Chocolate Raspberry Mousse Cake with Raspberry Whipped Cream

My co-worker's birthday was this week. Normally, I'm off the hook for office birthdays, because my supervisor took a year off and went to pastry school. SO she makes any and everything for us on our special days--no matter how random the request. We are actually graced with baked goods from her at least twice a week. It's so dangerous, but at least, they don't sit in my office for the taking.

The birthday girl loves chocolate and raspberry together. I am not the biggest fan of mixing chocolate and fruit--nope, not even chocolate-covered strawberries. I also don't like peanut butter and fruit together. Now put peanut butter and chocolate together, and I won't turn it down! I also needed to find a gluten-free recipe.

What has chocolate, raspberry, and no flour? A chocolate raspberry mousse cake, of course!

The most difficult part of this recipe was the raspberry puree. I started with frozen raspberries that I thawed. After blending them, I placed them in a strainer to drain...to no avail. I think I had a tablespoon of juice/puree. I wasn't feeling too patient that night, so I whipped out the cheese cloth and dumped the puree into that. I was able to squeeze over a cup of liquid out of the puree. The process resulted in me having raspberry juice drooling down my arms and splattered all over the place. It was worth it though, because I added some of the reserved puree to the whipped cream--so light, summery, and fruity! It was the perfect pairing to bring out the notes of raspberry in the cake.

For the chocolate-y, hint-of-raspberry mousse cake:
3/4 c sugar
3/4 cup brewed coffee
8 T butter
12 ounces semisweet chocolate (in the form of chips or chopped)
1/3 cup raspberry puree (I think I added a tad more, but not quite a half cup)
6 eggs, beaten

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a round cake pan and cut a piece of parchment to fit the bottom (lie the pan atop the parchment and trace the bottom with pencil, then cut just on the inside of that pencil). Spray the paper as well.

Add sugar to the coffee and bring to a boil. Make sure all of the sugar crystals dissolve. Add the butter and chocolate to the coffee and sugar mixture and let it stand for five minutes.

Be sure to stir out the lumps. Keep stirring, eventually any lumps will disappear. Add the puree. Now add eggs in several batches; mixing well before adding the next batch.

Hard to tell, but this is the pan with water...

Now, add the cake pan to a roasting pan and add water to the roasting pan until an inch of the cake pan is covered. The water bath helps the cake cook evenly. As you can see, the largest dish I had was a casserole dish. It, thankfully, did the trick. Bake for about 45 minutes until the center is set. Cool to room temperature, and store wrapped in the refrigerator.

When ready to eat, run a butter knife around the edges, top the pan with an inverted plate, and flip it. Fingers crossed, the cake will fall onto the plate. Remove the parchment. Slice. Top with whipped cream (recipe below) just before you serve it or dollop it alongside the slices...or both.

For the whipped cream:
1 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup powdered sugar
2 T raspberry puree
pinch of salt

Whip the cream until stiff peaks form. Add the powdered sugar, puree, and salt. Whip again. It looks like cotton candy...ahh, sweet heaven.