It may not look pretty, but there's more to this cake than meets the eyeBy Ben MillerOne semi-popular family vacation destination growing up was Williamsburg, Va. While I have fond memories of posing for pictures in a stockade and wearing silly tri-cornered hats, the thing that stuck with me the most from these trips was a dessert from a local restaurant called the Trellis. Known as "Death by Chocolate," this wasn't any ordinary dessert. Instead, it was a flourless brownie topped with chocolate ganache, followed by a cocoa meringue topped with mocha mousse, followed by another chocolate brownie topped with chocolate ganache and frosted with chocolate mousse, and served on top of a chocolate rum sauce. The cake was so complicated that it took three days to assemble and contained about 1,300 calories per slice when cut into 12 portions. (I personally served about 30 people with this cake, so the calories were far more reasonable.)Admittedly, I'm not even sure I ever actually had a slice of the cake the time my family ate at the Trellis, but I was always intrigued by the idea of a dish both so absurd in terms of its content and so involved that it took three days just to complete. Until this summer, however, I had never actually attempted to make death by chocolate. Prompted by a co-worker's upcoming departure from the New America Foundation, I decided to give it a shot. (And by I, I mean I had substantial assistance from my colleague, Sarah Axeen, who not only helped prepare most of the cake, but also took pictures and let me turn her kitchen into a chocolate mess.)So how was it? Let's just say despite its aesthetics (which were lacking because of my inability to properly frost the cake) death by chocolate does not disappoint. Of course, when something uses over three pounds of chocolate, four cups of cream, and 15 eggs, how could it be anything but rich and delicious?After the jump, the lengthy recipe and more pictures. THE MOST COMPLICATED DISH I'VE EVER MADE.
It may not look pretty, but there's more to this cake than meets the eyeBy Ben MillerOne semi-popular family vacation destination growing up was Williamsburg, Va. While I have fond memories of posing for pictures in a stockade and wearing silly tri-cornered hats, the thing that stuck with me the most from these trips was a dessert from a local restaurant called the Trellis. Known as "Death by Chocolate," this wasn't any ordinary dessert. Instead, it was a flourless brownie topped with chocolate ganache, followed by a cocoa meringue topped with mocha mousse, followed by another chocolate brownie topped with chocolate ganache and frosted with chocolate mousse, and served on top of a chocolate rum sauce. The cake was so complicated that it took three days to assemble and contained about 1,300 calories per slice when cut into 12 portions. (I personally served about 30 people with this cake, so the calories were far more reasonable.)Admittedly, I'm not even sure I ever actually had a slice of the cake the time my family ate at the Trellis, but I was always intrigued by the idea of a dish both so absurd in terms of its content and so involved that it took three days just to complete. Until this summer, however, I had never actually attempted to make death by chocolate. Prompted by a co-worker's upcoming departure from the New America Foundation, I decided to give it a shot. (And by I, I mean I had substantial assistance from my colleague, Sarah Axeen, who not only helped prepare most of the cake, but also took pictures and let me turn her kitchen into a chocolate mess.)So how was it? Let's just say despite its aesthetics (which were lacking because of my inability to properly frost the cake) death by chocolate does not disappoint. Of course, when something uses over three pounds of chocolate, four cups of cream, and 15 eggs, how could it be anything but rich and delicious?After the jump, the lengthy recipe and more pictures. 
