Chocolate Peanut Butter Mousse Cake

This is a fancy French version of a peanut butter pie.

5 from 1 vote

Prep Time 1 30

Freeze Time 5

Course Dessert

Cuisine French

Servings people

3 1/2 tsp unflavored powdered gelatine
1/4 cup cold water
2/3 cup whole milk
5 egg yolks
1 cup creamy peanut butter do not use natural peanut butter as it will be too grainy
1/2 cup sugar
1 2/3 cup heavy whipping cream

Line a 6 1/2 or 7 inch cake ring with an acetate strip. Place it on a cake board, if you have one.
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat.
Put the rice krispies in a large bowl. Microwave the corn syrup for 30 seconds, then pour the melted corn syrup over the rice krispies. Sprinkle with sugar and mix with a spatula to coat evenly.
Transfer the rice krispies to the baking sheet and bake for 10 to 15 minutes until caramelized.
While you are baking rice krispies, melt the chocolate in a separate bowl in the microwave in 10 to 15 second increments. After caramelized, place the rice krispies in a large mixing bowl and pour the melted chocolate over. Fold until coated. Note: This make significantly more rice krispies than you need. Save some to decorate your cake!
Transfer about half the caramelized and chocolate coated rice krispies to the cake ring, pressing it into an even layer, about a quarter of an inch thick. Don’t overdo it here, or your cake will be very hard to cut. Put the disk in the fridge while you prepare the peanut butter mousse.

Start by combining the gelatine and cold water in a small bowl. Stir with a spoon until the gelatine is fully dissolved to avoid clumps.
Put milk in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Remove from heat.
Whisk together the egg yolks and sugar in a large bowl until combined. While whisking, slowly pour in a little bit of the hot milk. Whisk until combined.
Pour the eggs and milk back into the saucepan with the remaining milk, whisking as you go. Cook the custard over medium-low heat, gently stirring with a spatula until thick enough to coat the back of the spatula, about 10 minutes.
Remove from heat and while still warm, add the peanut butter and the gelatine. Stir until combined. Cool the peanut butter base to room temperature, about 30 minutes
.In a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip the cream on medium speed until it holds soft peaks, about 5 minutes. Slowly pour the peanut butter mixture into the whipped cream a little at a time, gently folding with a rubber spatula until just combined.
Pour the mousse into the ring and smooth the top with an offset spatula. Freeze until frozen solid, 3 hours to overnight.

Bring the cream and milk to a boil over medium heat in a small saucepan. Remove from heat.
Place the chocolate in a large bowl and pour the hot cream over the chocolate. Stir until the chocolate is fully melted.
Add in the butter and stir until combined.
Remove the cake from the freezer and take it out of the cake ring and remove the acetate strip.
Put the cake on a wire rack over a sheet pan. Pour the ganache over the top. You may want to do this twice to fully coat the cake.

Once the cake is coated to your satisfaction, use two large metal spatulas or silicone pancake turners to remove it, without messing up the smooth ganache coating, to your serving plate. Chill in refrigerator until ready to serve, at least 2 hours.
Crumble some of the leftover chocolate coated caramelized rice puffs, and spread them along one side of the top of the cake, along with a smattering of peanuts. If your ganache pools a bit at the bottom of the cake, you can decorate the bottom with leftover rice puffs and peanuts, too.

Keyword chocolate, mousse, peanut butter

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