It was the best of times....it was the worst of times....

This is the best chocolate cake I've ever had. Ever, ever, ever.

This cake is also the hugest pain in the butt ever...I should know, I've made it three times this week. Hidden inside it's beautiful dark layers are streaks of white chocolate mousse, and therein lies the rub. It tastes phenomenal, but I am sick and tired of cakes with creative fillings that just slide apart and make your life miserable!!

I even froze it for over 30 min before frosting and it still insisted on sliding around and ruining the chocolate sour cream frosting, and in the car on the way to the Restaurant the top two layer removed themselves from the bottom layer. Barf. Next time I will double the amount of white chocolate in the mousse and run through my freezing routine to allow it to stiffen more.

BUT...seriously guys, this cake is amazing. I would eat it every day for breakfast. The secret ingredient is....brace yourself...mayonnaise. I've disgusted several people with that information (while they had the cake in their mouths.) But it's just that that makes so moist and rich! So....good luck with it.

The Triple Chocolate Fudge Cake from Sky High.

Preheat the oven to 350, butter the bottom of three 9 in cake pans and cut 3 parchment paper circles. Line the bottoms of the pans and butter the papers, too.

TAKE NOTE: Normally, I would completely ignore the parchment paper step. It just seems excessive. HOWEVER, with this cake, it is a MUST. The first time I made the cake I left it out and the cake came out in clumps. With the parchment though, no problems.

Ingredients for the cake:

2 1/4 cups AP flour

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 1/4 t baking soda

1 1/4 baking powder

1 t salt

1/2 t cinnamon

2 1/2 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped

1 cup milk

1 1/4 cups hot, strongly brewed coffee

2 eggs

1 cup best-quality mayonnaise

1 1/2 t vanilla extract

2 1/4 cups sugar

Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and powder, salt and cinnamon; set aside.

Put the chocolate in a large heatproof bowl and heat the milk to a simmer. Pour the hot coffee and milk over the chocolate and let sit to melt. Whisk until smooth.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the eggs, vanilla and mayonnaise until well blended. Gradually beat in sugar. Add the dry ingredients and the mocha mixture in two or three additions; beat til smooth and well blended.

Divide the batter among the three cake pans and bake for 25-28 minutes (until tester poked in middle comes out clean)

Let cakes cool on racks.

White Chocolate Mousse

6-8 oz white chocolate

1 cup heavy cream

1 egg white

1 T sugar

Melt the white chocolate with 1/4 cup of the heavy cream in a double boiler, whisk until smooth. Let cool to room temperature.

When cool, beat the remaining 3/4 cups cream until soft peaks form. In a clean bowl, whip tje egg white with the sugar until stiff peaks form.

Fold the beaten egg into the white chocolate cream, then fold in the whipped cream until just blended.

UPDATE:

I changed the amount of white chocolate to 6-8 oz, which makes a stiffer mousse. It's very important to chill the stuff until its stiff enough, so I'd recommend making the night before you plan to make the cake just so you don't have to stress out about it.

Sour Cream Chocolate Icing

12 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped

1 stick unsalted butter

2 T light corn syrup

1/4 cup half and half

1/2 cup sour cream, room temperature

Melt the chocolate with the butter and corn syrup in a double boiler over barely simmering water or in a heavy pan over very low heat. Remove from heat and whisk til smooth.

Whisk in the half and half and sour cream. Use while soft.

To Assemble:

Fill the layers with the chocolate mousse, leaving a 1/4 in border on each other layers. (and then I say, freeze the thing.)

Spread the chocolate sour cream icing all over the cake (first making a crumb coat and refrigerating if desired, about 30 min.)

Decorate with melted white chocolate, if desired.

MMMMM. SO GOOD.