Strawberry Mousse Cake

Your suggestions were spot on!  I find that most cakes I make improve when placed in the refrigerator or even freezer for hours and sometimes days.  I did not have time to do this so much with this cake because I did not take into account having to back twice as my oven won't bake four layers evenly, only two at a time.  I chilled  a square cake pan in the freezer until I mixed the strawberries with the cream.  Then a put the mousse in the cold pan and refrigerated it for a few hours.  I chilled the first two layers while the second two baked, then chilled the second two layers until the mousse set.  The cake was perfect!  When frosting gets curdled looking, just keep whipping it and it  will smooth out beautifully. 

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I am a southern woman, who loves to bake homemade, scratch cakes.  This is a wonderful and beautiful cake; but it does take time to make it come out right.  Bake the cake layers the day before you frost the cake.  Let cake layers cool completely outside the pan and then wrap well in Saran wrap and put in the refrigerator.  The next day make the gelatin filling, cover with Saran and let it cool in the refrigerator until it gets to the right consistency.  It will take longer than 30 minutes.  (Probably an hour or more )Give it a stir every now and then.  Then when the gelatin holds its shape really well, make the frosting.  Take the cake layers out of the fridge, put the cold gelatin between the cold layers and frost the cake. No slipping, sliding or mess. It is simply fabulous.  But remember a fabulous cake does take time.  

Now to serve it.....let it get to a room temperature.  If served too cold, it's not as good as when it sits out awhile to "marry," as we say in the Deep South.

Did you use the mascarpone in place of the whipping cream or in addition? I have made this cake before, but the mousse is a bit of a headache.

I have never heard of unflavored gelatin in a can, it always comes in envelope packets in a box at my stores. 1/2 cup is waaaaaaaay too much, maybe try 2 envelopes ne x time. I would like to make this, but from the reviews, I am afraid to do so.

I just put the mousse on the layers.! I had to fasten them down with toothpicks to keep them from sliding off. Hope the 3 hours in the fridge will help it to set. Crossing my fingers with the icing?? Any suggestions

A packet of gelatin is about .25 oz. or 2-2.5 tsp, depending on your measure.

The mousse was a little challenging, but otherwise a solid cake that we enjoyed.

I learned something new with this recipe. Fresh strawberries eliminates the need for food coloring. The mousse was disastrous. However, I am now on a mission to get it right. I think there was too much unflavored gelatin. I don't know how this worked for anyone else. The only thing I can thing of is the weather. I'm on the coast of southern California and it was about 80 degrees out. However, I also looked up the amount of a 'gelatin package' which all comments said it's about 1/2 cup. I have a can of unflavored gelatin so I used 1/2 cup and it was clearly too much. I could try 1/4 cup but I've decided to try another recipe that uses mascarpone chess as a stabilizer. I'm stubborn, though, so I will challenge myself to get this recipe right again when I have another free weekend.

There are some things missing. First of all with 4 layers it is too heavy to not add yolks to create a denser cake. The mousse needed way more time to set. Let mine set for over an hour and the cake still slid off and created a disaster since the cake layers then broke apart as they slid off. What a cluster!!! Also, in the ingredients list it should list the 1 cup of water you need to add with the flour!!! Everything tasted good but what a mess and pain in the butt! Very dissapointed for a SL recipe!

This turned out being a great cake although I have a few suggestions. The mousse took two attempts. The gelatin is boiling when it goes in the frig so it took 2 hours to cool - not the stated 30 minutes. I gently stirred it before folding in the whipped cream and it came out fine. The first batch was a soupy, curdled-looking mess that I threw out. Next is the issue of assembling the layers. The mousse is way too light to hold 3 layers of cake! The bottom two layers oozed out the sides and the whole thing slid apart on the way to the frig. Like a previous reviewer I caught it and slapped it back together. After refrigerating the 3 hours I cleaned up the sides and plate and iced - luckily it looked great! Next time I will assemble a layer at a time and refrigerate 30 minutes before adding the next layer. My frosting came out OK too - although some reviewers had problems my consistency was good. Also be warned that the 4 layer cake is 5.5-6" tall so it may not fit under your cake cover.

I also had problems with the gelatin setting up even though I left it refrigerated for several hours. The cake was ok, nothing spectacular. Icing was very good! I would make this cake again substituting the mousse layer with something else.

I made this cake for my daughter's college graduation party. It was fabulous! A year later and everyone is talking about the cake. Going to serve the cake this year at my daughter's bridal luncheon. Lots of steps, but that just means lots of love in the cake.

