The "NO" Cake

I had an order for a birthday cake this week.  They wanted 2 chocolate cakes to spell out the word "NO".  Apparently the birthday boy says the word "NO" a lot, so his co-workers thought it would be clever to give him a "NO" birthday cake!  It was a bit of a challenge for me, but a lot of fun! 

First I made the chocolate cakes.  Afterwards I cut the cakes to form out the letters "N" and "O".

They wanted a chocolate cake with chocolate icing.  But I wondered, what could I put in the middle of the cake layers to add something different?  Raspberry?  Whipped Cream?  What about a chocolate mousse, I thought...  And so my search began for a chocolate mousse to have as the cakes filling.

I remembered that I used to find great recipes on Godiva's website.  I found this recipe and made the mousse:  http://www.godiva.com/recipes/recipe.aspx?id=464
I let it set in the fridge overnight, and hoped it would thicken and turn into a mousse that could spread.  When I went to fill those layers of cake, the mousse proved to be the perfect filling.  But not only that, it was absolutely delicious.  It was almost like a chocolatey dulce de leche, if you can imagine that.  This is definitely going to be a filling that I use going forward.

I used my Mother's recipe for chocolate icing, which is my 'go-to' chocolate icing (family secret recipe, of course).   With the super moist cake layers, light chocolate mousse and thick fudgy buttery icing, this cake would satisfy the biggest chocoholic! 

I wonder if this gentleman will change his outlook this year and start saying yes.... I'm thinking an "S" would be quite the challenge!

Have a wonderful long weekend and a Happy Easter,

April's SweetShop