Abby Mandel's Boule de Neige (Snowball)

 

Abby Mandel's Boule de Neige (Snowball) (Source: Maida Heatter's Book of Great Chocolate Desserts (Andrews & McMeel Publishing, 2006 ed.), pg. 201.

For New Year's Day, I wanted to make my favorite type of dessert - something chocolate-y, maybe gooey, rich, decadent. I was about to settle on a cheesecake when I came across this recipe. Jackpot! I don't want to over-do the gushing but oh my word, this thing is divine!

This is in Maida's chocolate book and it is attributed to Abby Mandel, a chef and cookbook writer who I was unfamiliar with. She helped found the Green City Market in Chicago and wrote a book in 1982 with Cuisinart recipes that is apparently still well admired, judging by the reviews I was reading.  

Speaking of the food processor, Maida gives an aside to this recipe and describes how Mandel put it all together in less than a minute. So I opted to try it Mandel's way and it is indeed very fast and easy. The description here is the Mandel method. Maida's involves doing it in a mixing bowl, similar to the way she does most recipes.

How to describe this? Well, I would say it falls somewhere between a cheesecake and a mousse. It is very creamy and rich with a distinct coffee flavor (I might reduce the coffee granules next time but not by much). A little piece goes a long way...

Unfortunately it doesn't serve up that pretty. It is very delicate and I finally resorted to using a cake lifter to get it on a plate in one piece. You can see the photo at the bottom of the page.

A note about the bowl to use - at first I thought I wasn't going to be able to make this because I had a hard time locating one. You need a mixing bowl with a 6-8 cup capacity. A deeper, more dome-shaped bowl would be idea but I did not have one. The bowl can be glass or metal but does need to be ovenproof. I ended up using a glass bowl. 

One more bit of advice - after making the topping, you might think that there isn't going to be enough to cover the cake. I certainly thought so but turns out there is plenty. So as you are piping, don't be afraid to pipe the rosettes right next to each other to avoid gaps.

 

8 oz. semisweet chocolate (in small pieces)
2 tsp. dry instant coffee
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup boiling water
1/2 lb. (2 sticks) sweet butter (room temperature, cut into small pieces)
4 large eggs
1 TBS. Cognac or dark rum

Line an oven-proof mixing bowl (glass, metal or pottery) with foil. Set aside.
(See note above about bowl size.)

 

Place the chocolate, instant coffee and sugar in a food processor bowl.
Pulse until finely chopped.

With the processor running, add the boiling water through the feeder tube.
Process until the chocolate is melted.

Add the butter until blended.

Add the eggs.

Add the rum or Cognac. Process about 15 seconds.

Pour into the foil-lined bowl.

Bake for 55 minutes at 350 degrees. When done, the top will be puffy and cracked.

Let the bowl stand at room temperature until the cake has cooled. The cake will shrink as it cools, especially in the center. To help level it, place a piece of wax paper over the cake, touching it, and gently press down. Do this several times as the cake is cooling. After the cake has cooled, remove the wax paper and wrap the bowl in plastic wrap. Refrigerate (or freeze).

The next day, remove from the refrigerator and invert onto a serving plate.

Carefully peel off the foil.

Return to the refrigerator until you are ready to apply the topping.

Whipped Cream Topping

1 cup heavy cream
2 TBS. granulated sugar
2 tsp. Cognac or dark rum

Whip the cream in a chilled bowl with chilled beaters until it holds a shape.

Add the sugar and the Cognac or rum and continue to whip until it holds a shape but not too stiff.

Transfer the cream to a pastry bag with a star tip. Cover the cake with rosettes of the whipped cream. (Hint: Place your rosettes so that they are touching each other - closer than what I did. It will look as though you do not have enough cream but there should be plenty.)

Return to the refrigerator.