Cate's Chocolate Mousse
Introduction
I made this for Christmas Eve dinner this year, and messed it up -- we ended up with chocolate chip mousse, which was actually a huge success. This is the "proper" recipe, but under "variations" I'll explain what I think I did "wrong"
Ingredients
- 185g dark chocolate (e.g. cadbury's energy chocolate)
- 4 eggs, separated
- 1 tsp instant coffee + 2 tsp hot water (can also use 1 - 2 Tbsp rum or brandy)
- 1/2 cup cream
Directions
- Melt chocolate in double boiler - fill a pan with boiling water and then rest another pan over it with the chocolate in. Stir occasionally until smooth.
- While it's melting, whip the cream till still peaks form.
- Take melted chocolate off heat and allow to cool (careful not to let it resolidify! should be slightly above room temperature when it's cool.
Add the 4 x egg yolks (lightly beaten just to break up the yolks) & flavouring. If you haven't let the chocolate cool enough it will seize up a bit - just keep mixing and it should all kinda be okay
- Add in the whipped cream
- Once cream is mixed in, whip the eggs i a separate bowl until stiff peaks form. Then gently fold into the chocolate mix a few tablespoons at a time.
- Serve into 6 individual dishes and refrigerate until ready to serve. Serve with whipped cream and berry mash.
Variations
This is how I "broke" the recipe and ended up with chocolate chip chocolate mousse.
Firstly I used 375g of chocolate. Then I melted the chocolate in the microwave (a shortcut I often use) but I was really worried about overcooking it so did it in three short bursts (45 seconds, 30 seconds, and 30 seconds), giving it a quick mix each time. I maybe the first error was that I didn't quite melt all the chocolate, but almost all.
Then I forgot to wait for the chocolate to cool before I put in 4 x mixed egg yolks & the coffee/water mix so it seized a bit - probably stopped the rest of the chocolate from melting.
Other than that, I pretty much followed the recipe as above.