This recipe is perfect! The cake itself is amazing, it was so moist and had the best flavor. I will definitely be using this cake recipe in the future for cupcakes and other cakes. The mouse and frosting do a GREAT job of offsetting each other. The mousse is not very sweet and the frosting is, combined with the cake, it was perfect! I made the mousse before I made the frosting, I think this was easiest since it was the most time consuming!

This was a very good cake for our Easter table. I read reviews that said the mousse didn't set up. I added a cup of mascarpone, and it made it more stable and had a nice flavor. Did everything else according to the recipe, and it worked great. My mom, who is very picky when it comes to cake, took a bunch home.

This cake is delicious. I did have trouble with the mouse setting, but it did after I put it on the cake. I think a shallow dish would have helped it set quicker, like a square dish or even 9x13 pan. The frosting did seem to curdle but still looked pretty and tasted good. I may try to add the strawberries to the butter first and then add the sugar to see if that helps. It is a bit of trouble to make and you use a lot of dishes, but the end result is delightful. I will make again.

I made this cake and it was delicious however, I had a problem with the frosting. It was too runny. I added more sugar but it would not thicken. Not quite sure what went wrong.

This cake came out beautiful and was so delicious, I made it for my brother in laws birthday and he loved it! However, due to the previous reviews I cut the recipe in half (which also cut down the time a lot) and made a small cute two layered cake and used the rest of the batter for cupcakes and used the mousse to fill the cupcakes in the center. As for the icing, if you chill it until you're ready to use it and after the cake is frosted (the 3 hrs recommended is good) you won't have any problems.

I made this for Easter and it was excellent. I usually tweak recipes to make them lower fat/sodium, only altered the butter, didn't want to ruin the cake. Everyone loved it! The fresh strawberries are a must, they make the cake. 3/4 of the cake was gone within 1/2 hour! It is time consuming but if made for a special/holiday dinner you won't mind because the kitchen is busy anyway. Make sure to have all ingredients at hands reach, it makes it easier. Again excellent!

I did not prepare this cake, a friend shared a slice with me. I was in heaven with the very first bite! I think by reading the recipe this cake would take time to prepare but the final result is FABO! I do hope the lady that used a box cake mix added the almond extract to the batter as that flavor is to me what made this a delicious combination. Thanks again Southern Living for another keeper.

Made this for Easter dinner. The mousse needs WAY more time to set in the fridge than 30 minutes, as does the gelatine & strawberries. I let both chill for more like an hour. The frosting recipe seems off, 5 cups of powdered sugar for 3/4 c of butter just seems like way too much powdered sugar and it had a very powdery/chalky consistency. I added some vanilla extract to it to offset the powdery flavor. I would add more butter or less powdered sugar next time. I would also probably add sliced strawberries between the layers as well next time. Other than that the cake tasted good, was very pretty, mousse held up fine under assembly. Would make it again with the tweaks.

This is a very good cake, but I did have a couple of problems like some other reviewers. I think the mousse filling needs more time to set up than is stated in the recipe. I followed the suggested times, and the top 3 layers slid off of the bottom when I moved the cake to the fridge. I slid the layers back into position, but then the same thing happened again. Finally I secured the layers with some toothpicks and the layers stayed in the correct position. The icing was also a little too runny, but that is a problem I always have with strawberry icing. If I make this cake again, I think I will leave the mousse filling in the fridge for at least an hour before putting it between the layers.

I made this cake for easter but I used vanilla boxed cake and only made 2 layers. It was delicious! Everyone loved it and it had great strawberry flavor. My only complaint is that the cake needed to stay in the fridge until it was served because the icing got a bit melty.

I also made this cake for Easter dinner and my family loved it. It was however super time consuming as others have already mentioned. I especially loved the icing. I will consider making the icing in the future for a "plain jane" yellow cake for added flavor. I never thought about adding fruit to icing before.

Yes, this cake is time consuming, is it worth it, most definitely worth it. The cake was so tasty, the mousse was flavorful, and the icing turned out superb. I think the only thing I would do different next time, is to add some strawberry extract to the frosting, other than that, the cake was FABO!!!

Made this for an Easter celebration and my daughter Emily's birthday. It turned out perfect. Looks just like the picture. Took most of yesterday to make, but enjoyed it! Carefully followed directions. I did put stainless steel mixing bowl and beaters in fridge before mixing whipping cream. Not sure if that made any difference but I did not have any problems with consistency of mousse setting up. Well worth the effort.

I made this cake for Easter. It is a very large cake and the favor was just outstanding. It is very time consuming and goes very well when you have a large group in for dinner. It turned out picture perfect. Delicious. I will make it again for a special day or dinner. I followed the directions to the letter. Love it.

I totally agree with rbbeland3. The same thing happened to me. I will not make this again!

Delicious, but it makes one behemoth of a cake!