hazelnut Cupcakes with Mocha Hazelnut Mousse Filling". He was sold by title alone and that was it I would try that one out.

Of course I had to make this as a whole cake and not cupcakes, something I haven't had much success with in the past, it seems a lot of cupcake recipes don't like to be baked as cakes but I had no problem with this one. I used a smaller 6" high sided loose bottom cake pan here and once baked I thought it was going to be too small (height wise) but once the mousse went on it was actually a perfect height.

Now, you guys know I love my mousse. Unfortunately all my mousse recipes here call for Granovita Soy Whipping Cream and you can't buy it or any suitable replacements anymore. I have made tofu based mousses before, I'm certainly not against them, they taste great it's just texturally speaking they are not mousses!! Firm puddings maybe, but not light and airy mousse which is what my mousse recipes used to give. All that being said, this mocha "mousse" was amazing, incredible flavour and still a really nice texture, perfect in the cake which was dense and moist without being gummy.

The cupcake recipe also calls for some ganache on top and they do provide a recipe however I've gone for my standard ganache recipe here. Not that I'm not sure their recipe isn't fantastic, I'm just used to and love my own :-) My recipe always calls for booze of some sort so of course I've added more Frangelico here.

As for the topping, well, it was a no-brainer really: the Frangelico Candied Hazelnuts that I used in the Chocolate Frangelico Mousse Gateau. This time I kept them whole for decoration (and so my non-hazlenut liking child could easily pick them off) and they just went beautifully with this cake.

Altogether this was a huge success, we all absolutely loved this cake and I will certainly make it again. Now I have to apologise for all these teaser photos when I cannot give you a recipe for half of it as the cake and mousse have come straight out of Vegan Cupcakes take over the World but I will give you some notes here on what I did and links to my recipes for the ganache and candied hazelnuts.

Spiced Hazelnut Cake:

I followed the recipe for the Hazelnut cupcakes in Vegan Cupcakes take over the World exactly as is but greased and lined the bottom of a 6" high loose bottomed cake pan and baked it for 40 minutes instead, you want a toothpick to come out clean.

Mocha Hazelnut Mousse:

Also from Vegan Cupcakes take over the World. For this I could only get firm silken tofu not extra firm so I omitted the soy milk that the recipe called for and I also increased the Frangelico to 1 tablespoon from 2 teaspoons. I also didn't refrigerate it for an hour before spreading it on the cake as there was no need as the whole cake once assembled was going in the fridge.

Frangelico Chocolate Ganache:

200g plain or semi-sweet chocolate (dark)
170ml soy cream
20g solid coconut oil
1 Tbsp Frangelico

Finely chop the chocolate and place in a large bowl. Heat the coconut oil and soy cream together until it just comes to a boil - stir often. Pour this over the chocolate, leave it for a minute and then whisk up. Add the Frangelico and whisk again. Leave it to thicken slightly so that it will still pour over the cake but will pour slowly to cover well.

And, just like with my 10 Layer Chocolate Orange Truffle Cake you will have leftover ganache. I highly recomend making truffle pots with it, just spoon it into little cute bowls and chill - quick, easy and posh little dessert!

Frangelico Candied Hazelnuts:

I used my recipe here but kept the hazelnuts whole.

Assembly:

Once the cake has cooled, carefully slice it in half. The easiest way to do this is to use a serrated knife and slice all along the edges not going fully through to make sure it is even. THEN use the knife and slice through the centre. Slide a wide spatula inbetween then remove the top layer.

Line the cake pan that you baked the cake in with cling film. Place the top cake layer, top side down into the pan. Fill with the mousse then lay the bottom cake slice, bottom slice up on top. That should be your flattest cake side, which you want on top. Taking the overhanging cling film wrap the top of the cake up and place in the fridge for the mousse to fully set, about 1 - 2 hours. I have step by step photos of all of this on my Double Chocolate Mousse Layer Cake recipe if it helps!

Remove the cake from the pan, just pull up from the cling film and place on a cutting board, removing the cling film. Pour the ganache over, again, it should be thick enough to not run all over the place, using a knife make sure all the sides are nicely coated and place it again in the fridge for the ganache to set. Before it fully sets though, decorate with the Frangelico Candied Hazelnuts so that you can push them into the still soft ganache, it might be a bit too soft to put them on right away but you also don't want the ganache fully set. I probably added mine after 15 minutes in the fridge.

