Skinny Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Mousse and Dark Chocolate Ganache

A rich, moist, healthified chocolate cake topped with a creamy coconut raspberry mousse and covered in a decadent dark chocolate ganache. This is the perfect treat to make for your sweetheart on Valentine’s Day – it will definitely have them falling in LOVE.

Valentine’s day is only three days away!

The big question – do you love or hate this holiday?!

I’ll admit, I’m a fan!  But not so I can receive fancy jewelry or a bouquet of flowers. Honestly! My husband and I actually make a pact each year to not exchange gifts (which last year, he broke and surprised me with a bag of my favorite things; totally sweet, I know, but I kept the promise so had nothing for him…whoops!). Anyways.

I love this holiday because of the tradition my husband and I started to celebrate. We stay home and make an indulgent, delicious meal, which usually involves pasta or steaks, drink a good bottle of red wine, and watch a sappy love movie (that part I force upon my husband). I prefer to stay home on Valentine’s day so we can enjoy an intimate night at home, just the two of us.  I also like to decorate our apartment and make the night special. I set the table with our fancy wedding china, light candles, and play some smooth jazz in the background. What can I say, I’m a bit of a hopeless romantic.

Of course to cap off the perfect Valentine’s day dinner, you need a decadent, chocolate dessert. What better way to show someone your love than by feeding them cake?! I have just the dessert to woo my husband.

Skinny Chocolate Cake with Coconut Raspberry Mousse and Dark Chocolate Ganache.

That’s right. I said it. This is a delicious AND healthified cake. But don’t worry, it still tastes absolutely amazing and indulgent. The cake is moist, rich, and chocolatey. The raspberry mousse is light and airy. And let’s be real – chocolate and raspberries are a match made in heaven. A classic valentine’s day pairing. But wait. There’s still more. The cake and mousse are coated in a dark chocolate ganache. What’s not to love.

I’m literally drooling just thinking about this dessert. Sooo….

Le’t start baking!

First, we need to make the chocolate cake. In a large bowl, sift together all of the dry ingredients. Set aside. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and sugar together until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is a pale-yellow color. Add the remaining wet ingredients to the egg mixture. Combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients and mix until well-incorporated and there are no more lumps. I try to gently mix the batter so I do not overwork the gluten in the flour as that will lead to a tough cake. This basically means once the lumps are gone, stop mixing, about 1-2 minutes.

My secret ingredients in this cake are expresso powder and black coffee. These ingredients help intensify the chocolate flavor in the cake. Because I used both expresso powder and coffee, there is a slight mocha flavor to the cake, which I think works beautifully with the raspberry. If you do not want any coffee flavor, I would recommend leaving out the espresso powder.

I also use whole wheat pastry flour, not regular whole wheat flour. The pastry flour has a lower protein content and makes a wonderfully tender whole grain baked good. If you think you do not like whole what baked goods because they are tough, try the whole wheat pastry flour. It makes such a difference and I bet it will make you a whole wheat pastry fan!

Pour the cake in a well-greased 13x 9 dish and bake the cake in a 400 degree oven for 20-25 minutes (or until la toothpick comes out clean). Once the cake is cooled, carefully flip the cake out onto a cutting board or baking mat. With a small heart shaped cookie cutter, cut out 6-8 cake pieces.

While the cake is bakeing, you can make the raspberry mousse. The base of the mousse is coconut cream from a can of full fat coconut milk. You can get the cream from the can by placing the can in the fridge overnight – this allows the fat and liquid part of the coconut milk to separate. Open the can and scrap out the solid white cream from the top and place in a cold bowl. I recommend saving the remaining liquid in the fridge for smoothies.

To make the raspberry coulis, blend raspberries, honey, water, and vanilla to a blender and strain the mixture through a sieve to remove the seeds.

Add a 1/3 cup of the raspberry coulis to the coconut cream and mix with a hand mixer until the mixture becomes light and fluffy.  Allow the mixture to set in the fridge, for about half an hour.

Next, you need to make the dark chocolate ganache. Heat ½ cup of coconut milk (a can that is fully shaken so the liquid and solid parts of the cream are well-combined) and coconut oil in a saucepan until the mixtures comes to a simmer. Add the dark chocolate chips and stir until the chocolate is fully melted. Finish the ganache by adding in a pinch of flaky sea salt and vanilla. Allow the ganache to come to room temperature before coating the cakes.

