Chocolate Mousse Cake

As I mentioned, last week it was my sweetheart’s birthday. I made a big meal that included recipes I’ve posted here before, such as my goat cheese soufflé and roasted Jerusalem artichokes. For dessert, all M would say was that she’d like chocolate, so I decided to make a chocolate mousse cake.

What I did was to make two portions of chocolate mousse, one with eggs and one without. The one with eggs I baked, so that it turned into a very cream and rich base. The one without eggs I slathered on top of the base. In other words, the cake was composed of two types of chocolate mousse, one cooked and the other not. Mousse overload? Not at all.

This would be a great cake to make for someone who is gluten-intolerant, as it has no flour. You can also vary it quite easily by adding nuts or fruit to the mousse topping. You can also use milk chocolate, but I always prefer dark myself.

Ingredients:
butter and cocoa for the pan
375 g dark chocolate
50 g butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp sea salt
12 eggs, divided
¼ cup sugar
another 1/5 cup sugar

for the topping:
125 g dark chocolate
1 ½ cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla
¼ cup sugar

Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 150 C. Butter a springform pan. Instead of dusting it with flour, I always dust it with cocoa.
2. Melt the chocolate and butter together, stirring frequently so it doesn’t burn. Add the vanilla and salt. Let the mixture cool.
3. Beat the egg yolks with the ¼ cup sugar. Mix with the chocolate.
4. Beat the egg whites with another 1/5 cup sugar until stiff. Fold this gently into the chocolate mixture and mix well.
5. Bake for about 40 minutes, until just firm in the middle. Let cool completely.
6. Melt the chocolate for the topping, stirring frequently so it doesn’t burn. You can always add a touch of milk, butter, or water to the pan to prevent burning.
7. Whip the cream with the vanilla and the sugar. Fold the chocolate into the cream.
8. When the cake has cooled, spoon the mousse over the top. You can serve it right away as it is or you can put it in the refrigerator overnight, so the mousse hardens into a firmer frosting.