A good friend of mine just had a little baby girl. To celebrate I wanted to make her and her husband dinner and dessert their first week home from the hospital.  I can’t imagine a brand new mom wanting to cook!

So while at a friend’s house I picked up a book called How To Be a Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson and what I found inside made my mouth start to water. I’ve made two very easy recipes and both have turned out amazing! I highly recommend buying this book if you like to bake. I have heard that she is a great chef as well and I will definitely check out her cookbooks at the bookstore when I go to buy this lovely dessert cookbook.

What you will need for Nigella’s Chocolate Mousse Cake:

11 oz best bittersweet chocolate

2 oz milk chocolate

3/4 Cup unsalted butter

8 large eggs, separated

scant* 1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/3 Cup sugar

1 Tbs. vanilla extract

pinch of salt

9 inch spring-form pan

heavy duty aluminum foil

What you do…

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and put the kettle on to boil. Line the springform pan with foil.  This is important because we are going to be doing a water bath for the cake and you don’t want water leaking into the pan.  (Don’t be afraid of water baths, they are really easy, I promise!)

Melt the chocolate and butter in the microwave or double boiler,** and let it cool.  In another large bowl, beat the egg yolks and sugars until very thick and pale. It should look creamy and the mixture should form ribbons when you lift the beaters/whisk.  Stir in the vanilla and salt and then the cooled chocolate mixture.

In another large bowl, whisk the egg whites until large peaks form.  I use a hand mixer with a whisk attachment.  Be patient, this will take several minutes.  Once you have soft peaks, take a dollop of the egg whites and mix into the chocolate mixture.  Then gently fold the remaining egg whites into the chocolate mixture.

Pour the cake batter into the foil lined spring-form pan, which you have placed in a large roasting pan.  Add hot water from the kettle to come about 1 inch up the sides of the cake pan and put the roasting pan (with the cake in the water bath) inside the oven.

Bake for 50 minutes to an hour.  The inside of the cake will be very moist but the top should look cooked and dry.  Let it cool completely on rack before releasing it from the spring-form pan.  It will be almost impossible to get the foil off the bottom of the cake.  Once you place it on the serving dish, just tear the foil off the edges.  When you plate it make sure to take the foil off the bottom before serving it!

Enjoy. I haven’t tasted it yet but it looks and smells so good!  I might have to stay at my friends for dinner so I can try a piece of this luscious looking treat!

*Scant just means slightly less than. So anytime you see that in a recipe just go a little less than the measurement.

** You can also use an oven safe glass bowl over a small saucepan of simmering water.  Just make sure the bowl nestles into the top of the pan and set the bowl on top of the pan.  You do not want the bottom of the glass bowl to touch the water in the pan so only put 1-2 inches of water in the saucepan.