Chocolate Mousse Torte

Chocolate Mousse Torte

My mentor, Donna Nordin, who I have been taking cooking classes from for the last 20 years, taught me this recipe. It is the signature dessert for her Southwestern restaurant in Tucson called Café Terra Cotta (which was closed a few years ago). It was also the featured dessert in Bon Appetit in 1980. It is so perfect the way it is that I have changed little. It is light yet creamy and oh so chocolatey.


Serves 12 to 16

• 1 ½ packages (9 ounces each) Nabisco “Famous” chocolate wafers
• 4 ounces unsalted butter, melted
• 1 pound semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate
• 4 cups cream
• 2/3 cups powdered sugar
• 2 whole eggs
• 4 eggs, separated

Lightly oil the sides of a 10-inch springform pan. Grind the cookies to crumbs in a food processor or blender. Mix with the melted butter and press into the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Chill.


Melt the chocolate in a double boiler over hot but not boiling water. Meanwhile, whip 2 cups of the cream with 1/3 cup powdered sugar. When the chocolate is melted, remove from the heat and add the whole eggs and yolks. Mix very well, the fold in the whipped cream.


Beat the egg whites and fold them into the chocolate mixture. Pour into the chilled crust. Chill overnight or at least 6 hours.


Whip the remaining cream and sugar and spread about half the whipped cream on top of the pie and pipe the remaining cream around the edge with a pastry bag and a star tip. Scatter a layer of chocolate curls evenly over the top of the whipped cream if you like.