Mousse 101

Well, here it is 12:00am so it is now Monday and as promised

- the easiest peasiest yummiest moussiest mousse recipe..

YOU WILL NEED:

400 gm dairy milk chocolate

200 gm dark chocolate

1 litre cream

3 eggs, separated

(n.b : if you would like to make white chocolate mousse substitute above chocolate for 550gm of white chocolate -- If you want choc chip add fresh chocolate shavings at the very end before refrigeration)

(It is also important to note that there is a reason this recipe asks for 400gm dairy milk and 200g dark chocolate, although you can play with the colour by adding more dark chocolate I wouldn't go the other way and add more dairy milk or your mousse will look VERY pale and un-chocolate moussey - so don't skrimp!)

OK.

PREPARATION:

now you have all your ingredients pop the choccie in a pan and melt it.. I know some of you are thinking, HOLY HECK shouldn't she be doing that in a bowl over hot water?

I'll give you two reasons...

reason number one -- cadbury chocolate (or the stuff at the supermarket in the sweets section) is compound chocolate; this means it has a cream to cocoa ratio so high and so much vegetable oil (rather than cocoa butter) in it that there is no possible way you could burn it unless your VERY forgetful.

number two -- you'll need the handle on that pan later to help handle the chocolate when we get to the mousse "formula"

(sorry, where was I?) Oh yes, melt chocolate.

Now whisk your cream and set it aside in its own bowl.

Whisk your egg whites (till peaking) and set aside in its own bowl.

Pop your egg yolks in their own bowl.

THE FORMULA:

On paper (looks like so)

This is what the formula looks like in real life -- set your ingredients out in this order to make it easier for you to remember. Once you have done this make sure you will NOT be interrupted for the next 5 minutes ..
STEP 1:

Quickly mix the egg yolks in with the HOT melted chocolate -- do this calmly but quickly because if you leave your egg yolks in the hot chocolate for too long they will start to cook and you will end up with lumpy cooked mousse.

(this is the hardest bit, this is the reason you do not want to be interrupted and the reason you want a handle on your chocolate pan because (believe me) trying to manage a hot bowl with a tea towel slows you down. )

(I didn't take a picture of it mixed together for obvious reasons but just pretend the next pic looks like the chocolate has egg in it)

STEP 2

Then quickly fold your Chocolate and egg yolk mix into the whipped cream (cooling the chocolate and thus stopping the egg yolks from cooking further)

Take a breath because that was the HARDEST bit .. nothing to it right!?

STEP 3

mix your peaked egg whites into the cream, chocolate and egg yolk mix

Mixing mixing until everything has been mixed really well.. (this might take a while)

NOW here is your mousse.

Spoon into anything you like ( This mixture calls for a litre of cream so remember you are going to get ALOT of mousse.. it is SOOO yummy though you will need alot for it to stay in the fridge for more than one day but you can always halve the recipe.. or why not try marble mousse? Make a white chocolate batch and a chocolate batch then using a skewer combine them to make marble mousse.. mm yum)

Leave your mixed mousse in the fridge to set

p.s: I said it was easy-- I didn't say it was healthy