snow day=baking day

SNOW DAY!! when i was living in wisconsin i would love snow days. i think i actually prayed for one at one time. what can i say; school gets rough on high schoolers^_~ this past week that sense of excitement at the sight of snow hit again when our area was hit with a "mini" snow storm. in comparison to the storms in wisconsin this was nothing, we would get snow up to our knees! AND THEY STILL DO! that's why i refer to it as "mini", its a baby. but, everyone got out of school, semi's were seen on the news flipped over, car crashes etc...well, while all this was going on outside i was warm and cozy inside trying to figure out what i could bake to keep me from going crazy. 

i got my answer in dorrie greenspan's book...double chocolate mousse cake. YUMMMM! and since i always keep chocolate in my pantry, i didn't have to leave my house to buy ingredients! EVEN BETTER! as always i set to work with all the prep...

i used trader joe's dark chocolate bar, its so pretty next to my MAC knife^_^ the recipe didn't actually need that much chocolate, which i was surprised about since that is the main flavor. but, the amount called for most certainly lends itself to a huge amount of flavor. who am i to question the ever famous ms. greenspan?!

the lovely smooth mixture of chocolate, sugar, egg yolks, vanilla, and butter.

now for the egg whites...the mousse is forming so well^_^

in her recipe dorrie has it in three types of ways: one, you bake a third of the mousse and chill it, then add the rest of the mousse on top and serve. two, you bake the crust, and then bake it again, serve warm. three: bake the crust, bake again and cool again. i chose option number three. only because she said she preferred it that way...she was right, it is the best way!!

my "crust"

my finished product. i threw some fresh whipped cream on top just because...well...i love the stuff! the top layer of the cake was so light and airy, a tad spongy, not in a gross way, but in a way that just made the cake so deliciously light it just seems to play on the top of your tongue. the chocolate flavor also came out so rich, it fit perfectly with the whipped cream. and the lower layer was just as flavorful, but more dense creating the perfect contrast in texture to the weightless top. perfect little dessert for my perfect snow day^_^

and this is my snowman i made between baking. he is super excited about baking snow days too^_^ happy baking^_^