Strawberry Chocolate Mousse Cake

The picture on the left is my 3rd (and finally successful) attempt at making mouse cakes. For the sake of writing whatever to filling up a (what would have been) blank page, here's a brief history of my previous unfortunate failures:

Failure #1: Peach Mousse Cake
Yes okay, structural-wise, there was nothing wrong with it. But it tasted like nothing but pure sugar... I don't know why I even bother calling it a Peach cake. And now that I think of it, what was I thinking giving my roommate a slice?! She must've thought I was purposely trying to put her into a diabetic coma (hyperglycemic). Sorry, my bad... :P
Failure #2: Coffee Mousse Cake (picture 2)
This mousse cake currently ranks as my Number One culinary disaster. I actually re-made the cake twice. And to make things even worse... this was actually JLo's 24th birthday cake. HAHAHAHA. I know, I know... I deserve a bad-girlfriend-slap. But hey, at least i tried decorating it into a Subaru sign (his favorite) and making it coffee-flavored (his other favorite)! The cake was basically raw dough and the mousse was basically... a layer of crap.

Now back to my 3rd attempt: Strawberry Chocolate Mousse Cake. My my, just when i was about to give up on anything having to do with mousse, God showed me kindness XD. It's true what they say--with low expectations, comes great satisfaction. This has become JLo's favorite non-coffee dessert (which is a rare thing). I am also happy to say that mousse cakes have officially become my favorite type of dessert.

Strawberry Chocolate Mousse Cake
makes one small 5.5'' cake
INGREDIENTS:

• 1 layer of chocolate cake/brownies.
• 300g fresh strawberries
• 2 tablespoons fine sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 3 tablespoons chocolate powder
• 2 teaspoons un-flavored gelatin
• 150 mL milk
• 1.5 cup whipping cream (30%)
• 1 tablespoon sugar

DIRECTIONS:

1. Prepare the layer of cake/brownie and place it in your cake mold.
2. Slice 1/2 of the strawberries in half, arranging them around your mold (touching, side-by-side, pointed ends up, with cut sides against the side of the mold).
3. Place the remaining half of strawberries in the center. Set aside [picture 1].
4. In a bowl, mix together sugar, egg yolk, vanilla, and chocolate powder.
5. In another small saucepan, add gelatin and milk. Heat until gelatin is dissolved.
6. Pour the milk mixture into the chocolate mixture and mix well. (Place the bowl in cold water bath while mixing, the mixture should start to thicken as the temperature cools down) [picture 2].
7. In a seperate bowl, whip the cream with 1 tablespoon of sugar until stiff peaks form [picture 3].
8. Fold the whipped cream into the chocolate mixture until blended thoroughly [picture 4].
9. When done, pour it into your mold until it covers the strawberries.
10. Refrigerate until set (4 hours).
11. Decorate and serve!

Strawberry Chocolate Mousse Cake