White Chocolate Mousse with Raspberry Sauce

Delish.

So, I didn't initially intend to make the strawberry tart for my grandma's birthday. I had wanted to make a flourless dark chocolate cake, and pulled out Orangette's Winning Hearts and Minds cake, which I had been saving for a special occasion. Only I managed to mess it up. It was sort of pathetic. I mean the recipe was ridiculously easy. It only requires one bowl and five ingredients. But I destroyed it.

To be fair, it wasn't the recipe that messed me up, but rather my clumsiness. It was sad really because I was trying to be very diligent about following the recipe for once. She suggests making the cake ahead of time, freezing it and then defrosting to get the best flavor. So on Thursday night, I started making the cake so it could freeze til Friday night and then have 24 hours to defrost. Everything was fine, until I went to flip the cake. She has very specific instructions on how to best flip the cake once it's removed from the pan. Instead of flipping it onto a plate, though, I was trying to flip it back onto a sheet of saran wrap so I could wrap it up and stuff it in the freezer. This was an ill-conceived idea however and the cake split in two, right down the middle. Exasperated, I turned to the picture on the cover of Gourmet.

Although I'm sure you were enthralled by my cake-mishap story, I told it for a reason. I decided to make lemonade from my lemons and use the broken chocolate cake for dessert for my brother and sister-in-law. To accompany the dark chocolate, I pulled out this recipe for Coeur a la Creme with Raspberry Sauce -- that's a fancy way of saying White Chocolate Mousse -- also courtesy Orangette. And it worked out beautifully.

She recommends either using a fancy mold or using a colander wrapped in cheese cloth. That seemed difficult to me and I couldn't find cheese cloth at my store, so I just used a bowl. Not as pretty, but it worked for my purposes.

Eat Rating: Wonderful. Particularly if you are a white chocolate fan.
Difficulty: Easy. I skipped the hardest part which required cheesecloth straining.

Adapted from "Couer a La Creme with Raspberry Puree", A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg

3 ounches white chocolate, chopped or cut into chunks
1 8-oz package of cream cheese, room temperature
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 10-oz bag frozen unsweetened raspberries, thawed in a bowl
3 tbsp sugar

In a microwave bowl, melt the white chocolate. (You can also do this in a bowl over a pot of boiling water on the stove). Stir well until smooth, set aside to cool.

In a medium sized bowl, mix the cream cheese, 1/4 cup of cream and the powdered sugar. Add the white chocolate and combine until smooth, about 2 minutes with an electric mixer. Set aside.

With an electric mixer, preferrably a Kitchenaid so your arms don't get tired, beat the 1 cup of cream until stiff peaks form. Gently fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture, folding in until completely combined. Spoon the mixture into the mold. (Or I just scraped down the edges of my bowl and then covered with saran wrap, making sure to have the wrap touch the top layer of cream). Refridgerate for at least 8 hours or overnight.

Once the raspberries are defrosted, puree them in a blender or food processor. Add the sugar and blend until smooth. At this point, she suggest pushing the raspberries through a sieve/cheese cloth to remove the seeds. I was lazy and served with seeds. Chill for at least 4 hours.

To serve, place a spoonful of the mousse in a dish and top with raspberry sauce. Goes wonderfully on top of a piece of broken cake.