Frozen Chocolate Mousse Cake

Total Time: 45 mins Preparation Time: 45 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 12
• 1 1/2 cups chocolate wafers, crushed
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 3/4 cup pecans or 3/4 cup almonds, crushed
• 3/4 cup chocolate chips
• 250 g cream cheese (8 - 9 oz pkg)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 eggs, separated
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup whipping cream

Recipe

• 1 crust: preheat oven to 325°f combine chocolate wafer crumbs and butter; press into 9-inch springform pan. sprinkle nuts over crust. bake for 10 minutes. remove from oven and let cool.
• 2 mousse: melt chocolate chips and set aside to cool slightly. blend cream cheese, sugar and vanilla. beat egg yolks and combine. mix in cooled chocolate.
• 3 using another bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. add sugar slowly and beat until stiff. fold into chocolate mixture. whip cream and fold into chocolate mousse. pour into springform pan. cover with tin foil and place in freezer. remove from freezer and refrigerate 5 hours before serving. garnish with chocolate curls or chocolate sprinkles.
• 4 note: we quite often entertain on a smaller scale. i really do not like having a lot of leftovers, so i will half the recipe and serve it up in smaller springform pans or make the whole recipe (using 2 smaller springform pans) and have an extra dessert on hand for when surprise company come in (the recipe states that it needs to thaw for 5 hours, but i think 1 hour would do in a pinch).