Chocolate Mousse Cake

Today's cake is very rich & decadent! It requires patience and is best cooked when you have no one else around to distract you. But the time and effort are WELL worth it! It is sooo good.

Chocolate Mousse Cake

12 oz. of good quality bittersweet chocolate, chopped well

1/2 cup of granulated sugar

1/3 cup of water

2 sticks of unsalted BUTTER- do not use margarine

4 eggs

2 tbsp of chocolate liqueur

Topping:

1 cup of heavy cream

2 tbsp of sugar

chocolate shavings

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Grease a 8" cake pan and line bottom with a parchment paper round(do not flour pan).

Combine the water and sugar in a sauce pan and cook over medium-low heat stirring until all sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from heat, add butter and chocolate and stir until all is melted. Cover and let stand for 5-6 minutes. Remove lid and beat until smooth. In a large separate bowl, whip the eggs by hand, add the chocolate liqueur and stir well. Slowly pour the chocolate mixture into the eggs blending well as you add. Do not over mix.

Pour into prepared pan. Place the cake pan in a shallow baking pan with 2 inch sides. Add about an inch of water to the pan (be careful not to get in cake pan). Bake about 40- 45 minutes. You can tell if it is set when the top looks slightly dry. Remove the cake pan and let cool at room temperature for about 30 minutes, keep in pan. Cover with plastic wrap and place cake in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour or more. To remove cake from pan, run a wet knife around the edge and carefully place the bottom of pan in hot water to loosen, then invert on platter. Whip the heavy cream and pipe around the edge of cake and center. Then cover with chocolate shavings.