recipe riffin': rocky road mousse cake
picnic pantry clear out edition
hey hey hi and hello!
Welcome back to bake chats and this lil series we call recipe riffin’. Where I’m here to remind you that you have free will and can use it in the kitchen. I’m low key turning this series into my own version of Chopped, because I’ve got a pantry over flowing with so many random, end of the package ingredients. Things I bought for recipes I never actually got around to making, PR ingredients from brands that never made it into daily rotation, left over ingredients from cookbook testing, yada yada, yada. What I’m trying to say is, theres a lot in my pantry right now. So, in regards to this series at least, I’ll only be using ingredients I have on hand before I go out and buy more. Which I feel like this added caveat makes these examples much more real life riffy and applicable. Ya know, because sometimes a random sweet treat craving hits and ya gotta make what ya can with what ya got.
Recipe riffin’ and getting creative in the kitchen can be as low key or intense as you want or need it to be. Sure, you can swap the oil for butter in a cake and the buttermilk for ricotta. But, if you don’t feel comfortable enough in your journey, a riff can be as simple as folding chopped nuts into a chocolate mousse for a new experience.
Let’s head over the the leftover lab.
*This post has a few affiliate links, which if you click and purchase from I receive compensation at no additional cost to you.*
I went to a vinyl listening picnic this week at Kate Session called Winyl Club, if you’re in San Diego I highly recommend checking it out. And, if ya see me at one come say hi and I’ll probably have a slice of cake with your name on it :) Because y’all know, I do not pull up to a picnic empty handed. 2 desserts MINIMUM.
Like I mentioned earlier, I’m putting a focus on using up whatever pantry items I already have on hand for this series. Partly because I’m moving in a couple of weeks and even though I know in two weeks I can’t make a big enough dent in any of it- I’d like to be able to say I tried. But, also having a little parameter in place I think helps you to exercise your creative muscle even further. The less freedom/”harder” time you have in practice sets you up to be more creative out on the field. I played soccer for 12 years growing up, and during practices we’d run miles on the beach in the sand, or scrimmage in weighted vests and with ankle weights. So, that way when it was game time, and we shed everything that caused us friction during practice, we were able to move with more agility and finesse on the field. This is like that. I think.
Honestly, I might make recipe riffin’ more interactive and pull all the ingredients I have on hand a run a poll to see what things you want to see highlighted and what I can think to do with them. Something like that. LMK what you think :)
This week I took to the chat to see which option floating in my head sounded best to you guys:
I was getting a 60/40 vibe in the replies banana pudding to rocky road. But, I had used the marshmallows for a marshmallow rice pudding mousse a couple days prior and didn’t want them to go stale, so I did override the votes out of necessity.
To make the rocky road mousse, I made a milk chocolate mousse and folded in chopped roasted walnuts and mini marshmallows. It’s really that easy.
I say it time and time again- you don’t need the recipe for everything you see on the internet. I think a lot about the discourse around food creators charing for their recipes and boy did the “recipe????” warriors create the market. These are the same people who complain that “simple” recipes are now being gatekept behind paywalls. (I have a lot of thoughts here…) I paywall my recipes and some of my riffs, but I also tell you exactly what I do to my base recipes (the freebies) to achieve these new flavor profiles. Right, it’s my chiffon cake recipe but I sub the canola oil for bergamot olive oil. It’s my chocolate chip recipe but I add walnuts in with the chocolate. It’s a chocolate mousse recipe I just fold in nuts and marshmallows. I frame things in this way for two reasons— to inspire you on ways to make your own riffs with new to you ingredients. But, also because you don’t need MY recipe to apply these changes to. I’ll sometimes say I’m the worst recipe developer on the internet because I don’t want you to make my recipes- I want you to use them for your own creativity. Sure, using my recipes is great, I work really hard on them to know they’ll work for you. But, you can apply most of the changes I call out to your own favorite recipes. Oh you have a chiffon cake recipe you love? Well, swapping the canola for bergamot oil still works there- it’s not specific to my recipe. You make Italian meringue buttercream instead of Swiss? Well, my technique for torching the meringue still applies here when making a torched buttercream. Remember, to have fun and be creative when you bake, you need to understand ingredient function + technique and have solid base recipes to go off of. Basically, if you listen to what your favorite food creators are saying in their videos or the intros to their recipes- you can learn a lot from just that. I think a lot of us have lost the ability to learn passively through things that are said in passing (another topic I have a ton of thoughts and feelings about).
Tangent aside, this cake is made from my Marcus chocolate cake aka my go to chocolate cake recipe. But, I bake it in a 9x13” cake pan instead of 3- 8” round pans for closer to 25-30 minutes. Since, the aim of this was to clear out some pantry ingredients, I subbed a small portion of the flour out for rouge de bordeaux flour and added some Everything Brownie seasoning from Burlap and Barrel to give a slight malted flavor to the cake. Instead of the chocolate yogurt mousse I choose to make a milk chocolate mousse with Valrhona’s Jivara which has some malty vanilla notes to it- which pairs well with the malty notes from the Brownie blend. The mousse it lighter in flavor, not as decadent, so it really cuts through some of the richness from the cake for a nice balance. Because this was a pantry clear out, I used almonds. But, you can do what ever your preferred rocky road nut it- almonds, walnuts, a blend of both. They add a nice textural crunch to what would otherwise be a very smooth, melt in your mouth cake.
