How to Make Chocolate Mousse Dirt Cake

I'm going through my Instagram feed to see which recipes I can add here. I used to have lots of recipes with no photo, and now I have the opposite problem!

I got the idea a longgg time ago to do a bug theme for my son's birthday party in July. Maybe it was a pregnancy thing, but I was really craving "dirt cake." It's that dessert where you have chocolate pudding with the top disguised to look like garden dirt.

Chocolate Mousse Dirt Cake

Since my family has a favorite chocolate mousse recipe, I decided to use that for the base. No boxed pudding mixes for us, and a benefit of this dessert is that some mousse could be kept "plain" for people who avoid gluten.

Get the recipe:


Ingredients:
1 C Heavy cream
20 oz Chocolate chips
3 C Heavy cream
½ C Confectioners sugar
2 tsp Vanilla

Directions:
1. Heat 1 C heavy cream until simmering.
2. Remove from heat and add chocolate chips. Move into bowl.
3. In separate bowl whip together 3 C heavy cream, conf sugar, and vanilla.
4. Add 1/3 of whipped mixture to chocolate mixture, then fold in the rest and cool 4-6 hours.
5. Serve with whipped cream.

Sources: Mrs. Field’s “I love chocolate” cookbook, modified by my mom

The top is just crushed Oreo (meat mallet) and a mixture of gummy worms and plastic bugs. People could choose the plain mousse or the "dirty" version. Topped with whipped cream, as in the recipe! Unfortunately I don't have a photo of the plain mousse, but you can use your imagination. :) My mouth is watering now just thinking of it. I haven't made it while in Russia because I'm not sure the heavy cream would whip up the same. Sometime, maybe.

P.S. Of course, dairy plays in heavily here. I did attempt a coconut cream-mousse at one point. Really easy as you basically mix melted chocolate into coconut cream, which doesn't need to be beaten. Has a bit of an aftertaste from the canned coconut and whatever stabilizers are used. But good if you're on a strict diet and can't eat most desserts.