Mousse Filled Angel Food Cake
This Angel Cake Recipe has a delicious twist! It’s a luscious chocolate cake filling that’s revealed when the first slice is removed!
On the exterior, this looks like your typical Angel Food Cake Recipe, but it’s the egg-free chocolate mousse in the middle that steals the show!!
Why You Must Make
I used to make this cake with a storebought cake when my kids were wee ones. Then I misplaced the recipe and finally recreated it for the blog in 2011. It had two dark photos and little to say about the recipe. So here we go again! Apparently, the whole family loved it 10 years ago.
- If your family loves the light, airy angel food cake, this amped-up version will be a hit!
- Normally, an angel food cake does not wow a chocoholic, but this mousse-filled version will.
- Even with the whipped cream and mousse, it’s a lighter dessert than many cake recipes.
Ingredient Notes
- Angel Food Cake – a large cake is needed or you’ll have too much mousse (but that’s never a bad predicament, is it?). If you go for storebought, a bakery might have a large version. Look for one that serves 10-12. You can also make one, but stock up on eggs as you’ll need 12 egg whites.
- Heavy Cream – Needed for both for the mousse and for the whipped cream angel food cake frosting. Look for cream with 36% butterfat or more.
- Semi-Sweet Chocolate – Chocolate chips or chopped Semisweet Chocolate both work
- Strong Coffee – Coffee helps accentuate the flavor of chocolate
- Kahlua – Coffee Liqueur will also accentuate the chocolate
- Butter – I use salted, but unsalted will work, too. Just add a pinch of salt when you melt the butter with the chocolate as salt will enhance the flavor.
- Plain Gelatin – Look for Knox brand in the supermarket near the flavored Jello.
- Powdered Sugar – This will sweeten the whipped cream frosting. Sift to make sure there are no lumps. The cornstarch in powdered sugar also helps to stabilize the cream.
- Whip-It – This is a whipped cream stabilizer by Dr. Oetker. It can be found in the baking aisle at many major supermarkets. It will help keep the whipped cream from breaking down. It’s optional, but useful if you don’t plan to consume the cake in one day.
- Vanilla – Use real vanilla extract as artificially flavored vanilla is substandard.
How to Make
Frequently Asked Questions
The process is easy. Carefully slice 1-inch off the top of the cake and reserve. Remove the inner part of the cake without breaking through the bottom. Fill that trench with mousse or another filling, then replace the top.
Use a serrated knife with a sawing motion. A straight edge knife will smash the cake instead of slicing it.
A plain angel food cake can be covered with plastic wrap at room temperature for 2-3 days. It can be kept in the refrigerator for 4 additional days. It can also be frozen, wrapped well in plastic, then a layer of foil for up to 3 months.
If the cake has whipped cream frosting or a filling, it must be refrigerated and is best eaten on the day it’s filled or frosted. But it will be safe to eat for about 3 days. To cover with plastic wrap, use toothpicks inserted into the cake to keep the plastic from sticking to the frosting.
Expert Tips for Making Angel Food Cake
- PRO-Tip: Have your bowl and beater scrupulously clean. Any oil or fat (including any yolk) on either will prevent the whites from whipping properly. And a typical angel food cake takes 12 egg whites, so you don’t want to start over!
- Use a 2-piece angel food cake pan and do not grease the pan.
- PRO-Tip: Eggs separate best when cold, but beat better if warmer.
- Make sure not to separate eggs over a bowl of egg whites. Any yolk that falls into your whites will contaminate them and you’ll have to start over. Use 3 bowls. One to catch the whites, one to collect the yolks, and a third to collect all the whites (move from the bowl used for catching).
- PRO-Tip: Have egg whites at 60 degrees. Warmer than from the refrigerator, but cooler than room temperature.
- Whip the whites on low until foamy, then on medium while adding the sugar.
- Don’t overbeat the whites. They should be fluffy, but not st
- Use cake flour. It has less gluten.
- Add the sugar very slowly.
- Once the flour is folded in, the batter should be fluid; droopy but not stiff. It’s thick, but with help of a spatula, it will flow into the pan.
- Do Not Open the oven door while the cake is baking!
- Test for doneness by tapping the top of the cake with your fingertip. The cake is done if the indentation pops back up. If the indentation remains, bake a little while longer. PRO-Tip: The toothpick test is not reliable when making an angel food cake.
- Cool upside down. Either use the “feet” that are on the top of the pan or invert onto a glass soda or wine bottle. Cool for 2-3 hours before removing the cake from the pan.
