Chocolate Mousse Torte

Adjust rack to center of oven. Preheat oven to 350. Butter a 9″
ovenproof glass pie pan. Dust it with fine dry bread crumbs, set
aside. Place chocolate in the top of a small doubleboiler over hot
water. Dissolve the coffee in the boiling water and pour it over the
chocolate. Cover and let stand over low heat, stirring occasionally
with a small wire whisk, until choc olate is almost melted. Remove
choc from the heat and con tinue to stir until smooth. Set aside to
cool slightly In the small bowl of an electric mixer beat the yolks
at high speed for about 5 minutes until they are pale lemon colored
and thickened. Gradually add the sugar and continue to beat at high
speed for 5 more minutes until very thick. Add the vanilla and the
chocolate, beating slowly and scraping the bowl with a rubber spatula
until well blended. Remove from mixer.
In the large bowl of an electric mixer beat the whites with the salt
until stiff, but not dry. Gradually, in 2 or 3 small additions, fold
half of the whites into the chocolate (do not be too thorough) and
then fold the chocolate into the remaining whites, folding only until
no whites show.
Handling as little as possible, gently remove and set aside about 4
cups of the mousse. Turn the balance into the pie plate, it will
barely reach the top. Very gently spread level and place in the oven
to bake. Cover the reserved mousse and refrigerate.
Bake the mousse for 25 minutes, turn off the heat and let it sit in
the oven for 5 more minutes. Remove from the heat and cool on a rack.
Mousse will rise during baking and fall while cooling. It will settle
in the center, leaving a high rim. When completely cool, remove
reserved mousse form refrig erator and place the refrigerated mousse
in the center of the shell of baked mousse.
Handle as little as possible or it will loose the air beaten into
it. I used sugar cocoa and instant coffee to flavor the whipped
cream, I did not measure, but flavored to taste. The whipped cream is
optional, but it looks better with it.