You are going to flip over this new peanut butter mousse cake! It is so creamy and light with a layer of chocolate mouse too!
Globs of edible peanut butter cookie dough and ganache rosettes swirled high!
Notes for Success
As usual we are Building On Recipes which is not a surprise when it comes to cakes like this one. Which simply means we have to prepare several recipes ahead of time before we get to the final cake
But trust me it is worth the effort!
For the base I made my favorite brownie recipe so you will want to get that prepared ahead of time. Baked into a 5″ cake pan because this entire dessert today is only a 5″ cake!
You can even bake the brownie days ahead and just keep it wrapped well in the refrigerator until you are ready to build the peanut butter mousse cake.
Decide ahead of time which vegan whipped cream you are using and I have an in depth article with video explaining all about the vegan whipped cream with a homemade recipe too
In the video I used coconut milk fat from cans of refrigerated coconut milk so you will want to be sure to get your cans of coconut milk to the refrigerator to solidify the night before you start.
But this recipe can accommodate any whipped cream you prefer
Aquafaba is a replacement for the original meringue from egg whites that is used in traditional non vegan mousse recipes
It is the water from a can of chickpeas that when whipped, will transform into the most beautiful glossy thick meringue you have ever seen!
Safety around Raw Dough!
Raw cookie dough garnish is completely optional but I think it really ties the whole look together!
Besides who doesn’t love to eat raw cookie dough!? Just be sure to toast your flour for the recipe first so make it safe to eat raw!
There is an advisory to eating raw cookie dough though. Since there has been some trouble with raw flour and salmonella and EColi associated with eating raw flour, it is recommended to toast the flour sufficiently first before using it for raw dough recipes
CHECK OUT THE FULL YOUTUBE VIDEO TUTORIAL FOR HOW TO MAKE THIS AWESOME CAKE!
For more recipes with peanut butter click the links below!
Death by Peanut Butter Fudge Brownie Cheesecake
Peanut Butter Fudge Stuffed Cupcakes
Peanut Butter Mousse Cake
Ingredients
- ½ Recipe Fudge Brownie
- For the Peanut Butter Mousse
- Creamy Peanut Butter ¾ cup (195g)
- Plant Milk 2 tablespoons (30ml)
- Vanilla Extract 1 teaspoon (5ml)
- Aquafaba ¼ cup (60ml)
- 1½ cups whipped cream
- Granulated Sugar 2 tablespoons (28g)
- Cream of Tartar ¼ teaspoon
- For the Chocolate Mousse:
- Semi Sweet Vegan Chocolate 1 scant cup (113g)
- Brewed Coffee 2 Tablespoons (28g)
- Vanilla Extract 1 teaspoon (5ml)
- Aquafaba ¼ cup (60ml)
- Granulated Sugar 2 tablespoons (28g)
- Cream of Tartar ¼ teaspoon
- 1½ cups whipped cream
- 1 Recipe Ganache
- ½ Recipe Peanut Butter Cookie Dough
Instructions
- Prepare the brownie recipe as per the instructions on that recipe post and bake it into the same size pan as you will be building your final mousse cake, I have used a 5" ring mold for mine, so I baked the brownie in a 5" cake pan
- Prepare the peanut butter mousse by slightly melting the peanut butter in the microwave or a small sauce pot just to make is easier to mix, then add the plant milk and vanilla extract, whisk smooth
- Whip the aquafaba with the cream of tartar on high speed and gradually add the sugar 1 tablespoon at a time~ Whip to stiff peaks.
- Whip the vegan whipped cream to soft peaks (you will need 1½cups total volume of whipped cream) then fold into the peanut butter base.
- Fold in the aquafaba last and then pour into the ring mold fitted with the brownie base.
- Freeze while you prepare the chocolate mousse.
- Melt the chocolate and then add the brewed coffee and vanilla extract. Whisk smooth
- Whip the aquafaba with the cream of tartar on high speed and gradually add the sugar 1 tablespoon at a time~ Whip to stiff peaks.
- Whip the vegan whipped cream to soft peaks (you will need 1½cups total volume of whipped cream) then fold into the chocolate mousse base.
- Pour over the peanut butter mousse layer and then freeze for at least 4 hours or until it is set and firm and then refrigerate it until serving time (up to 1 week refrigerated)
- While the mousse cake is setting prepare the cookie dough recipe as per the instructions on that page just be sure to toast the flour on a sheet pan at 350°F for 10 minutes to kill any bacteria that could be present since you are not going to be baking the dough into cookies.
