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Bonzo Cake*

Source of Recipe

Murphy's


Recipe Introduction

This dessert was created several years ago when the folks at Murphy's, a Virginia-Highland mainstay, noted that three desserts on the menu -- the fudge brownie a la mode, the cheesecake and the chocolate mousse -- did very well. "Wouldn't it be great if we could roll them all into one, " somebody said. Somebody else agreed and the Bonzo was born.

List of Ingredients

For the brownie:
Shortening for the pan
1 cup (2 sticks) margarine
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate morsels
1 1/3 cups cake flour
1/3 cup cocoa
2 cups granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the cheesecake:
25 ounces (three 8-ounce packages plus 2 tablespoons) cream cheese
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
5 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the chocolate mousse:
14 ounces semisweet chocolate
1 1/2 cups (11 ounces) whipped cream
9 egg yolks (from pasteurized eggs (to avoid slight risk of salmonella)

1/2 cup granulated sugar




Recipe

For the brownie: Grease a 10-inch springform pan. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, melt margarine. Add chocolate morsels, stirring often.
In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, cocoa, sugar, eggs and vanilla; mix well.
Pour chocolate mixture into flour mixture. Scrape bowl to get chocolate off sides and bottom of bowl. Mix well.
Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 1 hour. Remove from oven and let cool to room temperature.

For the cheesecake: Bring cream cheese to room temperature. (When ready to add cheesecake layer to cooled brownie layer, preheat oven to 300 degrees.)
In a mixing bowl, combine the cream cheese and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla. Pour mixture over cooled brownie layer and bake, checking after 45 minutes. If it is still liquid, continue baking up to 15 minutes until set. Remove and set aside to cool.

For the chocolate mousse: Melt chocolate in a double boiler and keep warm.
Whip cream and set aside. Beat egg yolks until volume has doubled. Add sugar and hot melted chocolate at medium speed. Immediately fold in whipped cream.
Spread chocolate mousse over cooled cheesecake.
Chill at least 2 hours before serving.

Notes:
A chocoholic's dream, this rich, decadent dessert takes a bit of time but is certainly worth the effort. Our tester, Sara Levy, said you could substitute unsweetened chocolate in the mousse layer if you like a less sweet chocolate. In addition, she said, you could make the dessert through the cheesecake layer and freeze it. On the day of serving, let it thaw, add the mousse layer and then chill before serving.