Chocolate Mousse Layer Cake

"My therapist told me the way to achieve true inner peace is to finish what I start. So far today, I have finished 2 bags of M&M's and a chocolate cake. I feel better already." - Dave Barry

 A cooking catastrophe is almost always preceded by a lack of time.

At least, I find that to be true in my case.

Case in point, last Wednesday, I had a little under 2 hours to bake, fill and frost one chocolate mousse layer cake. I was short on time because I'd spent the entire morning hunched in front of the computer, making frantic phone calls to my cousin in Idaho, and sending off copious torrents of emails to my uncle in California - all in an effort to book flights for my impending West Coast Pilgrimage.

The flight-bookage was eventually successful, and I flew from the computer to the kitchen and started measuring cake flour and sifting cocoa like a madwoman.

Taste-But Boggling Brownies

"All I really need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt!"
- Lucy, from Peanuts

When the unthinkable happens and I actually get the chance to cook, (Say, on an afternoon when I get home from work and decide to give myself a day off from school...) I do this exceedingly annoying thing. I pore over magazines, websites, cookbooks, blogs, and my ol' trusty binder of recipes looking for that perfect recipe.

Rich Chocolate Tart

Let's talk about this tart, shall we?
Oh my.

That's all I can say sometimes. Oh. My.

It's rich. It's chocolatey. It's smooth as silk, and the crust... don't even get me STARTED on the crust!

Okay, we'd getter get started. Before I swoon here and now at the computer desk. And then revive myself and go hide in the pantry and gobble what's left of the tart. (Which isn't much.)