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DIRECTIONS

Adjust rack one-third up from the bottom of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees. You will need a round, ovenproof mixing bowl (for baking this dessert) with a 6- to 8-cup capacity; it may be glass, pottery, or metal, and it should preferably be deep and narrow rather than wide and shallow (I use a stainless steel bowl that measures 4-1/2 inches high by 6 inches across the top, and has an 8-cup capacity-although a smaller bowl would do).
To line the bowl with aluminum foil, turn the bowl upside down, tear off a 12-inch square of foil and center it over the inverted bowl, and with your hands press down on the sides all around to form the foil into a bowl shape. Then remove the foil, turn the bowl right side up, and place the bowl-shaped foil into the bowl. Press it firmly into place and set aside.
Break up the chocolate and place it in a small saucepan. Dissolve the coffee in the boiling water and add it along with the sugar. Stir over moderate heat until the chocolate is melted-the mixture does not have to be smooth.
Transfer to the large bowl of an electric mixer and beat on low speed until smooth. Gradually add the butter and continue to beat on low speed until smoothly blended. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until smooth after each addition. Add the Cognac or rum and beat on moderate speed for about a minute.
Pour the mixture into the lined bowl and bake for 55 minutes. When done the top will be puffy with a thick, cracked crust. (If you have used a bowl with an 8-cup capacity, the mixture will not rise to the top.)
Let the bowl stand at room temperature until the dessert is cool-it will shrink as it cools and will shrink more in the center than around the rim. This will leave a hollow in the middle which should be eliminated. The following directions will seem unusual, but follow them. A few minutes after the dessert has been removed from the oven, place a piece of wax paper on top of the bowl, touching the dessert. With your fingertips, press down on the edges of the paper to flatten the raised rim of the dessert (the crust will crack-that's all right). Repeat several times while the dessert is cooling in order to flatten the top as much as possible.
When the dessert is cool, cover airtight and refrigerate overnight or for a few days, or freeze.
A few hours before serving, when you are ready to unmold the dessert and mask it with whipped cream, remove its covering. Invert a flat dessert plate over it (since the dessert will be solid white, a colored or clear glass plate will look better than an all-white one), invert the plate and bowl, remove the bowl, and then peel off the aluminum foil. Refrigerate.
You will need a pastry bag about 13 inches long and a medium-small star tube, or about a #4. Insert the tube in the bag, fold down a deep cuff on the outside of the bag, and set aside.
In a chilled bowl with chilled beaters, whip the cream until it holds a soft shape. Add the sugar and Cognac or rum and continue to beat until the cream holds a definite shape, but be careful not to make it too stiff or it might curdle while you press it out of the pastry bag.
Transfer the cream to the pastry bag, unfold the cuff, and twist the top of the bag closed.
Now you will completely cover the dessert with small pointed rosettes of whipped cream. Start at the center top and squeeze out one small rosette right in the middle. Then make a circle of rosettes touching one another around the one on top. Then another circle, etc.-the last circle should touch the plate.
Refrigerate.
(Traditionally, a Boule de Neige is decorated with a few crystallized violets and/or rose petals-if you use them, press them into the cream just before serving or they may run and discolor the cream.)
Serve small portions.