Chocolate Mousse Cake for a special man

OCT's birthday falls on October. Every year, as his special day approaches, I'd pile a few cookbooks on his lap and ask him to pick one as his birthday cake. Ever since I started baking, his request has always been mango cake. Yes, we both love mango, a lot. So I granted his wishes the past two years. We love mango so much that I even make a mango cheesecake for my birthday last year too.

This year however, I think it's time for a change.
"How about having something different for your birthday this year?"
"hmm...but I like mango cake."
"you know, mangoes are not in season now...I will need to use the frozen stuff and you know they are not as flavorful as the fresh ones."
"really? *sigh*....then I will have a chocolate cake"
"great choice, my Lord !"

Then it was up to me on which chocolate cake to make. In the end, I chose a chocolate mousse cake. The cake base was a coffee genoise I adapted from Roland Mesnier's book, and the chocolate mousse was the same one I used for my birthday cake. While the cake turned out disappointedly dry and flavorless, the low fat chocolate mousse was as delightful as I remembered.

I love how the low fat chocolate mousse tastes deceptively rich and sinful. Instead of using heavy whipping cream, eggwhites was used to make the safe meringue. It was then folded into the chocolate mixture to provide the cloud-like texture to the mousse.

I am not inclined to share the genoise recipe, based on the result I got. Instead, I would recommend anyone interested in making this cake to use this recipe. Of course making the lady fingers from this recipe would make the delicious chocolate mousse cake extra special too.

Not wanting to add unnecessary calories with buttercream decoration, I simply adore the cake with hazelnut brittle I have left from another cake.

Before OCT reached home from work, I took out some of his favorite toys to take a picture with the birthday cake. After that,I prepared a seafood noodle, along with 2 eggs for his dinner. The dinner he has requested, along with the chocolate cake. Noodle signifies longevity in Chinese. My mother in law used to cook noodle on OCT birthday every year before he came to the States, and that responsibility has passed down to me now. :)