Mozart Cake

This is the cake I made for my friend's birthday. For this one you've got to take a momentary break from any diet you may be on. It is so rich, that a small piece will do the trick, but even if I say so myself, it is amazingly delicious. The combination of the meringue base and layer, with chocolate creme and then layered with a white chocolate and dark chocolate mousse in between- well what can I say.......

The cake is not hard to make, but does take a long preparation time. Baking the meringue bases, making the mousse , chilling, putting together all the pieces and freezing, but boy is it worth the effort. Recipe follows- it's from a collection of best recipes from a popular Israeli food magazine called "Al HaShulchan" ( On the Table). They call it "Mozart Cake"
Mozart Cake
Ingredients for a 26cm. springform pan

Meringue
4 egg whites

1/2 cup sugar ( 100 gr.)

3/4 +1 tablespoon ( 100 gr.) powdered sugar

3/4 cup ( 70 gr.) ground hazelnuts
3/4 cup ( 70 gr.) ground almonds

Mousses
750 ml. sweet whipping cream

225 grams bitter chocolate, chopped

225 grams white chocolate, chopped

Chocolate Creme

100 grams bitter chocolate, chopped

1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon whipping cream

50 grams butter

Topping

1/2 (120 ml.) whipping cream

150 grams bitter chocolate, chopped

1 1/3 cups (150 grams) hazelnuts or walnuts chopped or sugared hazelnuts, broken into small pieces

Prepare the meringue:

1. Whip egg whites in mixer until just foamy. Slowly add sugar and continue whipping until soft, stable peaks are reached.

2. Fold in the powdered sugar, hazelnuts and almonds.

3. Using the base of a 25 cm. pan, outline the circle of the pan on two separate pieces of parchment paper. Turn the papers over ( so the pencil side is down) and place on a baking sheet.

4. Using a spatula or piping bag, fill in circles of the meringue using the pencils marks as the outer border.

Bake at 110 C. (225F) for 2 hours until the meringue hardens.

Prepare the mousses

1. Heat the whipping cream until just before boiling.

2. Prepare one bowl with the dark chocolate and one bowl with the white chocolate. Pour half of the hot cream over the dark chocolate and the other half over the white chocolate. Mix until smooth cream is formed for each and chill inthe refrigerator at least 4 hours.

Prepare the chocolate cream

1. In a pan, melt all the ingredients for the chocolate cream, mix and cool.

Putting it all together:

1. Place one meringue base in the springform pan and spread the chocolate cream over the top.

2. In a stand mixer, whip the chilled white chocolate mousse. If it hardened too much in the fridge, let it soften for a few minutes at room temperature before whipping.

Spread the white mousses over the cream. Place the second meringue base on top of the white mousse. and press firmly down.
3. Whip the dark chocolate mousse and spread evenly over the top meringue layer.Freeze for ay least 24 hours.
After the freeze:

1. Heat the last bit of whipping cream to almost boiling.

2. Pour the cream over the dark chocolate and stir untilthe chocolate melts.

3. Pour the topping over the frozen cake evenly. Return to the freezer for about 10 minutes, until the topping hardens. At this point you can cover the cake with plastic wrap and leave in the freezer for a few days.

4. To serve, remove from freezer and deforst for 3-4 hours in the fridge. Release the cake from the pan using a hot, wet kitchen towel wrapped around the pan to help it slip out easily.

5. Press the chopped nuts onto the sides of the cake.

6. Cut the cake with a smooth edged knife dipped in boiling water to help cut it smoothly.

After all that work, you want the slice to look great on the plate, not a messy bunch of goop!

Enjoy!