Take the cake out of the fridge about an hour before you want to serve it just so it's not fridge cold. I've been keeping mine stored in the fridge but mostly as it's summer and we have quite a warm kitchen, not sure I would bother in the winter. At any rate, this cake won't last long, trust me :-)

♥

Nutritional Information: based on 1 slice out of 12

Calories: 388

Protein: 5g

Fat: 22.7g

Sat Fat: 7.6g

Fibre: 3.2g

Carbs: 41.5g

Sugar: 27.4g

Sodium: 167mg

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Chocolate Frangelico Mousse Gateau

Double Chocolate Mousse Layer Cake

Banana Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

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"Reese" style with chocolate topping.

Well these are another great cupcake variant from 'Vegan Cupcakes take over the World'. I've never made a peanut butter frosting before but read of others raving about this recipe online. It's fantastic, tastes just like the filling of a Reese peanut butter cup...only better. Then I had some bananas in that perfect state for baking and had to put these together. In the cookbook this cupcake is known as 'The Elvis' - I presume due to his love of deep fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches.... I then decided to follow the style of the chocolate mint cupcakes and top a couple with some chocolate ganache, the urge to make these as close to a peanut butter cup just too strong....and I'm thinking the chocolate topped ones are best.

Chocolate Yule Log with Fondant Mushrooms

I've been wanting to make a yule log for Christmas for a long time now and figured it would be near impossible without eggs in the cake. They provide the much needed structure while rolling up without cracking or falling apart. I just used vegan cupcakes take over the worlds chocolate cupcake recipe here, cut in half and baked in a jelly roll pan. Now it did crack quite a bit but was still able to hold it's shape and as I was frosting the top was able to hide all the cracks and crevices! The filling was a test, using same cookbooks 'thick fudgy icing' and the top was frosted with their chocolate buttercream. All individual components taste great, I just hope I can slice it easily enough as the cake is quite delicate. The mushrooms were an idea I saw somewhere else where someone made meringue mushrooms to decorate their yule log. As meringue is definitely something that cannot be veganized I just shaped some out of ready made fondant frosting and dusted the tops with cocoa. As they are straight, thick fondant frosting I wouldn't recommend eating them, but they look the part!

Carrot Cupcakes with Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting

with chopped pecans and a raisin

just frosting....

Another great cupcake from 'vegan cupcakes take over the world'. This used to be my favorite cupcake and I really didn't think it could be made vegan but it works. The vegan cream cheese never interested me much on bagels as it's too sweet but it makes a spot on cream cheese frosting - I really couldn't tell this apart from the 'real' thing. I made a couple changes - the original recipe called for 1/4 cup chopped walnuts and 1/4 cup raisins in the cakes as well. While nuts and raisins go well with carrot cake I personally prefer mine plain so omitted them. This did reduce the bulk of my batter a bit so my cakes weren't as big as they could have been but not a big deal. I did however like their idea for frosting the cake with some chopped walnuts (I had pecans) and a little raisin on top. So I frosted half that way and half the regular piped way. I'm thinking the nutty version is best, but it's close...

Golden Vanilla Cupcakes with Fluffy Vegan Buttercream Frosting

From: Vegan Cupcakes take over the World.

Notes: Recipe calls for canola oil which is rapeseed oil here. I used a vegetable oil which is 100% rapeseed. For the vanilla extract use a really good quality real extract, not an imitation one. This is important in cakes that have no eggs or butter as the flavour of the extracts really come through. For the thickener, I used arrowroot as that's what I had but recipe said you can use cornstarch (cornflour). Also I used rice milk which turned out great, the soy will curdle with the vinegar more but the rice milk works just fine.

For the frosting, I have halved the recipe as it makes so much, if you want to have piles of frosting like in the picture you may want to double the amount but this will frost 12 sufficiently. Also, I didn't need nearly as much 'milk' as the recipe called for.

♥

Chocolate Mint Cupcakes

From: Vegan Cupcakes take over the World - a chocolate mint cake with mint frosting and chocolate ganache topping...

These were absolutely amazing, reminded me of a 'pep' bar, and quite possibly made the best tasting batter in the world, Finn and I were fighting to lick that bowl I tell you! Next time for the frosting I will add all the colour and extracts first before the 'milk' as they added enough liquid that I didn't need nearly as much 'milk' as the recipe called for. Otherwise, just perfect...