FFwD: Michel Rostang's double chocolate mousse

This week's French Friday's with Dorie challenge was a perfect treat for a post-holiday family get-together.  Everyone wants something yummy for dessert, but we're all a bit sick of the heavy December desserts.

The dessert isn't really a cake, and it isn't really a torte.  It's mousse that's baked, and in this case, baked twice.  I've heard of baked potatoes and twice baked potatoes.  But I'd never heard of baked mousse, and certainly not twice baked mousse!

On the day the dessert is made, the taste is something like a brownie that you spent WAY too much time making.  But on the second day? 

Oh. My.

As you're probably sick of hearing me say, we're requested not to share the recipes for these challenges on our websites, but from the photo you can see that this is one treat you won't have to run to the store to find your ingredients. 

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler...

Add the sugar, half the salt (I accidentally added it all),

the butter, and the egg yolks.

I was tempted to stop at this point and just eat the bowlful of warm chocolate goodness.

Fold in the whipped-up egg whites very carefully. 

The mousse needs to remain as thick as possible.

If you don't have an 8" ring, you can use a springform pan without the bottom.  I had a significant gap in places, as my ring (like so much of my world) was warped.  I tied some sturdy string around the pan to hold the ring down tight.  There was still a bit of a gap, so I tightened up the strings by twisting a toothpick round and round until the string was taught.  I poured in 1/3rd of the mousse and put it in the oven to bake.

The contraption still leaked, but this was not a problem.  This was a planned event...so that I'd be able to taste the baked mousse prior to continuing on with the process.

After thoroughly chilling the base, I scooped the remaining mousse onto the top, and then re-baked.

The mousse broke into several pieces during the transition from pan to plate, but the cocoa powder helped hide some of the more minor cracks.

I served this for dessert, and everyone really liked it.  But the next evening, after the baked mousse had chilled for 24 hours (instead of the 4 called for in the recipe), the dessert took on a whole 'nother personality.  It tasted somehow lighter, and fluffier, and silkier...

It went from a brownie to a gift from the gods...or at least from Dorie Greenspan and Michel Rostang!

To see how other bakers' double chocolate mousse (or mousses?) turned out, look here!