Flourless Chocolate Cake with Coffee Mousse

I wanted to post a recipe of a Flourless Whiskey Chocolate cake that I made recently (will follow). As I logged into my blog I saw this post sitting in my draft. I guess I have a thing for flourless cake recipes. I found this recipe here.


Flourless Chocolate Cake

1/2 cup or 110 gms unsalted butter
150 gms dark chocolate, broken into small pieces
3 eggs, separated
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tbsp cocoa powder, unsweetened
pinch of salt

Method

1. In a heat proof medium sized bowl, place the broken chocolates. The original recipe called for semi sweet chocolate. I had some dark chocolate with me and hence i used that. 
2. Cut the butter into small cubes and place it on the bowl, along with the chocolates. I used Nutralite butter. If using regular butter, omit the salt from the recipe. 
3. Melt the butter-chocolate mixture using the double boiler method i.e. place a smaller vessel filled 2/3rd with water on a stove top. When it boils, place the bowl with chocolate butter mixture on top of it. Make sure that the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water. Reduce the heat to low and let the butter and chocolate melt. Stir occasionally. Once the mixture has completely melted, take it off from heat. Let it cool on the kitchen top. 
4. In the meanwhile, butter the bottom and sides of a 9 inch spring form pan with removable base.
5. Separate the egg yolks and egg whites. 
6. Place the egg whites in a clean bowl, without any trace of water. With a beater or hand held whisk, beat the egg whites till foamy. 
7. Add the powdered sugar gradually and beat it forms stiff peaks. Stiff peaks means if you touch the surface of the egg white gently with a fingertip, it will rise up like a peak with a very small curve. It took me around 4 to 5 minutes with an electric hand held whisk to get the desired result. Keep it aside.
8. Place a rack in the centre of the oven and pre-heat  to 180 degree C. I use a convection oven.
9. Once the chocolate - butter mixture has cooled, stir in the cocoa powder and salt, if using. 
10. Gently fold in the whipped egg whites into the chocolate mixture in 3 batches and beat it till it is fully incorporated i.e. no white streaks are visible, especially on the sides of the bowl. . DO NOT OVER BEAT.
11. Pour the mixture into the prepared springform pan and bake for around 20 to 25 minutes. Please note - The original recipe mentioned the baking time as 25 minutes. As per my baking experience, 20 minutes should have been fine as well. 
12. Once the cake is ready, take it out of the oven and let it cool in the pan itself. 

The cake deflates a bit after you take out from the oven. Adjust the baking time as per the type of oven. It would be great to check the doneness after 15 minutes. If the cake is inflated and is pulling away from the sides, then it is an ideal time to stop. I baked for full 25 minutes. My cake had couple of cracks on the top and it pulled away completely from the sides, rather it shrunk a bit. I guess I must have over beaten the mixture after incorporating the egg whites. The cake was not looking very appetizing, however, as the coffee mousse goes on top, I guess it doesn't matter how it looks. 

Coffee Mousse

2 egg yolks
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 tbsp corn starch
2/3 cup warm milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp instant coffee powder
1/2 tbsp gelatin powder
2 tbsp cold water
1 cup chilled whipping cream
1 to 2 tbsp cocoa powder for dusting

Method

1. Place the egg yolks in a small sauce pan and with a fork gently beat it till frothy. 
2. Add the powdered sugar and mix till the yolks become creamy and pale yellow
3. Add the corn starch and mix.
4. Add the warm milk and whisk till the mixture combines and there are no lumps.
5. Place the saucepan on low heat and stir till it boils and thickens. It takes less than 2 minutes
6. Take it from heat and stir in the vanilla extract and instant coffee powder. Make sure that the coffee powder is fine and has no lumps. 
7. Let the mixture completely cool.
8. In the meanwhile, dissolve the gelatin powder in 2 tbsp cold water and let it stand for 2 minutes until it swells. Use a small heat proof bowl for the same.
9. Place the gelatin over low heat till it completely dissolves. It takes just a few seconds. 
10. Take it off the heat and add it to the egg yolk mixture and combine.
11. Place the chilled cream in a clean bowl and whip until it form stiff peaks (as explained above). Incorporate it into the egg yolk - coffee mixture. 
12. Spread the mixture on top of the cooled cake and level it with an offset spatula or bang the edges of the cake tin on the kitchen top.
13. Cover the pan with cling film and leave it in the refrigerator to set for at least 4 hours or overnight. 
14. Run a serrated warm knife around the edges of the pan to release the cake and remove the sides of the pan.
15. Dust the top of the mousse with cocoa powder.
16. Use a warm knife to slice the cake and serve.