Chili Chocolate Mousse Cake

1. 1

   Pre-heat oven to 175 C/350 F. Butter a spring-form pan, both the bottom and sides. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper and butter the top of the parchment paper.

2. 2

   Melt the chocolate and butter in a bain-marie/double boiler, stirring to blend. Once melted and mixed, let cool.

3. 3

   Meanwhile, separate the eggs. Beat the egg yolks and sugars (including the vanilla sugar if you have it) until the mixture is very thick, pale, and creamy. If using vanilla extract, mix it in.

4. 4

   Add the cooled chocolate and butter mixture to the egg yolk and sugar mixture. Mix until blended.

5. 5

   In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Add a healthy dollop of the egg white to the chocolate mixture from step 4. Fold vigorously... don't worry about deflating the egg whites. Once incorporated, add 1/4 of the remaining egg whites and fold to incorporate. Now is the time to worry about deflating the egg whites! Once incorporated, add another 1/4 of the egg whites and fold. Continue until you have incorporated all of the egg whites.

6. 6

   You should now have a lovely chocolate mousse! Pour half of the mousse into your prepared spring-form pan. Bake, uncovered, for 20 minutes. Keep the other half of the mousse in the mixing bowl on your counter.

7. 7

   After the 20 minutes of baking, remove the mousse from the oven. Pour the remaining (uncooked) mousse into the now baked mousse. If the spring-form looks like it will overflow, wait a few minutes for the cake to deflate, then pour in the rest of the mousse. Allow the pan to come to room temperature, then freeze the cake for 2-12 hours. After a maximum of 12 hours, remove the cake from the freezer and keep in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

* Per serving · 4 servings · Values may vary.