This is a devil’s food cake soaked with Chambord raspberry liqueur, alternately layered with white chocolate, milk chocolate, dark chocolate mousse, and topped with a rich espresso Mascarpone frosting.
By Amrita Rawat
This cake is an exquisite and luscious multi-layered cake that is near and dear to my boyfriend’s heart, as well as mine. 
It is a simple devil’s food cake soaked (or sprinkled) with Chambord raspberry liqueur. It is then alternately layered with white chocolate, milk chocolate, and dark chocolate mousse, and topped with a rich espresso Mascarpone frosting.
The first time I made this cake it looked like a complete disaster (pics). My boyfriend’s twenty-fourth birthday was rapidly approaching and I had ambitiously chosen to attempt an awe-inspiring dessert with twenty-four layers. It was my second time making a layered cake. However, I was fueled by my love for my boyfriend and was determined to make a great cake for my very first taste-tester and biggest supporter.
Admittedly, my ambitions were a little larger than my skills would allow. Or, rather, that gravity would allow. By the time I had reached the seventeenth layer, the cake was 12 inches tall and was starting to look like the tower of Pisa, so I decided to stop there. Besides, I was running out of mousse!
Luckily, the boyfriend was more than impressed with the cake, which his family devoured with gusto. It took only two days for me to get his text: “The cake is dead. Long live the cake.” Apparently, his entire extended family had started and ended the last four meals with a slice of cake each.
Since then, this cake has become my boyfriend’s absolute favorite cake of all time, and my go-to recipe for special occasions. So naturally, when he completed his Step 1 (an eight hour exam taken after the second year of medical school), I turned to this cake as a congratulatory gift.
I tried a different method this time; instead of using a cake leveler and cutting layers after baking, I baked thin layers one at a time so that the slices were pre-baked. This yielded much neater results, with minimal lopsidedness.
For his birthday, I had used cappuccino mousse in addition to the other layers of mousse in the cake, and simply alternated all of them over and over. On this particular occasion, I forgot to make the cappuccino mousse so instead I put it in the outer frosting. The first two times, I made a simple chocolate buttercream frosting for the cake but the flavor did not fit well with the rest of the recipe. The mousses are far too rich for your standard frosting and the buttercream added a cloying sweetness.
Instead, I combined mascarpone cheese and chocolate with espresso powder to produce one of the fluffiest most delicious frostings I’ve ever tasted. It has a hint of coffee that serves to bring out the flavor of the chocolate.
Needless to say, my boyfriend ate a slice every day for a week (it would have been two weeks, but his friends found out about it) and with every bite would exclaim, “this is the best cake EVER!” so I consider my job well done.
This is a really tasty and impressive dessert for special occasions and it’s worth busting out the fancy chocolate and cocoa powder for it. The best thing about this recipe is that it is open to many variations in flavors and textures, with endless possibilities.
I have used Duncan Hines’ Devil’s Food cake mix before to rave results, as well as this homemade recipe adapted from Bouchon Bakery. However, the store-bought mix tends to stay moister than any homemade cake. The frosting is from here. The assembly takes a bit of effort but if you’re only making one layer of each mousse, it won’t take long at all.
PrintMy Special Occasion 8-Layer Cake
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Yield: 10-12 1x
Description
A Special occasion decadent 8-layer cake! Devil’s food cake, with alternating layers of white, dark, and milk chocolate mousse, all encompassed with mascarpone espresso frosting.
Ingredients
Devil’s Food Cake
- 202 grams all-purpose flour (1 cup + 7 tbs)
- 62 grams unsweetened cocoa powder (1/2 cup + 4 tbs)
- 5 grams baking soda (1 tsp)
- 1 gram baking powder (1/4 tsp)
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 2 large eggs
- 252 grams granulated sugar (1 cup + 4 tbs)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 172 grams mayonnaise (plain, full-fat) – 1/2 cup + 5 tbs
- 210 grams water, at room temperature (1/2 cup + 6 tbs)
Mousse
- 6 oz milk chocolate chips
- 6 oz dark chocolate chips
- 6 oz white chocolate chips
- 5 cups heavy whipping cream
- 2 tablespoons butter, room temp (optional)
Frosting
- 1/3 cup (33g) natural unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 TBS instant espresso powder
- 1 ½ cups (365g) chilled heavy whipping cream
- 1 1/3 cups (249g) sugar
- 2 8-ounce containers (227g) of chilled mascarpone
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F or 170 degrees C.
- Butter/grease or put down parchment paper on one square pan 8×8 inches.
- Whisk the eggs and sugar until well combined.
- Add in all the rest of the ingredients and gently whisk (or use a spatula) to stir it all together until combined.
- Pour the batter into the pan and bake for about 35-40 minutes or until you insert a toothpick or knife in the center and it comes out clean.
