Chocolate Mousse Cake (Part One)

FOR THE CAKES: Butter two 9′ round cake pans and line the bottoms with wax paper, then butter the paper. Dust the pans with flour and knock out the excess. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In the top of a double boiler, heat the chocolate over hot water, stirring, until just melted. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the butter, one tablespoon at a time. Continue to stir the mixture until smooth. In the bowl of the mixer, beat the egg yolks until combined. Add 34 cup of the sugar, a little at a time, and continue to beat the mixture until it falls in a ribbon when the beater is lifted.

Beat in the melted chocolate mixture, the liqueur and the orange pinch of salt until frothy. Add the cream of tartar and beat the whites until they hold soft peaks. Add the remaining 1/4 cup sugar, a little at a time, and beat the whites until they are stiff. Sift the flour with the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt onto a sheet of wax paper.

Stir one fourth of the whites into the batter. Fold in the remaining whites and sift and fold the flour mixture in batches into the egg mixture until just combined.

Pour the batter into the cake pans, smoothing the tops, and bake the layers in the middle of the oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the centers comes out clean. Let the cakes cool in the pans on racks for 5 minutes, invert the cakes onto the racks, and remove the wax paper carefully. Let the cakes cool completely.

The cakes form a thin crust that will flake off.

SEE PART TWO