Chocolate mousse cake - but without raw eggs? - and spherical

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A challenge for you all.

(1) Choc mousse recipe that doesn't use raw eggs (am concerned about possibly egg-allergic party attendees).

(2) How to assemble something convincingly bowling-ball shaped. My idea is that I would (a) make any old shape of choc cake; (b) make a choc mousse; (c) using a rounded mixing bowl, make layers of slices of choc cake & slatherings of choc mousse (like a charlotte), turn it out & disguise slapdashery with icing.

Can anyone help with recipes, tips and/or better ideas?

How about a \link{http://www.decuisine.co.uk/cookshop/bakeware/spherical-mould.html?id=09d7539755cb313cf61b257c785304a8.1144146765&referal=/cookshop/bakeware/bakeware_for_cakes.html\ball cake tin}? Sorry, no idea on an egg-free choc mousse.

My easiest chocolate mousse is made from 500g chocolate, melted, cooled a bit and folded into 500ml whipped double cream, then chilled overnight.

It's very suitable as cake filling / slather, but can also recommend a chocolate ganache (ie mousse recipe above but with unwhipped cream and no chill) for the final disguise rather than icing - has a good shiny finish v suitable for bowling ball.

If you can't face the ball tin suggested below, baking the sponge in a pyrex pudding basin will take you half way to the ball shape already, and a pair of pudding basin sponges base to base may be close enough without too much chopping / slathering.

good luck...

Thanks JackieN & MrsB!

MrsB, you sound like you might have a good choc sponge recipe up your sleeve? - I'd love that, please? (I had no idea you could bake in Pyrex. Though come to think of it you can roast in it so obviously ... See what an amateur I am.) And I do have the right shape of Pyrex bowl, and I could just scoop out the middle of two cakes, couldn't I, and make a mousse bombe. Very inspiring!

my choc sponge recipe is not exciting - regular Victoria sponge (ie cream 50g butter & sugar, beat in one egg, fold 50g SR, spoonful of cocoa powder, milk to mix if too dry) multiplied up accordingly.

Not sure how many eggs worth your pudding basin would need - think it's 3 eggs for a 2 pint one. Worth looking up cooking times in a novelty cake book (from library, in bookshop etc) as it'll take longer than a shallow tin. They may also suggest a recipe for a firmer sponge that'll stand hacking about better than a plain Victoria.

Well I did it - MrsB's melted choc & whipped cream mousse the luscious centre of a totally convincing perfectly spherical shiny brown bowling ball cake. With icing that stuck beautifully, even against gravity on the undersides (it was Nigella's choc/golden syrup/sour cream icing recipe).

yay!
glad cake was such a success!

(sorry for delay - am v bad at checking back to threads I post on)