Time to assemble these beauties. Take each heart shaped cake and brush on a layer of the extra raspberry coulis onto each cake, so the sweet liquid soaks into each cake (this is totally optional, but highly recommended as this step will help intensify the raspberry flavor). Next, pipe on a layer of the raspberry mousse.

Finally, pour a ¼ cup of the cooled chocolate ganache (if it is too hot, it will melt the mousse, so make sure you allow it to get to room temp) onto each cake so the cake is evenly coated. Place the assembled cakes in the fridge to allow the ganache to harden.

I know this cake takes a few steps to make. But trust me, it is worth the effort.

I think this might be the best dessert I have ever made. Love at first bite. Each layer of the dessert on it’s own taste great, from the super chocolatey, moist cake, to the creamy, light, and airy raspberry mousse, to finally the luscious, rich dark chocolate ganache. Together they are something truly magical. It’s a symphony of wonderful flavors.

Don’t just take my word for it. I had my family serve as my taste testers for the cake this weekend. I had the perfect occasion to serve this romantic, valentine’s day inspired dessert. Erin, my sister-in-law, and her boyfriend, Jon just got engaged!! We all got together at a local bar in the Chicago area to celebrate and I brought some of these heart shaped treats for the newly engaged couple. We popped some bubbles and indulged on this decadent treat.The cake was eaten up in minutes and everyone gave me the big thumbs up. It was a great weekend with a lot of love and lot of cake. ❤️

I hope you all treat your loved ones to this Valentine’s Day inspired treat. I promise they will not be disappointed and a lot of hugs and kisses will be coming your way!

Print

Skinny Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Mousse and Dark Chocolate Ganache

A rich, decadent treat perfect for Valentine's Day. 

Course Dessert

Prep Time 1 hour

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes

Servings 8

Author Dani

Ingredients

Chocolate Cake

• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon expresso powder
• 1 large egg room temperature
• 1/2 cup brown sugar or coconut sugar I used Splenda brown sugar
• 1/2 cup raw cane sugar
• 1/2 cup greek yogurt non fat
• 1/2 cup coconut oil melted
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/2 cup strong black coffee
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder good quality

Raspberry Mousse

• Cream from can of coconut milk can refrigerated overnight
• 3/4 cup raspberries
• 1 tablespoon water
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Dark Chocolate Ganache

• 1 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup full fat coconut milk can well shaken
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil
• pinch flaky sea salt

Instructions

Chocolate Cake

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour  a 9x13 cake pan (I used a special baking spray that already contained flour).

2. In a large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients. I used a whisk to make sure there were no lumps and the dry ingredients were evenly mixed. 

3. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and sugar together until the eggs become light in color and the sugar fully dissolves (I used a hand mixer). Mix in remaining wet ingredients. 

4. Pour the wet mixture until the dry ingredients and gently fold until the two mixtures are well-combined. I used the hand mixer at the end to get out lumps (about 30 seconds). 

5. Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. 

6. Gently flip cake out of pan. Use a small heart cookie cutter to cut out 7-8 hearts. Keep cake scraps to top on ice cream or make cake pops. 

7. Brush on a teaspoon of the extra raspberry coulis on each cake. Top each cake with a layer of raspberry mousse. I used a piping bag to cover the cake. Place cakes in fridge to allow the mousse to set and make ganache. 

8. Once ganache is at room temperature, pour about 1/4 cup of the ganache over each cake. I gently poured the ganache in the middle of the cake and allowed the ganache to fall down the sides. You may need to use an offset spatula or knife to spread the ganache evenly around the cake (just be careful not to mix the mousse with the ganache). 

9. Once cakes are assembled, put cakes in the fridge so the ganache sets. 

10. Serve and enjoy!!

Raspberry Mousse

1. Blend together the raspberries, water, vanilla, and honey. Use a strainer to get the seeds out of the coulis mixture. 

2. With a hand mixer, whip together the coconut cream and 1/4 cup raspberry coulis. Place in fridge to set (about an hour). 

Dark Chocolate Ganache

1. Heat the coconut milk and coconut oil on the stove. Once the mixture starts to simmer, add in chocolate chips and stir until the chocolate is fully melted. Stir in vanilla and flaky sea salt. Allow the mixture to cool to room temperature before pouring on cakes. 

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