More Cake Recipes You’ll Love
- Homemade Angel Food Cake (this is the homemade cake recipe I used to make this cake)
- Angel Cake Sandwiches
- Strawberry Angel Food Dessert
- More of the Best Dessert Recipes
- More Best Cake Recipes
Mousse Filled Angel Food Cake
A sweet, airy angel food cake filled with a creamy chocolate mousse
Ingredients
- One Homemade Angel Food Cake or large bakery angel food cake (see link in the post to my cake recipe)
Mousse:
- 1 ¾ cups whipping cream
- 12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 3 ounces strong coffee
- 1 tablespoon Kahlua
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1 teaspoon plain gelatin (I use Knox brand)
Whipped Cream Icing:
- I cup whipping cream
- ½ cup powdered sugar, sifted
- 1 envelope Whip It, whipped cream stabilizer, optional
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- If using a homemade angel food cake, bake and cool completely before continuing with the recipe.
- Melt together the chips, coffee, Kahlua, and butter in the microwave, stirring and stopping every 30 seconds till smooth. Cool until the mixture is just slightly warm.
- Sprinkle gelatin over ¼ cup of the cream in a small bowl and let sit for 5 minutes.
- Add gelatin to the chocolate when chocolate has cooled.
- Whip the remaining 1½ cups cream till soft peaks form. Fold ¼ cup into the chocolate, then fold half the remaining cream, followed by the last half of the whipped cream. Refrigerate for about an hour.
- To assemble the cake, slice off the top about an inch down. Set aside top. Cut out a trench in the bottom of the cake, making sure not to get too close to the bottom or edges. Save removed cake pieces for snacking.
- Fill the trench with mousse and top with the reserved round of cake.
- To make the icing, whip cream with sugar, Whip It, and vanilla. Frost cake. Chill before serving.
Notes
Store bought angel food cakes are usually smaller than what you make at home. You will probably have extra mousse filling if you buy your cake, but it can be served in bowls with a little whipped cream and chocolate shavings for a lovely dessert.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
12Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 393Total Fat: 32gSaturated Fat: 20gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 10gCholesterol: 72mgSodium: 84mgCarbohydrates: 27gFiber: 2gSugar: 22gProtein: 3g
Thatskinnychickcanbake.com occasionally offers nutritional information for recipes contained on this site. This information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators. Although thatskinnychickcanbake.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased can change the nutritional information in any given recipe. Also, many recipes on thatskinnychickcanbake.com recommend toppings, which may or may not be listed as optional and nutritional information for these added toppings is not listed. Other factors may change the nutritional information such as when the salt amount is listed “to taste,” it is not calculated into the recipe as the amount will vary. Also, different online calculators can provide different results. To obtain the most accurate representation of the nutritional information in any given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe. You are solely responsible for ensuring that any nutritional information obtained is accurate.
60 Comments on “Mousse Filled Angel Food Cake”
I’m so glad I found this recipe.
I have a heart-shaped fill-pan, and tons of egg-whites in the freezer.
I’m pinning this
Oh my, that looks so yummy. I’ve never heard of a mousse filled angel food cake before. Will definitely be trying this recipe.
Pinning on pinterest. 🙂
Cheers,
Tracy Screaming Sardine
I’ve never seen mousse filled Angel food cake before. That mousse looks like it would be so creamy/heavenly!
Since it’s National Angel Food Cake Day, we’re having an Angel Food Cake Link-Up Party and would love for you to add this to the link-up party! If You’d like to Come link-up with us, you can here: http://www.bigbearswife.com/2011/10/angel-food-cake-pumpkin-roll.html
Oh my goodness now this is my kind of cake! It not only looks insanely delicious but it’s gorgeous. Love it!
Wow, what a yummy middle to your cake.
Add two more thumbs to the list!
Oh my Liz, you just made Angel food cake really more interesting to me, like big time. I love the idea of such a such mousse in the cake. So sold on this recipe.
Looks like a perfect summer dessert to me!! kate @ kateiscooking
i don’t know why but I’m a little afraid of making angel food cake. i think it’s the whipped egg whites. Yours looks great. Would love a biiiig slice 🙂
I love this adaptation of angel food cake – it makes it so much more appealing to me!
I’ve never made angel food cake I guess because I am not a huge fan, but I could totally get into this with the chocolate mousse in the middle. Beautiful!
A melted marshmallow? Interesting, I’ve never heard that one before, but it makes sense since marshmallows are mostly sugar and gelatin.
Lovely cake – I really enjoy when a sliced cake reveals a secret within.
🙂
ButterYum
Lizzy, what a beautiful, decadent cake you’ve posted. The presentation is superlatively elegant.
Now this is an angel food cake I could get behind! Looks gorgeous!
It’s magic cake! Looks beautiful, Lizzy! Love the contrast in color between the chocolate and white!
Lovely name for the cake Lizzy and that mousse surrounding the cake with gorgeous white color makes the cake all the more attractive.
Lizzy – this looks amazing! I’m glad you brushed off this recipe to share with us!
Oh my this looks so good. Yummy recipe. Hope you saved me a slice.
Lizzy, do you have a hollow leg where you stuff all the yummy goodies you make, lol. I have to keep myself away from chocolate mousse, I bet it was light and yummy in the angel food cake.
-Gina-
I have seen cakes like this, but never a recipe! Yours sounds wonderful, and way to make an Angel food cake even better :)! I will have to try making one some day!