Chocolate Mousse Cake

Your wish is my command, Egle! Thank you for coming onto my profile and making such nice comments about my pictures and posts. Egle, who is the daughter of my Lithuanian cousin, spent two summers with me, helping me with my kids at our vacation home and was my most unbelievable prep cook. I would give her a list of things I needed done for the meal and would arrive from the pond with everything in perfect order for a wonderful dinner. Those summers were great, it was a gift to have you in our home!

I LOVE my chocolate mousse cake because it is easy to make and feeds an army. It is also a perfect dessert to make ahead and even freeze if you need too, hence one of the best entertaining desserts. I always make one for my Christmas Eve/Birthday celebration and it has become everyone's favorites. One of my good friend's husband wants to be at my home when I make it this year so he can learn how to make it for his family!

Chocolate Mousse Cake

My cooking mentor, Donna Nordin, who I have been taking classes from for the last 22 years, taught me this recipe. It is the signature dessert for old Southwestern restaurant in Tucson called Café Terra Cotta. It was also the featured dessert in Bon Appetit in 1980. It is so perfect that I have changed little. It is light, yet creamy and oh so chocolaty.

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.