Black Forest Mousse Jars

I had some leftover cake in the fridge, a box of delicious cherries and a craving for chocolate mousse. All at the same time. Turns out, it’s easy to combine the three in a trifle-esque jar dessert and it tastes phenomenal. Even with vanilla cake, the Black Forest vibes are strong and I can only imagine how good this would be with chocolate cake crumbs, if that’s what you have on hand. The cherry compote comes together in minutes and so does the mousse with just the right intensity of chocolate. Excuse me, going to grab another bite.

This recipe can be scaled up easily and is very forgiving. Use any basic butter cake that you like, homemade or not but I do recommend avoiding one with too many strong flavours of its own. Crumble it up and start layering! The mousse is a simple one with melted dark chocolate folded into whipped cream and balances the sweetness of the cherry compote.

This jar-style dessert will have the most defined layers when freshly assembled but if that isn’t important to you, refrigerate it for a bit to let the cake and mousse sort of settle in together for a messier, but even more delicious bite!

• 250 gms fresh cherries (deep red taste the best)
• 1 tbsp caster sugar
• 1 tbsp water
• Pinch of cinnamon powder

• 30 gms dark chocolate (50% to 60%), finely chopped
• 1/3 cup chilled whipping cream
• 2 cups vanilla cake crumbs