Chocolate Mousse

Everyone loves chocolate mousse. 

However, I've always been put off making it as I assumed (wrongly) that it was extremely complicated. I couldn't have been more wrong, and I knew as soon as I read this recipe from Lorraine Pascal in Fast, Fresh and Easy Food that I had to give it a go. I've made a couple of her recipes before so knew the odds of this one turning out okay were pretty high. As ever, Pascal didn't disappoint! I've put the recipe below but I'd really recommend buying her book - it's full of so many amazing looking bakes that I can't wait to try out.

Just a quick disclaimer too: I'm not cheating on LighterLife! I bake in massive binge sessions so I have photos from lots of bakes still on my camera and not yet blogged that I'll be uploading over the coming weeks. I will be baking over the next few months too, but will be relying on friends and family for feedback on how everything tastes!

Ingredients: 
200ml double cream
150g dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa solids)
50g milk chocolate
3 medium eggs
3 tbsp caster sugar
Icing sugar and strawberries to decorate

Method: 

Put the double cream in a small pan and leave to warm up.

Once the cream is just starting to steam, remove it from the heat and add the chocolate. Don’t stir it (I was so tempted to ignore this: don't!), but just leave it to sit and melt for about five minutes or so.

Separate the eggs, putting the yolks in a mug or small bowl and the whites in a large clean bowl of a freestanding electric mixer (if using). Whisk the whites until they reach a medium peak. (To test, Pascal recommends sticking the whisk into the egg whites and flipping the handle upside down. She says the peak should look like a floppy Noddy’s hat, not standing straight up to attention.)

Then add 1 tablespoon of sugar and whisk it up again until the whites begin to become shiny. Then while continuing to whisk, add another tablespoon of sugar. Make sure the whites are whisked up well and all the sugar is dissolved before whisking in the final tablespoon of sugar.

Now take a look at the chocolate. Despite appearances, the chocolate will most likely be melted by now, so stir everything together. Then add the egg yolks and stir to combine.

Once the whites are thick and glossy, stir in a spoonful of the chocolate mixture. This will loosen the whites up a bit.

Gradually pour all of the chocolate into the egg whites and then gently fold them together. I was too overly cautious at this stage and ended up with an uneven mixture, so while it's best not to be too heavy-handed or over mix this, don't do what I did and hardly mix it at all in an effort to retain as much air as possible!

Divide between four 150ml glasses / ramekins. If you're making them for a dinner party then using different crockery can look amazing. I found a set of 4 tea cups and saucers and used them - personally I think it looks better than a boring ramekin!

Cover each one loosely with cling film and then place in the fridge for 30 minutes or so to firm up (or if you want to eat them ASAP, put them in the freezer for 15 minutes). These can be made in the morning for a dinner party in the evening.

Decorate the top of the mousse with icing sugar and add strawberries/raspberries to serve.

So simple, and so good! They were extremely chocolatey, so I'd recommend much smaller portions - in future I'll make them half the size as the mousse is just too rich. Also, I think I needed to whisk the egg whites more than I did as the finished product didn't have the normal mousse texture: they were not as light and airy as I'd hoped. For a first attempt though, they were a definite success and went down a treat!

Let me know in the comments below or drop me a tweet if you try them out!