Soft & Fluffy Chocolate Mousse Recipe

Image by Chiew Pang

It's quite amazing how much terrible Chocolate mousse I have tasted considering it is such a simple recipe! At least mine is. A good mousse should be soft and fluffy, yet firm, not runny.

Ingredients:

Egg whites (one to one-and-a-half egg per person)

30-40g of dark chocolate (50% cocoa) per person

And, that's it!

1. Melt the chocolate in a medium-sized bowl (au bain-marie or in the microwave). If you're doing it in the microwave, 30-40 seconds ought to be enough. Don't overdo it. It should be slightly lumpy - stir the warm chocolate to dissolve the lumps. In any case, I like to leave traces of small lumps of chocolate.

2. Mount the egg whites until soft peaks form.

3. Fold the whites into the melted chocolate, a little at a time.

4. Scoop the mixture into ramekins or wine glasses. If you wish, garnish the mousse with a walnut or hazelnut in the middle.

5. Leave them in the fridge to cool, preferably overnight.

See? No cream, no yolks, no sugar, no frills and fancy! Just whites and chocolate for the perfect mousse. The simple test for a mousse is to invert the ramekin. If the mousse stays in place, it's ready. If it makes a mess, ouch!

In Livebinders:    Death by Chocolate
    

Dying for chocolate? Here's one cake to die for!

I'm surrounded by chocoholics, so every now and then, I like to come up with an invention or an adaptation or two. I baked this for my son's 12th birthday and christened it 'Devil in Disguise'. It's similar in taste and texture to my brownies, but yet subtly different. For one thing, it doesn't use flour. Here's the recipe.

Don't forget to look at this post, too: Cooking Verbs

Ingredients:

(Note that weights are approximate as my weighing machine has gone a little loopy!)

5 eggs

200g dark chocolate

150g sugar

200g butter

100g hazelnuts

100g almonds

Procedure:

1. Melt the butter together with the chocolate in a bowl. Mix it well and let it cool.

2. Separate the egg whites from the yolk.

3. Whisk the yolks with the sugar until it's creamy and almost white.

4. Ground the hazelnuts and almonds together. I like to leave them a little coarse, so I can feel my teeth grinding into them!

5. Add the nuts to the yolk mixture. Mix well. Pour and mix in the melted chocolate.

6. Mount the egg whites in a bowl until stiff. Remember to avoid any fat (including the yolk) from getting into the bowl. The presence of fat will prevent the whites from ever mounting.

7. Fold the whites into this mixture, little by little.

8. Grease a cake mould, and pour the mixture into it with TLC.

9. Now, here comes the trick of the devil. Cover the mould with aluminium foil. Place the mould on an oven tray and pour a couple of glasses of water onto the tray. What we're doing here is effectively baking it à la bain-marie. The foil keeps the moisture in, so you won't end up with a dry chocolate cake, like most are.

10. Bake it in a pre-heated oven at 175ºC for about one and a half hour.

11. Remove it to cool.

12. Enjoy it!

If you do make it, let me know how it went, and send me some photos!

Tip: When having it from the fridge, take it out about an hour before consumption, unless you like yours hard. ;-)

How to make Finger-Licking Succulent Chocolate Brownies!

Each time I make this, I get inundated (well, I do like a bit of exaggeration here and there!) with requests for the recipe, so I've decided to publish it here. It's a very simple recipe, and doesn't need much elaboration at all. If you follow my instructions to the letter, I'll guarantee that you'll be the toast of the party!

Don't forget to look at this post, too: Cooking Verbs

Ingredients:

200g dark chocolate (I use Nestlé dessert chocolate)
150g brown sugar
150g butter
150g wholemealflour (can be 75g white & 75g wholemeal)
150g walnuts, coarsely grounded
4 eggs
pinch of salt
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
vanilla essence (optional)
icing sugar

Procedure:

1. Melt chocolate together with the butter (à la bain-marie or in the microwave) in a fairly large mixing bowl. Let it cool a little.

2. Add sugar to this chocolate mixture, followed by the eggs and the salt. Mix well with a spatula. There isn't any need to beat or whisk the mixture.

3. Add the bicarbonate of soda to the flour and sieve them into the bowl, mixing continually. Add the walnuts and the vanilla essence.

4. Pour into a greased rectangular mould y bake in a preheated oven @ 175ºC for 30 mins.

Tip: maintain moisture in the oven by adding a small bowl of water.

5. Remove the mould from the oven and let it cool for several hours.

6. At this stage, the outside will be crusty, but the inside will be soft, almost uncooked. So, wait till it has cooled down sufficiently, then place it in the fridge. I normally leave it in the fridge overnight, but if you're in a hurry, several hours of refrigeration ought to be enough to solidify the middle a little.

7. Remove the cake from the mould, cut into small squares & sprinkle with icing sugar. Serve and bask in your newfound glory!

Do let me know of the outcome when you've tried it!