Culinary Cookbook: Chocolate Mousse Cake

This recipe is from one of my closest mentors. He is the head of the LLC where I got my scholarship to attend culinary school.

Ingredients (For the mousse cake)

Makes 8 servings

Butter, for the pan

8 oz. (230g) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate

8 tbsp (1 stick; 120 g) unsalted butter, cut into cubes

8 eggs, separated

¼ tsp cream of tartar

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, with a rack set in the middle position. Butter a 9-inch cake pan and set aside.

2. Melt the chocolate and butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan on low heat and stir until smooth. Remove the chocolate mix from the heat and whisk in the egg yolks. The residual heat from the melted chocolate and butter will poach the yolks, lightly thickening the mixture.

3. In a large bowl, whip the egg whites with the cream of tartar until stiff peaks form.

4. Using a whisk, fold one-third of the stiff egg whites into the chocolate mixture to temper it. 5. Switching to a rubber spatula, gently fold the remaining egg whites into the chocolate mixture until smooth.

6. Pour three-fourths of the chocolate mousse mixture into the 9-inch cake pan. Refrigerate the remainder of the mousse until ready to use. Bake for 30-35 minutes. The cake will rise at first; when it falls back, it is done.

7. Unmold the cake onto a wire rack to cool. When it is cool, it will have a concave center.

8. Using a long metal spatula, transfer the cake to a serving platter and fill the center with the remaining chocolate mousse mixture.

9. Refrigerate until the mousse sets, about one hour.

Flavor variations:

For some extra zing, add the finely grated zest of one orange

You can also flavor the mousse with coffee, Grand Marnier, rum, or other liqueur by adding 1-2 tbsp (to taste) to the chocolate mixture just before incorporating the egg whites

For the Raspberry Coulis:

Makes 1 ½ cups

8 oz fresh raspberries, or 10 oz frozen unsweetened raspberries (thawed, but not drained)

Confectioner’s Sugar (to taste)

Puree the raspberries. Taste and add confectioner’s sugar if the puree is too tart. Strain the puree through a fine mesh sieve to remove the seeds. By tapping the sieve instead of using a spoon to push the puree through, you can ensure that no seeds will end up in your finished coulis.

Ingredients: (for the decoration)

Confectioner’s sugar, for dusting

Fresh mint leaves

Directions

Just before serving the cake, carefully dust the mousse center with sifted confectioner’s sugar. You’ll want to work quickly so the confectioner’s sugar doesn’t dissolve into the mousse.

Make a piping bag out of parchment paper and fill with the raspberry coulis. Pipe three pairs of dime-sized dots, with each pair about one inch apart in the top left of the mousse. On the rim of the serving platter, pipe dime-sized dots around the base of the cake, leaving space in between. Gently tuck two fresh mint leaves under each raspberry coulis dot to make holly berries.

Serve slices of the cake with raspberry coulis piped onto the plate.

Additional decoration ideas:

Dust the mousse center with sifted cocoa powder

Pipe whipped cream around the edge of the mousse center

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