Rosie Makes A Flourless Chocolate Cake With Coffee Mousse On Top.

Just in time for you to make this weekend.  Chocolate Cake and Coffee Mousse.
You're going to love it.


 With this dessert, I'm giving you the best of both worlds - a dense fudge and intense chocolate experience, paired with a light, airy mousse flavored with coffee.  It's a true win-win.

For the cake: 

1 stick unsalted butter

5 ounces bittersweet chocolate

1 TB cocoa powder

pinch of kosher salt

3 eggs, separated, room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

Heat oven to 350°.

Separate the eggs.  Reserve two of the yolks for the mousse.

Butter and line a 7-inch springform pan with parchment paper.  Grab a few extra ramekins while you're at it and butter them too.  You're going to have batter left over.

Melt butter and chocolate in small sauce pan.  Stir in cocoa powder and salt.  Let cool slightly.

Whip egg whites until soft peaks form.  Gradually beat in sugar.  Fold the whipped whites into chocolate mixture.

Pour batter into prepared pan and ramekins and bake for 25 minutes.  Halfway through, I could smell the chocolate, so I tented everything.

For the mousse:

2 egg yolks

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 TB cornstarch

1/3 cup warm skim milk

1/3 cup warm heavy cream

1 tsp vanilla

1 TB espresso powder

1/2 TB gelatin

2 TB cold water

1 cup whipping cream, chilled

Beat yolks with sugar until creamy and lemon-colored.  Stir in cornstarch, then whisk in the warm milk and cream.  

Heat the yolk mixture over low heat, stirring constantly, until it boils and thickens.

Remove from heat, stir in vanilla and espresso, and let cool.

Dissolve gelatin in 2 TB cold water and let it bloom for about 10 minutes.  Nuke or heat until gelatin dissolves, then stir it into the coffee mixture.

Whip the cream until stiff peaks form.  For best volume, have the bowl, beaters, and cream chilled.  

Fold whipped cream into coffee mixture.

Spread coffee mousse over the chocolate cake, cover, and refrigerate overnight to set before serve.

  

 

 As if this wasn't chocolate enough, I added some chocolate drizzle for good measure.

And you're quite welcome!

Rosie Is Published.

Please check out Rosie's Valentine Dinner column

in the Outer Banks Voice.

 We start out with champagne and chocolate covered strawberries.

 And we move on to oysters on the halfshell.

First, Oysters Hawthorne.

 Next, Rosie's Fiesta Oysters.

And we finish with a delectable and decadent flourless chocolate "cake"

with a raspberry purée, raspberries, and sprinkle and dragées.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Rosie Makes A Birthday Cake For Daughter Hawthorne.

Last weekend, we celebrated Mr. Hawthorne's birthday

and all the Little Hawthornelets were home.

 When it was Daughter Hawthorne's birthday last month,

she wasn't at home

(She got a !JOB!),

so I made her a belated birthday cake -

a fudgy, dense, flourless chocolate cake.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into cubes

8 oz.  bittersweet chocolate

8 oz. semisweet chocolate

8 large eggs, room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp salt

3 TB ground coffee, dissolved in 1/4 cup hot water

Heat oven to 325°.

Butter a 9-inch springform pan

and line bottom with a parchment round.

Cover pan underneath and along sides with foil

and set in a roasting pan.

Combine chocolate, butter, and dissolved coffee

in a bowl set over simmering water.

Melt, stirring constantly, until smooth and creamy.

Combine eggs, sugar, vanilla, and salt

in a large bowl and beat until frothy and doubled in size.

Fold 1/3 of the egg mixture into chocolate mixture.

Repeat twice.

Pour batter into prepared springform pan.

Pour boiling water into the roasting pan

to come halfway up the sides.

Bake about 40-45 minutes,

until edges are just beginning to set.

Remove from roasting pan and cool on wire rack.

Remove foil, cover, and refrigerate overnight.

Invert cake onto a plate.

Remove parchment paper and reinvert onto serving platter.

When I'm in a hurry,

 I help my cold eggs come to room temperature

by letting them sit in hot tap water.

Combine chocolates, butter, and dissolved coffee

in a bowl set over, but not touching, simmering water.

Stir until smooth and creamy.

8 eggs at room temperature.

Start a-whuppin'.

You want light, frothy eggs, doubled in bulk.

Fold in a third of the eggs into the chocolate mixture.

Fold it in.

Repeat twice.

Fold until just combined.

Pour boiling water halfway up the sides.

Bake 40-45 minutes, until edges are beginning to set.

I decorated with chocolate curls.