Chocolate Mousse Cake

Ingredients

Serves 6-8  

8 vanilla wafers, finely crushed
8 oz semisweet chocolate, cut in pieces
¼ c boiling water
1 T instant coffee powder
1t vanilla
8 egg yolks
2/3 c sugar
4 egg whites
A pinch of salt
1 ¼ c whipping cream
1 T confectioners’ sugar
¼ t vanilla

Directions

Preheat oven to 350º. Butter a 9-inch springform pan & coat with cookie crumbs. Place chocolate in double boiler. Add boiling water to coffee & pour over chocolate. Cover & set over hot, not boiling, water. When chocolate has melted, beat in vanilla. Cool, uncovered.

With an electric mixer, beat egg yolks until pale & thick. Beat in sugar. Add cooled chocolate. Mix well and divide into two bowls.

In a clean bowl, whip egg whites with salt until stiff and fold into one of the bowls of chocolate. Pour into prepared cake pan, leveling top with a spatula.

Bake for 25 minutes. Cool in the pan on a wire rack. The center will fall, leaving plenty of space for the filling. When completely cool, remove to serving platter.

Whip the cream, reserving 1/4 cup for garnish.  Fold into chocolate mixture. Fill cake & level. Mix reserved cream with confectioner’s sugar & vanilla. Pipe rosettes on top of cake. Chill.