- OR
- Scoop a small amount of batter into the cake pan, making a simple thin layer. If you prefer, measure out the batter to ensure even layers…I used about 1 cup of batter for each layer (I had two slices left over that were too crumbly so I made cake balls out of them instead).
- Wrap a wet baking strip or wet towel around the pan to ensure easy removal.
- Bake for about 10-15 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
- Let cool before turning over onto parchment paper.
- Repeat until the batter is finished.
- Place the layers in the freezer with parchment paper between each until chilled.
For the Mousse
- Heat 2 cups of the cream and add 6 oz of milk chocolate chips to the saucepan.
- Stir on low heat until well incorporated with no bits of chocolate.
- Pour into a clean bowl, cover with wrap, and chill for at least 2 hours or overnight.
- Beat the chilled mix with an electric beater till it thickens to a mousse consistency.
- Do not over mix as it will curdle!
- Chill until ready to use.
- Repeat with 2 cups of the cream per 6 ounces of dark chocolate chips.
- For the white chocolate chips, use only 1 1/2 cups cream, and whisk in the butter at the room temperature if the mousse is not holding up well.
For the Frosting
- Add the espresso powder to the cocoa powder.
- Bring 1 cup of heavy whipping cream to a boil in a small saucepan.
- Slowly pour the cream over the cocoa mixture, whisking until the cocoa/espresso is completely dissolved.
- Add the sugar, and when dissolved, add in the remaining ½ cup heavy whipping cream.
- Chill in the fridge until cold, at least two hours or overnight.
- Use an electric beater to beat the mixture until it thickens.
- Add in all the mascarpone and beat on low until well-combined (mascarpone can curdle quickly so be gentle).
Assembly
- Spread Chambord or liqueur of your choice over a layer of cake before spreading on the mousse. I put in about a tablespoon on each slice.
- Spread the mousse evenly on top of the layer and top with another slice.
- Repeat until finished.
- Frost with the mascarpone espresso frosting.
Notes
I have used Duncan Hines’ Devil’s Food cake mix before to rave results, as well as a homemade Devil’s food recipe. The store-bought mix tends to stay moister than any homemade cake, but either will work great. The assembly takes a bit of effort but if you’re only making one layer of each mousse, it won’t take long at all.
Prep time does not include waiting for the chocolate/cream mixture to chill
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 30 mins
this is a royal cake, it looks so delicious
Love the evolution of this cake. Looks very delicious.
The cake looks fabulous!!! Perfect for any celebration :)
The cake looks and sounds delicious, but simply reading your well written article is a heavenly treat. Well done!
WOW, this looks incredible! I’ve never attempted to do a layered cake like this before (sponge with cream in the middle probably doesn’t count) but this is inspiring!
Amrita your cake sounds superb. It’s so funny I landed here as we are neighbors and have met on a couple of occasions.
I’ve been searching for a deep chocolate cake to add to another layer of cake that I’m creating for my daughters birthday. I’ve been having issues though since we are vacationing in the mountains with altitude baking. Sometimes you’re lucky while other times your not. It’s a skill I haven’t perfected since we don’t live here full time.
That said, I will definitely try this cake when I get back to sea level but the frosting may need to be tried prior to getting home.
Great post and beautiful writing.
This is a great recipe! We tried it and it tasted delicious! I used the cappuccino mousse as a filling and glazed the outside with dark chocolate instead. Everyone enjoyed the cake so much we’re gonna make it again for Christmas! Thanks Amrita!
This is the best,most moist chocolate cake Ive ever had!!!!!!!!!!! OMG!!!! WOW!!! thats all I can say!!!
I actually found this recipe hard to follow. You don’t state whether to use 2 cups of cream for each flavoured mousse or whether you divide the 2 cups over 3 the 3 flavours. Especially for someone who has never prepared mousse in this fashion and not knowing how much it will rise. I’ve actually got my mousses in the fridge now and I don’t think it will be enough for each layer. Also not being from a country that uses pounds and ounces I just read the 227g mascarpone measurement because you don’t clearly state it is 2x the ounce measurement so I don’t have enough mascarpone for my icing and I live 30 min from the nearest supplier. Also a few errors when you speak about the icing/frosting the measurements are all wrong.
Hi Flick,
I’ve referred to this recipe several times now and haven’t had any trouble. But I actually just rewrote the directions and adjusted some of the measurements to make it simpler and more straightforward. Unfortunately I cannot edit the recipe once it’s posted so I’ve sent an email with the changes to the editors and they’ll update it soon! I apologize for the mascarpone issue, since I tend to just go by the size of the containers and not the grams, I didn’t realize.
Check back soon and it will hopefully be updated by later today!
If it’s good enough for Prince, I will have to give this a try – sounds delicious!