A blast from the past: my chocolate mousse cake.

Some time ago, I blogged about my cooking medals, and the now ubiquitous carrot cake. I talked about the other recipes for which I won medals. And this one, is my first. And my second.
We were having a cooking contest at Law School. I was in my first year, which meant, of course, that I was supposed to have no time to cook, let alone to breathe.
Right.
I had found this recipe in the Sunday NY Times, back when the recipes weren't overwhelmed with their own sense of self importance. I made it for my roommates a few times, and when the contest was announced, they said I should enter. Well, TWO of them did. See, my third roommate had a girlfriend who was absolutely convinced she was THE best cook in the school. I didn't care for her. And you know me... Need I say more?
So I made the cake. And they judged the recipes in "rounds" fashion. First there were 20 entries, which were knocked down to six. And then four. And the girlfriend and I were in that final group. She had entered a chocolate roll, that looked like a log. And she had cleverly named the recipe after a contracts case we had read, that had to deal with a broken deal on some large timber logs.
She finished second. I can still remember how she gritted her teeth when she congratulated me. Hee hee hee.

Next year, the contest again. Go with a good thing, I told myself. So did the girlfriend. She didn't make it to the semis. I won again. Two in a row.

Well, I had the recipe in a diary (which I opened up for this recipe. AH. The memories. Notes from college, notes from films I saw in 1980. Ballet programs. GEEZ. Was I ever really that young? Probably not. I must have stolen them from someone else). Anyway, one day I began to think I had misplaced the book, because I could NOT find it. I was somewhat distressed. It wasn't where it was supposed to be. Then , two weeks before the contest was to take place for the third year of law school, the book reappeared..

Well, I AM the suspicious sort, and I began thinking, hmmmm. She didn't , did she? Well, maybe this year I'll try something else.

Yup, she did. There was the girlfriend, with a flourless chocolate cake, with a grin that can only be described as a cross between swallowing the canary and, well, I won't use the words, since I'm trying to be polite today.

That was the year I made the carrot soup with the quart of heavy cream in it. As with the first year, we went from a first round (with a LOT of entries), and then to four, and then to two: the girlfriend and I. I still remember the head judge (now a REAL judge), standing up and saying "this is always the highlight of the spring. And we have some wonderful cooks in this school, and the contest just gets tougher and tougher and tougher to judge.' He paused. "BUT we have a threepeat. Retiring undefeated, Norman, come up and get your prize."

I dare say the look on MY face as I congratulated the girlfriend on her effort was a mix of many things. But yes, three medals for cooking. And the ultimate satisfaction.

Here's the recipe. The neat thing about this recipe is you have to decide: do you like frosting better than cake, or cake better than frosting? You need to make that choice, because your unbaked batter is going to be your frosting. So, you put as much batter into your baking pan as you want cake. The remainder is your frosting. Go to it.

You need a half pound of a really good chocolate, unsweetened, or bittersweet. Semisweet, if it's really got a high cocoa content, will work too . Also, 2 sticks of unsalted butter, cut into cubes. Break down the chocolate and melt it with the butter, over very low heat. Stir as you go, then put this aside to cool down, and turn your oven to 350

Now, you need 8 egg yolks and 5 egg whites. (Remember those hazelnut cookies? They take three egg whites...). You also need 1.25 cups of sugar. I have played with the amount of sugar, depending on how sweet the chocolate is, but don't go below a cup.


Combine the egg yolks and sugar and beat this really hard for longer than you think you'll need to. You are looking for something called "the ribbon effect." This happens after you have whipped sugar and egg yolks for a while, and they're really thick and almost white. If you lift the beater out of the mixture, you will get a thick, unctious stream of batter forming something like one of those folded up Xmas candy ribbons in your bowl. That's what you want. Pour that chocolate mixture into it, and put it aside, after you've mixed it to a uniform color. Use a spoon or spatula.

Now, in a clean bowl, get to work on the egg whites. You could add a bit of vinegar, or cream of tartar to get them to stand up better. You want fairly stiff peaks. Combine the egg white, in thirds, with the mixture you've already made.

Okay, now you have BOTH your batter, AND your frosting. SO, get a nine inch pan and make a call. (you can use a ten incher if you like too. Eight is too small - IN CAKE PANS). I would say that filling the pan from 1/3 to 1/2 full is appropriate.

It is useful if you have a springform for this, because this cake is not going to come out of the pan easily. If you don't have one, I would suggest that you plan on serving it in the pan. Bake it for about half an hour (the original recipe says 1.5 hours. I don't think so...). The half hour will give you a chewy, moist cake. If you like it drier, bake it for 45 minutes. This cake is going to rise, fall, and crack. Don't fret. You did it right. (if your oven is one that tends to run hot, by the way, use 325 instead of 350). Let it cool down.

Look at that leftover batter. Taste it. Sort of like fudge, huh? Now, if you like that, go for it. For me, it always needs "something," usually a flavored liqueur. Grand marnier, or framboise, or one of the coffee liqueurs (I can be perverse and add one of the anisette ones and see just how much people like chocolate cake, but who MOI?). Pour it over the cake, smooth it out, and let it cook at room temperature, or chill it if you really want something that has a texture closer to candy.

I have made this cake, oh, I'd say about 100 times. I think I could do it in my sleep. At one point, I used to make two of them and turn it into a l ayer cake. When you do that, you get teh "OOH and AAH " factor, but then you also get people taking pieces that are too big to eat. Look at the ingredients. This is not a cake for the squeamish. I remember serving a double one at a party and then picking up half eaten pieces of cake all over the house. I would stick with single ones. If you're cooking for a lot of people, make a lot of single layer models.

Happy Passover!