13 November 2010
Two Simple Recipes For Chocolate Puds - Chocolate Mousse (Part 2)
Even better than Chocolate Rice Pudding in terms of return on effort is a quick and simple chocolate mousse, which always seems to get a big thumbs up from whoever tastes it, even though it is perhaps one of the simplest things to make.
Basically, it is a bit of melted chocolate, some cream and eggs and there you have it; you actually do not really need the gelatine, but I once had a disaster making this when it did not set very quickly, so I add the gelatine more as a safety measure than a necessity. It is, also, really flexible as a recipe, so you can play around with the flavours to the base recipe used, such as you could change orange blossom to rose water, orange oil, vanilla extract or brandy or just leave it out altogether, then you can decorate the top with whipped cream and chocolate shavings or homemade caramel pieces.
Easy Peasy Chocolate Mousse
2 x 100g bars of chocolate - 1 dark and 1 milk chocolate
2 level tablespoons caster sugar
6 tbsp double cream
4 eggs, at room temperature seperated between yolks and whites
3 tsp orange flower water (or rose water or just water)
1 tsp gelatine
Firstly separate the egg yolks and whites. Lightly whisk the egg yolks together and leave the egg whites until later.
Put the orange flower water or water into a small ramekin and sprinkle the gelatine over this. Leave to be fully absorbed.
Break all of the dark chocolate bar (that is the whole 100g) into a heat proof glass mixing bowl and all but the last row of segments on the milk chocolate bar (that is 80g of milk chocolate). Melt these over a pan of boiling water, mixing the two flavours together. Leave to cool until just warm to touch.
When cool, add the double cream to the double chocolate and mix in thoroughly. Place the ramekin of gelatine into a small pan of water to half way up the side of the ramekin, then bring the water gently to a boil watching for the gelatine to be fully melted, or as I do simply place ramekin in the hot water used to melt the chocolate and it will melt in that even as it cools down. Add the gelatine to the chocolate mix and gently whisk through so fully mixed in.
Now, whisk the egg whites until a soft peak, then fold into the chocolate. Put the mousse into ramekins or wine glasses to look pretty. Leave to set and cool for at least 30 minutes.
Serve with whipped cream and grate over the remaining milk chocolate over this.
