The ubiquitous flourless chocolate cake never interest me, either to eat or to make. At first glance, this double chocolate mousse cake from Around My French Table may seem like another one of those. However, there is something rather unusual about it. If you take the time to read through the numerous variations on the recipe, you'll notice that Greenspan highly recommended baking this chocolate mousse cake in two stages to create two different layers of consistency. Now that's something to pique my interest.
A simple chocolate mousse enriched with butter and egg yolks and lightened with whipped egg whites forms the backbone of this cake. A portion of the mousse went through a first stage of baking, then chilled and topped with more mousse for another round in the oven. Like a souffle, the mousse rose in the oven to good height and subsequently collapsed during another overnight chilling. Since the bottom layer went through two stages of baking, it is more dense and fudgy to contrast with the light, airy, and delicate top layer. What a delightful study in texture!
I baked 6 individual cakes in 3-inch cake rings, each measuring just short of 2-inch in height. Judging by the feedbacks from other members of FFwD, this was a good move. Baking an 8-inch gateau would be simple but to fully appreciate the layers of texture, I think the cake needs to have a certain height. To unmold the chilled cake, I quickly heated the outside of the cake ring over my gas stove (no point taking out a hairdryer or hand torch when an open flame is just conveniently located next to me). I ran an off-set spatula around the inside of the ring and the cake unmolded without drama. I served the cake with a quenelle of homemade vanilla honey ice-cream, drizzles of fleur de sel caramel sauce, and a light dusting of cocoa powder. All those crumbs that you see on the plate? Well, I could potentially cleaned them up but I think they look artful enough to add visual interest to an otherwise stark plate.
You can't really tell the different layers from the photo but mark my words that it is remarkably distinctive in the mouth. The cake may fool you into thinking that it is dense and heavy but it is actually very delicate. The espresso merely deepens the chocolatey flavour without asserting itself. I only need a bite of my own dessert creation before deciding what I like and don't like about the result. However, this cake successfully tempted me to take bite after bite because it is so intriguing. With or without ice-cream, it is a very good chocolate cake fit for company. Or a decadent breakfast to start my day.
Click here to find out how the recipe turned out for other members of French Fridays with Dorie!
