INGREDIENTS

INSTRUCTIONS

This is one of Louisville's most celebrated chocolate desserts.
Chocolate velvet earned its reputation at the Four Seasons restaurant
in New York City, under the hands of pastry chef Albert Kumin, who
later became the White House pastry chef.  Fritschner writes: "It's
based on the bombe concept - lining a container with cake, filling it
with creamy filling (in this case  mousse) and finishing the
turned-out dessert with a glossy chocolate glaze."  When Kathy and Will
Cary opened La Peche gourmet carry-out in 1979,  she added her
adaptation of Kumin's recipe to the deli's offerings.  Chocolate velvet
has never left the dessert case since then, as it's  so popular. As
many as 50 chocolate velvets are sold there a week,  made by pastry
chef Scott Bieber.  Line a 2 1/2 qt. souffle dish with plastic wrap.
Cut the pound cake  into thin slices.  Line the bottom and sides of the
souffle dish with  overlapping pieces of pound cake, so there are no
openings. Put 2  layers of pound cake on the bottom, to prevent leaks.
Sprinkle 2 tb.  of the amaretto around the pound cake.  Set aside.  To
prepare mousse:  In a bowl, combine 1/3 c. amaretto, the rum,  chopped
candy bars, melted butter, egg yolks and coffee. Stir well.  In a
double boiler, melt 1 1/2 lbs. of chocolate. Remove from heat and
allow it to cool a little.  Whip the cream until stiff; set aside.
With clean beaters, whip the egg whites with a pinch of salt until
stiff. Slowly add 1 tb. powdered sugar and beat 1 minute. Slowly add
the chocolate to the liquor mixture, stirring well to combine evenly.
Fold in the whipped cream and egg whites.  Pour into prepared souffle
dish.  Use the rest of the pound cake to cover the top of the mousse,
overlapping pieces.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least
10 hours.  To make the icing: Melt 1/2 lb. of chocolate.  Use an
electric mixer  to beat in the powdered sugar.  Add the coffee as
needed to make a  smooth icing.  (It resembles a buttercream. It is
very smooth and  thick enough to spread.)  Let the icing cool a bit
before spreading  on the cake.  To ice the cake: Invert the chocolate
velvet on a serving plate.  Remove plastic wrap.  Spread with icing.
Refrigerate. To serve, cut  like cake. Serve with creme fraiche or
whipped cream, if desired.  Make chocolate leaves by running a spatula
under a thin layer of  tempered chocolate before it is set. Garnish
velvet.  Keeps well up to 10 days refrigerated and freezes beautifully
for up  to six months.  From Food Editor Sarah Fritschner's 11/22/90 "A
Chocolate Fantasy"  article in "The (Louisville, KY) Courier-Journal
'Magazine'", pp.  2-15. Recipe on pp. 8-9. Posted by Cathy Harned.
From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini

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