- Also, you will see that the cookie recipe I am using listed fudge filling, but you will only prepare the dough part, not the fudge filling part. Scoop the cookie dough into balls for the garnish for the top of the cake as shown in the picture. Any remaining cookie dough can be frozen or baked into cookies
- For the drip, prepare the ganache by warming the chocolate with the plant milk together in a small sauce pot over low heat stirring constantly until smooth.
- Pour the ganache over the top of the frozen mousse cake, then refrigerate until serving.
- The remaining ganache will set to a pipeable consistency for the rosette decor
- *Optional garnishes as shown in the video
Notes
Mousse cake must be kept refrigerated at all times.
Will stay fresh refrigerated for up to 1 week.
Freeze for longer storage, wrapped well for up to 1 month
Again Gretchen you have made a masterpiece. I will need to get 5 friends over or I’ll eat the whole.thing thing myself. I noticed that this time you didn’t reduce and chill overnight the aquafaba. Obviously it works without that step.
LOL! You may regret those 5 friends! (Or just make 2 and hide 1!) Correct no need to reduce the AF
This looks fabulous! Is there a way another alternative to a ring mold, which I don’t have? Would a spring mold work?
Yes! this is the BEST way to use a springform pan! (no bottom!)
I made it and it was delicious! Everyone loved it, espcieally the peanut butter mousse. I will cut down on the milk because my ganache came out too runny. Definitely a hit! Thanks for the recipe!
And the springform worked like a dream!
This looks amazing! Does it scale well? I’d like to make a larger version for a party – maybe 8 or 9″ ?
thanks! Yes sure double for 8″ cake
and to a 6 pan thats the only one i have ?🙈
that’s totally fine
Thank you!
Hi Gretchen, all your. Recipes are awesome. In this mousse recipe. Can I replace coconut fat with normal heavy cream. If so how much heavy cream I need to use.
yes same quantities as listed for the regular heavy cream
Hi Gretchen, substituting heavy cream with coconut milk. coconut milk in 15oz can. Out of that we are not using the sedimented water in that after refrigeration. 15oz comes to 444ml. If I use 444 ml of heavy cream. Won’t it be more of heavy cream. Kindly clarify how much of heavy cream to use.
Hi Gretchen, I would like to make white chocolate Mousse. Can just replace the quantity of semi sweet chocolate with white chocolate. Or how much quantity of white chocolate I need to use. Can quantity of other ingredients be same. Please suggest
CLICK HERE FOR A RECIPE TO FOLLOW and then yes to white chocolate in place
Hi Gretchen, I have small doubt. You have not used agar here in this recipe. Is it not necessary to use gelatin or agar agar for mousse. Or is it not needed. Please clarify.
Also I have some queries outside of the above recipe. Queries about agar agar that is used in “agar agar mentioned recipes”. I get only agar agar bar here in my country. Also it is not standard size bar. Here it is measured in grams. I get 2 to 3 bars together 10g. I tried to powder it in coffee blender as you said. But it s not getting powdered to fine powder. It is becoming smaller flakes. I saw photo of agar flakes. The flakes that I made are smaller than the agar flakes that is available in amazon.com. Also the flake are yellowish in US market, but the the one I made is whitesh transparent. So I don’t know how to measure. Will the agar agar powder available in US market be very fine powder ? The agar bar I get here is whitesh transparent one. Can I use this whitesh agar flakes in recipe. Please clarify.
Is it possible for you to tell in the amount of agar agar used in recipe in grams. How many grams does 1 teaspoon of agar will be ? Please clarify.
Hi Gretchen, I have small doubt. You have not used agar here in this recipe. Is it not necessary to use gelatin or agar agar for mousse. Or is it not needed. Please clarify.
Also I have some queries outside of the above recipe. Queries about agar agar that is used in “agar agar mentioned recipes”. I get only agar agar bar here in my country. Also it is not standard size bar. Here it is measured in grams. I get 2 to 3 bars together 10g. I tried to powder it in coffee blender as you said. But it s not getting powdered to fine powder. It is becoming smaller flakes. I saw photo of agar flakes. The flakes that I made are smaller than the agar flakes that is available in amazon.com. Also the flake are yellowish in US market, but the the one I made is whitesh transparent. So I don’t know how to measure. Will the agar agar powder available in US market be very fine powder ? The agar bar I get here is whitesh transparent one. Can I use this whitesh agar flakes in recipe. Please clarify.
Is it possible for you to tell in the amount of agar agar used in recipe in grams. How many grams does 1 teaspoon of agar will be ? Please clarify.
Looks fabulous! Can you just confirm that it is not served frozen? Cheers.
thanks! Correct not served frozen
Hi Gretchen, substituting heavy cream with coconut milk. coconut milk in 15oz can. Out of that we are not using the sedimented water in that after refrigeration. 15oz comes to 444ml. If I use 444 ml of heavy cream. Won’t it be more of heavy cream. Kindly clarify how much of heavy cream to use.
