Pear Chocolate Mousse Cake

Today Baecker Bauer had an irresistable cake, a Birnen Torte. It's a lovely layered creation, made primarily from chocolate mousse, pears, and sponge cake.

Here's how our neighborhood bakers put it together (looking from left to right in the picture):

1. There's a shortcrust on the bottom of the cake, basically to give the design some stability. Since most of the cake is made from mousse, and German sponge cake has very little flour, it can be a fragile construction.


2. Then comes a layer of sponge cake made with cocoa instead of flour. It's almost like eating air, it's so light and fluffy.


3. Pear slices are laid on top of the cocoa sponge. It's a good year for pears, every one is so juicy and delicious. Optionally they've sprinkled the cake with Williams Christ pear liquer.


4. A thick layer of mousse follows. This one has been made with Milka chocolate, whipped cream and egg whites, as opposed to a dark chocolate and only whipped cream.


5. On top of the first layer of mousse comes a white sponge, made with flour.


6. Another layer of mousse, then a slice of cocoa sponge, and topped off with a last generous layer of mousse.


7. Decorations are done with pieces of Milka, mousse rosettes and slices of pear.

This is a wonderful cake, with plenty of chocolate. A delightful treat for a fall day, even if I did crush the slice on my way home from the bakery. It was a bit difficult to prevent, balancing the cake on top of the nice rye sourdough we bought for the week's sandwiches.