Black Velvet Chocolate Mousse Cake

It was one of my friends' birthday last weekend and I was asked to make the cake. I thought the birthday is this week, but when I found out that the birthday was actually last Sunday, I began to panic! It was Friday night already when I realized this. Luckily, I still had the whole Saturday (so I thought) and Sunday afternoon (the celebration was on Sunday night). But what do I know, Saturday turned out to be a very busy day for me. I didn't get home until midnight or so. I was super tired that I just fell asleep.

The birthday boy is a chocolate fan and the gf asked for something with chocolate cake of course. I decided to make this cake, which I had been wanting to experiment for some time. Yes, I want to experiment with chocolate occasionally, even though I rarely eat chocolate cake.
Remember the black raspberry I found at Trader Joe's that I fell in love with immediately about a month ago or so? When I smell and tasted the fruit for the first time, one of the things that came up in mind was to pair it with chocolate. And this is the perfect opportunity to make that happen, considering that I don't make a lot of chocolate cakes usually.

This cake has two layers of moist chocolate sponge, brushed with Chambord (black raspberry liqueur) syrup, brandied dark chocolate mousse and black raspberry jelly in between the thin layer of mousse for the bottom filling, and another thin layer of black raspberry jelly on top of the second layer of cake as well before adding the final layer of brandied chocolate mousse. Sprinkled with cocoa powder, put the chocolate fence around, tied with ribbon, and we're good to go. The jelly also has Chambord in it to enhance the flavor.

I was so happy when the birthday boy said that he liked it so much. He said that it wasn't like any other chocolate cakes, which usually heavy and you know how sometimes chocolate cake can be so rich that you can only have a little of it. But this one is really light that you can finish a big slice. Also, it has than fruit layer in the middle to cut the richness of the chocolate that can be overwhelming. I personally really like this combination. For next time, I will need to put more gelatin in the jelly as it was softer than what I would have liked, and maybe make it a little thicker layer so that the flavor won't get lost in the middle of the chocolate. But, for a first try, definitely satisfying! Can't wait to try another flavor combination with this black raspberry wonder :)