This Elegant Creation Combines After-dinner
Espresso and Dessert

The recipe for this elegant and beautifully presented desert was developed by a group effort led by Chef Lane Warner of La Fonda's La Plazuela restaurant in Santa Fe, NM. "I was thinking of an after dinner espresso/dessert and as a team of sous chefs and pastry chef, together we came up with all the accompaniments," says Chef Warner.

Lane Warner credits his family of excellent cooks for fostering his creative culinary skills and influencing his decision to become a chef. His passions was apparent early--he began cooking at age six.

Warner, now a certified executive chef (CEC), joined Santa Fe's La Fonda hotel in 1993 as executive sous chef, rising to the top post of executive chef in 1999 to head up an award-winning culinary team. Under his creative direction, La Plazuela restaurant has garnered rave reviews for his sophisticated spin on Latin gourmet cuisine.

Chef Warner is a 1990 graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y. He won the American Culinary Federation gold medal in hot food competition in 2001. Warner was elected Chef of the Year by the New Mexico Restaurant Association in 2005. In 2002, he cooked at the James Beard House in Manhattan for Historic Hotels of America.

Mocha Mousse

20oz dark chocolate
3oz whole unsalted butter
8oz pasteurized egg yolks
4oz sugar
8oz pasteurized egg whites
2oz vanilla extract
8oz fresh ground coffee beans
20oz heavy cream

Heat heavy cream and place coffee in china cup. Run cream through. Strain cream to remove all ground coffee through a fine mesh sieve. Cool the cream and set aside. Combine chocolate with butter and melt over double boiler. Whip yolks and half sugar until full volume. Whip whites and remaining sugar to full volume. Fold egg mixtures together.  Fold butter chocolate mixture into egg mixture. Whip cream until full volume, fold all ingredients together and refrigerate.

Edited by Patricia D. Sherman.

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