Double Chocolate Mousse Cake for French Fridays with Dorie

I'm just going to come right out and say it: This is one ugly cake. Just look at it - short of a faux antique paint job on a chest of drawers, how many visually appealing things can you think of that are covered in hard, crackly wrinkles?

That said, this week's French Fridays with Dorie recipe, Michel Rostang's Double Chocolate Mousse Cake (page 446, Around My French Table), proves that you can't always judge a book - or in this case, a dish -  by its cover. (If you're wondering, Michel Rostang is another one of Greenspan's Michelin-starred chef friends.) The recipe offers a variety of options for execution: cooking just one layer of mousse and serving topped with a layer of chilled and uncooked mousse;  cooking two layers in two stages and serving warm; or cooking both layers, again in two stages, and serving chilled. I went with door number three.

The positives: I never eat dessert after a savory meal, so I judge sweets on how they would work as a breakfast item or as a rare afternoon snack. This one was a success on both counts: along with my morning coffee, the rich chocolate really woke me up in the morning, and it was a perfect afternoon pick-me-up, as it's not too heavy. It was also incredibly easy to make, and even though the mousse did dribble out a bit from the springform mold, it didn't matter in the end.

The negatives: It's just not that pretty. The recipe does say that the top will crackle but ... I mean, really.  I think the relatively smooth one pictured in the book must be topped with the chilled mousse. I also didn't notice much of a difference between the layers, and that's only a negative because the book stressed that this was a distinguishing characteristic of the cake. Otherwise, I wouldn't have noticed.

Bottom line: I would definitely make this again for guests - only I might put a blindfold on them first.

Check out the other mousse cakes here, and while you're at it, why not sign up to cook along with the group? Each Friday we make a dish from Around My French Table, and all you have to do is buy the book. It's worth it for the photos alone.

Happy French Friday!