A surprisingly light mousey chocolate bake made sophisticated with the Middle Eastern flavours of coffee and cardamom. This chocolate mousse cake is not only irresistible, but it’s also naturally gluten free.
Our local cafe, Olive & Co, does a mean coffee cardamom chocolate cake. It’s more of a torte really as it contains no flour. I’ve wanted to try making something similar for ages. And with the arrival of some new Divine chocolate baking bars, the time seems right to give it a go. I give you my coffee cardamom chocolate mousse cake.
Coffee Cardamom Chocolate Mousse Cake
I had a look on line for inspiration and came across an American version of Ottolenghi’s chocolate truffle cake with cardamom and espresso. All I needed to do was adapt it slightly and make it metric friendly. Consequently, I swapped some of the dark chocolate for milk and changed the method, which seemed overly faffy. Much as I love Ottolenghi, he does have a tendency to over complicate recipes I find.
In essence, all you really need to do is whip up eggs and sugar in one bowl, melt chocolate and butter in another one and combine the two. So simple.
The result was more of a mousse cake than the dense fudgy version at Olive & Co But it was still utterly delicious and most definitely decadent.
This coffee cardamom chocolate mousse cake contains a phenomenal amount of chocolate, eggs and butter. As a result it’s best saved for a special occasion. Serve it with cream or crème fraîche and it makes a fantastic dessert. It also makes a delicious afternoon tea treat. Eat a slice of this dark and delicious decadence and I guarantee that you’ll need to sit down afterwards.
The cake is great for those with allergies as it’s naturally gluten free and contains no nuts. Chocolate cake is a wonderful thing, but the Middle Eastern combination of coffee and cardamom gives this a more sophisticated and exotic quality. It’s fusion food from the crossroads between east and west.
Divine Baking Chocolate
Divine have just launched 200g chocolate bars to add to their ever growing ethical and Fairtrade collection. The adrinkas, which are such a distinctive part of their packing, are still very much in evidence.
The bars are specifically designed for baking. You can now find a 70% dark chocolate and a 38% milk chocolate. I was sent some to try, so I decided to make my coffee cardamom chocolate mousse cake with both.
Other Chocolate Cake Recipes Made With Real Chocolate You Might Like
- Chocolate spice cake
- Dense chocolate cake
- Four bar chocolate fudge cake
- Hazelnut & orange torte
- Nigella’s chocolate pistachio cake
- Willie’s cloud forest chocolate cake
Keep in Touch
Thanks for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make this coffee cardamom chocolate mousse cake, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. And do please rate the recipe. Have you any top tips? Do share photos on social media too and use the hashtag #tinandthyme, so I can spot them.
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If you’d like more Middle Eastern inspired recipes, follow the link and you’ll find I have quite a lot of them. All delicious, of course.
Choclette x
Coffee Cardamom Chocolate Mousse Cake. PIN IT.
Chocolate Mousse Cake – The Recipe
Coffee Cardamom Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
- 250 g unsalted butter (8oz)
- 60 ml hot water
- 3 tsp instant coffee
- 200 g dark chocolate (7oz) I used Divine's 70% baking chocolate
- 175 g milk chocolate (6oz) I used Divine's 38% baking chocolate
- 6 cardamom pods seed extracted and ground (I used 6 drops Holy Lama spice oil_
- 5 eggs I used duck eggs
- 300 g dark brown sugar (10oz)
- ½ tsp fine sea or rock salt
- 1 tsp cocoa powder
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a medium sized pan over a low heat.250 g unsalted butter
- Dissolve the coffee in the water and add to the butter.60 ml hot water, 3 tsp instant coffee
- Break up the chocolate add to the pan and turn off the heat. Allow to melt then stir until smooth.200 g dark chocolate, 175 g milk chocolate
- Add the cardamom ground cardamom or oil and stir again.6 cardamom pods
- Beat the sugar, eggs and salt together with electric beaters on medium speed for six to ten minutes or until the mixture has tripled in volume and is thick and mousse like.5 eggs, 300 g dark brown sugar, ½ tsp fine sea or rock salt
- Pour the chocolate mixture down one side of the bowl and fold in as gently as possible until just incorporated.
- Pour into a deep 23cm round silicone mould or lined cake tin.
- Bake at 160℃ (320℉, Gas 3) for about an hour or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out almost clean.
- Allow to cool, then turn the cake out onto a serving plate and dust with the cocoa powder.1 tsp cocoa powder
Notes
Nutrition Estimate
This coffee cardamom chocolate mousse cake is my entry for We Should Cocoa, the monthly chocolate challenge that’s just finishing it’s sixth year. It’s anything goes for August, so an easy month to enter.
Thanks to Divine for sending me some of their fabulous chocolate to try. I was not required to write a positive review and my opinions, as always, are my own.
Dom says
just catching up with some blogging and somehow I started here with this stunner of a cake. This is so beautiful… and so lovely for you to be surrounded by so many wonderful places and food lovers!
Choclette says
Thanks Dom, you do say the nicest things. I have a megga amount of blogs to catch up on, what with being away for 10 days, trying to get everything sorted before we left and now trying to do 150 things now we’re back. I will be visiting soon 🙂
Farmermei says
I’m confused by the direction. You said to beat the sugar, eggs, and salt with electric beater until mixture has tripled in volume…is that including the ingredients in the pot with the chocolate, butter, and cardamon or alone? If so, are we suppose to fold in the chocolate and butter mixture into the sugar/eggs mixture?
Choclette says
Thanks so much for piointing this out and I’m sorry to have caused confusion. I’ve corrected it now. Triple the volume of the egg mixture, then fold in the chocolate mixture.
Jacqueline Meldrum says
That looks glorious. Coffee always brings out the flavour of chocolate and I love the addition of cardamom.
Choclette says
Thanks Jac. Very true. I never used to like coffee cakes, but it works brilliantly with chocolate.
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine says
These flavors just sound divine together! So beautiful and lovely!
Choclette says
The flavours of coffee, cardamom and chocolate are definitely up there as one of the best combinations 🙂
Andrea @ The Petite Cook says
What a gorgeous looking cake! I love that is conveniently gluten-free and packed with real high quality chocolate. I gotta make this sounds, the flavor I’m sure is just amazing!
Choclette says
Thanks Andrea, the flavours really are amazing. Good quality chocolate is definitely needed.
Kate - gluten free alchemist says
THIS is my sort of cake…… It sounds utterly lovely! So rich. So chocolatey. I need this in my life! x
Choclette says
AND it’s gluten free Kate – win, win, win 😀
Helen @ Fuss Free Flavours says
What an amazing sounding cake – I love all the flavours in it and the added interest from the cardamom. Please can you come and deliver me a slice.
Choclette says
Hahaha, when you were down in Cornwall Helen, I might have been able to 😉
Becca @ Amuse Your Bouche says
Oh my gosh this sounds divine – no pun intended 😉 I’m not always the biggest fan of cake, but this kind of mousse cake looks like much my sort of thing!
Choclette says
Yes, it’s more dessert than cake Becca. I think you would approve 🙂
Angie@Angie's Recipes says
I love the aroma of cardamom and I think it pairs really great with chocolate…this cake must be amazing!
Choclette says
The ingredients don’t bear close scrutiny Angie, but it’s jolly delicious and a great cake for a gathering.