I am so glad to be able to share this amazing dessert, Chocolate Pumpkin Mousse Cake, an elegant dessert with an irresistible flavor combination perfect for upcoming holidays. If you love pumpkin you should try this recipe, as it is one of the best pumpkin desserts ever. I love pumpkin, and I have used it in many recipes here on my blog and channel, but this dessert might be my new favorite of all pumpkin desserts.
This cake has a moist chocolate cake at the bottom, followed by a spiced and creamy pumpkin mousse, a chocolate mousse on top, finished with a shiny layer of dark chocolate ganache, decorated with beautiful physalis and cinnamon sticks to create a perfect fall dessert.
The recipe is quite easy and quick to prepare. You can easily make this a no-bake dessert if you substitute the chocolate cake at the bottom with an Oreo crust or your favorite cookie crust.
How to make chocolate pumpkin mousse cake
First, start by preparing the chocolate cake. Preheat your oven to 350°F (180°C) and grease and line an 8-inch (20cm) springform pan with parchment paper.
In a bowl, whisk together eggs and sugar until well combined. Then add oil and vanilla extract.
Sift in flour, salt, cocoa powder, and baking powder, and whisk until fully mixed. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
Bake for 10-12 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs attached. Let it cool completely.
How to prepare the pumpkin mousse
Soak gelatin powder in cold water for 5-10 minutes. In a large bowl, mix Mascarpone with pumpkin puree, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves.
Dissolve the soaked gelatin over low heat and pour it over the pumpkin mixture. In another bowl, whip chilled cream until stiff peaks form, then gently fold it into the pumpkin mixture.
Start assembling the cake by placing the cooled chocolate cake on a serving platter and surround it with a ring lined with an acetate sheet. Pour the pumpkin mousse over the cake and smooth the top. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes while you prepare the chocolate mousse.
How to make chocolate mousse
For the chocolate mousse, melt semisweet chocolate with 2/3 cup (160g) whipping cream in a heatproof bowl over simmering water. Dissolve gelatin in cold water, then dissolve it over low heat and mix it into the melted chocolate.
Whip the remaining 1 cup (240g) chilled whipping cream until soft peaks form. Add the melted chocolate mixture and mix until well combined. Pour the chocolate mousse over the pumpkin mousse and smooth the top.
Cover and refrigerate for at least 4-6 hours or overnight.
To prepare the chocolate ganache, melt chocolate and cream in a heatproof bowl over simmering water. Spread it evenly over the cake and refrigerate for another 30 minutes before serving.
Optionally, decorate with physalis, whipped ganache, and cinnamon sticks before serving.
Hope you will try it out and enjoy it! If you do, make sure to share the photos with me on Instagram. Would love to see how it turns out for you.
For more pumpkin treats check our full collection of Pumpkin Recipes.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE:
Semi-Naked Pumpkin Chocolate Cake
Pumpkin Mocha Cupcakes with Toasted Meringue
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bundt Cake
Marbled Chocolate Pumpkin Cheesecake
Did you make this recipe?
Please let me know how it turned out for you! Leave a comment below and tag @homecookingadventure on Instagram and hashtag it #homecookingadventure.
GORGEOUS ! magnifique gâteau ! bravo
This was a fun challenge for a Thanksgiving dessert. I wanted to make something with pumpkin, but avoid a basic pumpkin pie. This was incredible and a showstopper! The pumpkin mousse was my favorite part. This was the second recipe of yours that I’ve tried and each one is a fun, new adventure!
Your recipes and videos are so well explained. Thank you so much. I look forward to trying this mousse cake.
Thank you 🙂 Hope you will try this cake, it is delightful.
Amazing taste and mix of flavors! In this combination, pumpkin tastes as an exotic fruit! It is always with great excitement that I try one of your recipes! Keep up the good work! 🙂
So glad you enjoyed the cake 🙂 We love it too.
I didn’t have luck with this recipe and was disappointed with the outcome. The flavor of the pumpkin mousse was off and the whole thing was bland.
I wonder what happened. It is a very flavorful cake, not bland at all. It is important to use good quality chocolate and if possible fresh roasted pumpkin. I never use canned pumpkin. What kind of pumpkin did u use? Also, it is a must to use all the spices mentioned, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves, to bring that fall specific flavor. If you follow exactly each step the cake will turn awesome and bursting with flavor.
This was AMAZING. I can’t believe how much this recipe exceeded my expectations. This might be one of the best mousse desserts I have ever made, the texture was perfect. Better than cakes I’ve literally bought. The ingredients and multiple layers kind of intimidated me at first but it wasn’t too hard. I used cling wrap instead of acetate and it came out with wrinkly edges but was still pretty. Thank you for the recipe 🙂
So happy you tried this out Zola. Yes, it is an amazing flavorful cake. Glad you enjoyed it.
I am in the process of making this right now, and am at the point of making the chocolate mousse. Nowhere in the written instructions or on the video do you indicate that the melted chocolate has to cool at all, and while I did let mine cool a little bit before I added the gelatin and then added it to the whipped cream, it is still incredibly loose with the whipped cream. I am refrigerating it now to see if it will tighten up, but if it doesn’t, I’m going to have to start again. I’m wondering if the melted chocolate doesn’t need to come to room temperature or be completely cool before proceeding with the gelatin and the whipped cream. This really needs to be indicated somewhere in either the written instructions or the video, but it’s not.
Thank you so much for your feedback! 💛 You’re absolutely right, the melted chocolate should cool slightly before being combined with the gelatin and whipped cream. If it’s too warm, it can loosen the whipped cream and make the mousse runny. Letting it come to just above room temperature before folding it in usually works best. I really appreciate you pointing this out, I’ll make sure to clarify this step in the instructions!