Gateau Marcel - The World's Best Chocolate Cake

February 13, 2026

Gateau marcel is a chocolate mousse where a portion of it being baked and the other part continues life as a chocolate mousse. So from the same dough you get both the bottom and topping. It’s the only cake I can remember where that happens. So it’s easy to make and it only tastes of the chocolate you’re using. Use a really good chocolate. The cake is worth it.

I have changed the quantities a little bit from the original recipe, and then I have added a little grated orange peel as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QtTko95hkA

Ingredients

7 oz (200 g) dark chocolate (at least 70%)
7 oz (200 g) butter
7 oz (200 g) sugar
5 eggs
grated peel from ½-1 orange.

Directions

Prepare the spring form. Put baking paper at the bottom. The cake is a bit fragile when baked, so the paper helps when removing it from the spring form.

Melt butter and chocolate at low temperature or in a water bath. It’s easiest if you chop the chocolate first.

Whip the egg whites with less than half the sugar.

Grate the orange. Chop it if necessary as finely as possible.

Whip the egg yolks until they are light and airy with the remaining sugar.

Mix in the orange peel.

Add the melted chocolate mixture slowly into the egg yolks.

Put about 1/3 of the egg and chocolate mixture into the egg whites. Mix them well.

Pour it all back into the remaining egg whites and fold it to a uniform color. Not so hard that the air is whipped out of the dough.

Put 1/2 to 2/3 of the chocolate mousse batter into the spring form.

Bake it at 350°F (175°C) for approx. 30 min.

Keep the remaining mousse at a cold place. The refrigerator or on a cold winter terrace (not too freezing).

When the cake base is done, let it cool down. It does not have to be all the way to room temperature. Finger warm is ok.

Spread the remaining chocolate mousse on top of the base.

If you like, you can sprinkle some cocoa powder on top for a darker taste and nice looks.

Notes

If you whip whites before the yolks you do not need to wash the whipper. If egg yolks gets into the whites they can not be whipped, so the whipper should be thoroughly washed. In the video, I whip the yolks first. I don’t usually do that. I do not know what I was thinking about.

Make sure that the melted chocolate is not much more than lukewarm when it is mixed into the egg yolks. Otherwise you risk making scrambled eggs.