Peppermint Mousse Cake

I hosted a Christmas party this weekend and served this delicious Peppermint Swirl Mousse Cake for dessert.

My family loved it! It's not easy to please my entire family when it comes to holiday desserts. But everyone raved about this starlight mint cake. It was the perfect ending to our holiday meal.

The cake has the most incredible fudgy brownie layer topped with a lusciously creamy white chocolate peppermint mousse. I decorated it with crushed candy canes to look like a starlight mint. It looked so pretty sitting on my table.

Here's my family enjoying their sweet holiday dessert.

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as my family did.

Ingredients

Brownie layer -

semi-sweet chocolate - Use your favorite chocolate bars or chocolate chips.
butter - You can use salted or unsalted butter. Each works fine.
sugar - Use granulated sugar to add sweetness to the recipe.
eggs - It is best to use room-temperature eggs. I set the eggs in their shell in a bowl of hot tap water for five minutes to warm them.
flour - Use all-purpose flour.

White Chocolate Peppermint Mousse layer -

powdered gelatin
cold water
heavy whipping cream, divided
Nestle's Premier White Morsels
confectioners (powdered) sugar
peppermint extract

Decoration - 
candy canes
optional, red gel or paste food coloring

Supplies

10 inch springform pan
optional, clear acetate cake strip

Bake the brownie layer.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. 

Spray the springform pan with non-stick baking spray. 

Place the semi-sweet chocolate morsels and butter into a microwave-safe bowl. Heat on high power for 20-30 second increments, stirring after each, until melted.

Stir in sugar, eggs, and flour. Pour into the springform pan. Bake for 26-30 minutes.

Cool completely.

Make peppermint mousse.

White Chocolate Peppermint Mousse Layer -Sprinkle powdered gelatin over water and set aside to bloom for five minutes. Heat ⅔ cup of the heavy whipping cream just until it boils and stir in the gelatin until melted. Pour over white morsels. Let sit a minute, then stir until melted. If by chance all of the white chocolate does not melt, you can heat it for 10 seconds in the microwave.

Combine the remaining 1 ⅓ cups heavy whipping cream, confectioners sugar, and peppermint extract. Whisk to stiff peaks. Stir ⅓ of the whipped cream into the white chocolate then fold in the rest. The mousse will be light and fluffy.

Crush candy canes into crumbs.

Pour the mousse over the brownie layer and spread it in an even layer then refrigerate it for at least 4 hours.

Note: I lined the pan with a clear acetate cake strip just to be sure that when I un-molded the cake it came out nice and clean. If you don't use one, you might want to freeze the cake for about 30 minutes, just to ensure your mousse easily pulls away from the side of the pan.

Crush the candy canes.

Meanwhile, crush your candy canes into a fine powder. If you want, you can add some red food coloring to make the candy more vibrantly red.

Sprinkle crushed candy canes over the cheesecakes.

Use a toothpick to draw out the starlight mint pattern on top of the peppermint mousse cake then sprinkle the crushed candy cane over top to create a red and white swirl pattern. I even marked which swirls would be filled with red candy.

I found it easiest to create a guide out of non-stick tin foil. I folded it over into a 3-inch wide strip then shaped it like one individual swirl shape, set it on top of the mousse, and sprinkled on the crushed peppermint candy. It worked great.

Make ahead.

I refrigerated my cake overnight before taking the final pictures and as you can see the peppermint candy started to melt a bit. It was actually a very cool-looking effect and when we ate the cake the mints were only slightly crunchy which was nice.

If you want a more crisp-looking starlight mint on top, add your candies no more than an hour before serving. If you like the brighter red melting candy look, then decorate the cake earlier.

Related Recipes

Starlight Mint Hot Chocolate Bombs

Candy Cane Cups

Peppermint Fudge Swirls

Be sure to check out all my fun Christmas Recipes.