The mousse was developed with Jivara in mind- other milk chocolates may not achieve the same structure as Jivara and you may need to use up to 15% more chocolate in the recipe to achieve the same setting power. A little more on mousse here ↓
You can use code “IBAKEMISTAKES” to save 20% site wide on Valrhona US- that includes Jivara 40% feves and bars :)
ROCKY ROAD SHEET CAKE
TOOLS:
Mixing bowls
Whisk
Rubber spatula
Non-stick baking spray
Fine mesh sieve
Small offset spatula
INGREDIENTS:
FOR THE CAKE:
75 grams dutch processed cocoa powder, I prefer Valrhona for this recipe btw
200 grams HOT coffee (can be subbed for 200 grams of hot water + 1 Tablespoon of espresso powder)
230 grams granulated sugar
115 grams dark brown sugar
100 grams eggs (approx 2 large eggs)- room temp
2 tablespoons of vanilla extract
200 grams buttermilk
100 grams good olive oil
100 grams all purpose flour
85 grams rouge de bordeaux flour
2 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons diamond crystal kosher salt, use half the amount if using Morton’s!!
2 teaspoons Everything Brownie blend *optional*
FOR THE ROCKY ROAD MOUSSE
175 grams whole milk
40 grams egg yolks (approx 2 large yolks)
20 grams granulated sugar
350 grams Jirava 40% feves
335 grams heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon diamond crystal kosher salt
125 grams almonds, chopped and toasted
80 grams mini marshmallows
DIRECTIONS:
FOR THE CAKE:
Preheat the oven to 335F.
Add the 75 grams cocoa powder to a medium bowl. Pour the 200 grams hot coffee over the cocoa, whisking to combine. This blooms the cocoa and will give a more pronounced chocolate flavor.
To the cocoa coffee mixture add the 115 grams dark brown sugar and 230 grams granulated sugar whisking to combine.
Add the 2 eggs, 2 tablespoons vanilla extract, 200 grams buttermilk and 100 grams olive oil whisking until everything is homogenous with the cocoa powder sugar mixture.
In a separate bowl combine the 100 grams all purpose flour, 85 grams rouge de bordeaux, 2 1/4 teaspoons baking soda, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 1/2 teaspoons diamond crystal kosher salt and 2 teaspoons Everything Brownie blend. Sift the dries into the wets. Whisk until a batter is formed and no dry streaks of flour remain.
Grease a 9x13x2” baking pan with non stick spray. Pour the batter into the greased pan.
Bake for 25-30 minutes. The cake will be just set in the center and should spring back when tapped in the center gently. If you’re a real cake nerd- you’ll temp it… a perfectly baked cake should register 205F. Bake time WILL vary depending on your oven!
Allow to cool completely before topping with the rocky road mousse.
FOR THE MOUSSE:
175 grams whole milk
40 grams egg yolks (approx 2 large yolks)
20 grams granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon diamond crystal kosher salt
350 grams Jirava 40% feves
335 grams heavy cream
125 grams almonds, chopped and toasted
80 grams mini marshmallows
To a small saucepan add the 175 grams whole milk, 40 grams egg yolks, 20 grams granulates sugar and 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt whisking until combined.
Place the 350 grams of Jivara feves in a medium bowl and set aside.
Place the saucepan over medium heat and continue to stir with a rubber spatula.
Cook until the mixture reaches nappe, and is thick enough to coat the back of the spatula. The temp should be 185F.
Once thickened, strain the custard through a fine mesh sieve over the chocolate. Make sure the chocolate is fully submerged under the custard. Let this sit for about 5 minutes before mixing to give the chocolate a chance to fully melt.
While you wait for the anglaise to heat up the chocolate, make your whipped cream.
In a medium bowl whip the 335 grams heavy cream to medium peaks using a hand mixer.
Once the whipped cream is at medium peaks set the bowl aside. Mix together the now warmed chocolate with the custard until the mixture is smooth.
Fold the whipped cream into the chocolate mixture 1/3 at a time. Folding the first two additions just until combined before adding more cream.
After the 3rd addition of whipped cream, while a few white streaks of heavy cream remain, add in the 125 grams chopped & toasted almonds and the 80 grams mini marshmallows. Fold until the mix-ins are evenly studded throughout the mousse.
Pour the mousse over the layer of cake, use a small off set spatula to even the mousse over the cake.
Cover with plastic wrap and store in the fridge for at least 2 hours for the mousse to set.
Bring the cake out to come to room temp for 15-30 minutes before slicing and serving!
ENJOY!!
Till next time bake chat baddies :)
