Chocolate Mousse Cake

For my husband's birthday I wanted to make something special for him, something I normally wouldn't make any other day.  I did some searching and ran across this recipe for Chocolate Mousse Cake which was perfect as I had just acquired a food ring mold and wanted to try it out.  Looking at the directions, it can be a bit daunting as there are many pieces to completing the final product but it is worth it!  The parts consist of: chocolate cake, chocolate mousse, creme anglais, raspberry sauce, and chocolate ganache.  I skipped the chocolate ganache as I felt there was a lot of chocolate involved in this dessert (crazy I know!) but I definitely recommend making the creme anglais and raspberry sauce as it  takes this cake over the edge.  It also sounds a lot more difficult than it really is.

A few notes about making this dessert from my experience:

1. When making the cake, be sure to shake the pan after pouring the batter in or use a spatula to spread it out to ensure your cake pieces are even/level.
2. You can make the cake ahead of time as the recipe states saving you time.
3. I recommend making the mousse the day of as it is easier to manipulate.
4. An easy way to melt the chocolate is to first break up the chocolate into smaller pieces and place it in a metal bowl.  Place the bowl over a saucepan with a small amount of water (ensuring the water level doesn't touch the metal bowl).  Heat the water and slowly stir the chocolate with a rubber spatula.  This is a slow process as you don't want to burn the chocolate.  Once it is almost melted, remove the bowl and continue to stir the chocolate until it is smooth and shiny.
5. When making the mousse and the chocolate has melted, allow it to cool to room temperature by letting it sit out.  Placing it in the fridge or exposing it to cooler temperatures too quickly will cause the chocolate to harden wrecking all your hard work.  
6. Don't be scared to make the creme anglais as it is just a fancy term for heating up whipping cream and adding in an egg yolk, sugar, and vanilla.  This is a delicious compliment to the cake.