Thats correct so it would be about 1 cup of whipped cream after it has been whipped – which is approx 1/2 cup liquid cream
Thanks for your reply
Hi Gretchen, I have small doubt. You have not used agar here in this recipe. Is it not necessary to use gelatin or agar agar for mousse. Or is it not needed. Please clarify.
Also I have some queries outside of the above recipe. Queries about agar agar that is used in “agar agar mentioned recipes”. I get only agar agar bar here in my country. Also it is not standard size bar. Here it is measured in grams. I get 2 to 3 bars together 10g. I tried to powder it in coffee blender as you said. But it s not getting powdered to fine powder. It is becoming smaller flakes. I saw photo of agar flakes. The flakes that I made are smaller than the agar flakes that is available in amazon.com. Also the flake are yellowish color in US market, but the the one I made is whitesh transparent. So I don’t know how to measure. Will the agar agar powder available in US market be very fine powder ? The agar bar I get here is whitesh transparent one. Can I use this whitesh agar flakes in recipe. Please clarify.
Is it possible for you to tell in the amount of agar agar used in recipe in grams. How many grams does 1 teaspoon of agar will be ? Please clarify.
I need to make bigger cake?
Please tell me.
sure you can double or triple the ingredients to suit you
I just made this for Thanksgiving with an Oreo crust – I’ve made the PB a few times now but this was the first time with the double layer. It was devoured. I love this recipe. I drizzled chocolate and PB over it because I think it looks pretty but I just used your ganache recipe. FYI I subbed the coconut water wherever you called for nut milk, and it worked out just fine. Delicious! Love this!
awesome thankyou for the variation tip!
Hi 🙂 My mousse cake tasted perfectly, but unfortunately it didnt have such a great stability as yours.. any idea why? Its really like a mousse, almost impossible to cut it and not ruining the rest of the cake. My piece definietly doesn’t look like yours 😀
I didn’t have cream of tartar (its hard to get it in Poland), so i used a small amount of apple vinegar (as i always do in recipies with aquafaba). I also didnt use a milk alternative as my peanut butter seemed to be runny even without warming it up – so i didn’t do it either ;x I also skipped the brewed coffe as I cannot drink any coffee. Could any of that things can be a reason or is it sth else? Maybe you cut it just before freezing, like.. when it is a little bit freezed out? I freezed it for 3 hours and then the cake went to the fridge for a night. In the morning I took it from a fridge, tried to cut into pieces and it was messy.
If you have any idea what can i change next time (I’m not giving up! :D) – i would be very greatful.
Thank you in advance! 🙂
Hmm, seems that by leaving out some of the liquid (coffee) if would be more stiff rather than runny!. I do find the aquafaba to be tricky sometimes, if you do not get the right consistency it will break down and get runny over time (or not set at all) The cream of tartar has definitely proven to help, but I know not meny people can easily get that.
You mentioned your peanut butter was runny even before melting, but I am not sure that was the culprit since I actually melt mine to get it to that consistency.
CLICK HERE for more about AF Success in recipes
hello,
love your recipes.
can use pistachio butter instesd of peanut butter?
Thanks! Sure, I think it would work as long as it is the same (or at least similar consistency)
Hello, two questions please. For those with coconut allergies, do you think a vegan whipped cream substitute could work in place of the coconut? Also, when you say “freeze for longer storage” is there a special technique for wrapping/protecting it? I would like to experiment this weekend, when I have time, but not for immediate consumption. Thanks so much!!!
yes a vegan whipped cream substitute should work CLICK HERE FOR MORE
You can wrap it in plastic wrap to protect for longer storage
Hello Gretchen,
I only have a 6″ pan, would the cake times baking be the same? (actually it measures 5-1/2″ across the bottom).
Yes that would be totally fine! No changes necessary!
How long should the cake be moved from the freezer to the fridge before serving for desired consistency? Also, the recipe tells you to make the peanut butter cookie, but doesn’t tell you what to do with it. Can you elaborate?
Hey thanks for pointing out the confusion in my directions! I made a smaller 5″ cake so for me it took about 2 hours to come to serving temperature. For a larger cake (double recipe = 8″ cake) it would probably take about 3-4 hours.
I will update this post (*as this one one of my first vegan recipes way back in 2017! So I realize my instructions have gotten better since then)
RE: cookie dough ~ I used it as the edible decoration for this cake, as you can see from the picture (and the video show it as well)
Thank you so much for clearing that up! Looking forward to this cake, it looks so good!!
Great thankyou too!
After this one you can try THIS ONE HERE