This is a print preview of "Brownie Blackout Mousse Cake" recipe.

Brownie Blackout Mousse Cake Recipe
by Julie Ruble

I wrote this post as part of the Plugrá Butter Brigade. Thanks, Plugrá, for sponsoring this chocolatey amazingness and for making my favorite butter!

Let’s talk COFFEE. I need advice.

To preface, I’m new at this whole coffee thing. I started drinking coffee in May because I was in Europe with a group of 9th graders and absolutely exhausted (I know, poor me! Gallivanting around Italy with all expenses paid! Tiny violin.) It also just seemed to be the European thing to do, right? To sip a cup of strong espresso alongside my breakfast of hard boiled eggs and cheese. And I’m nothing if not très European (just ask the waiter who tried his hardest not to laugh at my French-with-a-Southern-accent.)

Anyhow, I’m hooked now. But I’m also clueless.

When I got home, I started going to Starbucks like it was going out of style. At one point, I was buying a coffee every single day, which is the equivalent of kicking your wallet in the face repeatedly. Then I found a small local coffee shop whose coffee kicks Starbucks’ coffee in the face, but whose prices kicked my wallet in the groin area. My wallet is male, I guess. I went there a few times but couldn’t justify it regularly. Then I started just going without coffee a few days a week, which kicks me in the face.

So basically there’s a lot of kicking going on.

Recently I decided to try the Keurig at my work, so I bought one of those little eco-friendly K-Cup things. I put some Dunkin’ Donuts ground coffee in it, pushed the button, and hoped for the best. Annnd . . . it tasted like dishwater. I dressed it up with creamer to try and fix it, and then it tasted like French vanilla dishwater.

This morning my mother-in-law made me coffee in her Keurig-type-thing with a legit K-Cup and it was great! So was it the coffee I used? My school’s well water? The little eco-friendly holder? WHAT DID I DO WRONG, YOU GUYS? What do you use to make coffee at home? And where do you go to buy coffee when you want someone else to do the brewing?

And how do you dress up your coffee? Have you tried bulletproof coffee? Does it live up to the fuss?

Tell me all your coffee tips and tricks, wise readers!

And then let’s pour a cup, ’cause you’re gonna need one to go with this giant cake. If you remember, I hardly ever make chocolate desserts because they’re just not my favorite. But they are Mike’s favorite. So what I’m saying is that I’m a bad wife. And also that for Valentine’s Day, I decided to make him allllll the chocolate desserts rolled into one.

This cake is a chocolate lover’s DREAM and still manages to not be too sweet. It is incredibly rich, however — hence said cup of coffee. Or a tall glass of milk. And a nap afterward.

To make it the very best Valentine ever, I bought the best ingredients: the expensive chocolate, my favorite triple chocolate brownie mix, and the best Plugrá European butter to send it right over the top. It’s a brownie cake modeled on the famous Brooklyn Blackout Cake with chocolate pudding between each layer. Then I added a layer of French Silk mousse and topped the whole shebang with barely sweetened whipped cream. It’s easy to make (I promise!) and tastes best after sitting for a day in the fridge, so you can whip it up in advance. If you have a chocolate lover in your life, this recipe is your new best friend!

Five years ago: Clementine Burst Cupcakes