The Old Crone's unbelievably delicious Chocolate Mousse

I really shouldn't call her "The Old Crone" as she is anything but. It started as a joke between us and kinda just stuck.
 Joy, my wife, a.k.a. "The Old Crone" is a fantastic cook so, when she said she planned to make a good, old-fashioned chocolate mousse, I prevailed up on her to write a guest post for Hungry Oke.
 I was there every step of the way, taking pictures, tasting, offering advice and generally getting in the way.

 

How to make a good, old fashioned chocolate mousse 

by Joy Hamann

 “Chocolate mousse,” I told my colleagues when they asked what desert I planned for a dinner party for friends.

 “That one in a box where just add milk?” one asked?

 I was mortified! There is nothing I hate more than the obvious taste of a “boxed” dessert – especially chocolate.

 My fail-safe recipe comes from an old English recipe book I bought years ago. Ingredients are few and easy to come by and it’s quick to make, rich, creamy and with a hint of rum flavour. It can be served in individual dishes or in a large bowl with cream piped around the edges.

You will need:

175g plain chocolate broken into pieces (if you want a richer taste, go with dark chocolate).

30ml strong black coffee

4 eggs, separated. (I couldn’t find my egg separator so I did what I’ve seen the Master Chefs on TV do – used the palm of my hand to hold the yoke while the white ran between my fingers into a bowl).

1 x 15ml spoon rum (I didn’t have rum, but used sherry. Because it doesn’t have as strong a taste as rum, you will need to use more, but be careful not to use too much because it will make your mousse watery.)

To finish you will need:

150ml fresh double cream

1 x 15 ml spoon grated chocolate

Method:

Put the chocolate pieces and coffee in a heatproof bowl over a pan of hot water and heat gently until the chocolate melts, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and leave to cool for a couple of minutes.

Beat the egg yolks and gradually stir into the chocolate mix. Stir in the rum. 

 

Beat the egg whites until stiff, in a clean mixing bowl with an electric or rotary beater or go old-school and use a hand-whisk. When separating the eggs, be careful not to get any yoke into the white. If you do, you'll beat until you are blue in the face and the whites will still not get stiff. 

Once the egg whites are stiff, fold carefully into the chocolate mixture until thoroughly combined. Folding (and not mixing) is important to get a light and fluffy effect.

Spoon into four individual glasses (I used flat champagne glasses) and chill in the fridge for several hours, preferably overnight. Before serving, whip the cream until thick, then pipe a rosette of cream on each mouse and sprinkle with grated chocolate. I used a mixture of white chocolate and biscuit wafer (PS Bar) and the remaining plain chocolate.

Since I don’t have a cream piper, I spooned the whipped cream into a plastic bag, and pushed the air out of the bag, cut a corner to form a piper. It didn’t work as well as expected, so I will soon be investing in a decent cream piper. But the end result was good and my guests certainly enjoyed their fresh, home-made chocolate mousse dessert.