Having gone on and one about Delia’s wonderful chocolate mousse recipe, which I will continue to make (over and over again) I decided this New Year’s Eve to try something a little different and turned to my recent favourite Ottolenghi for inspiration.
His recipe, unlike Delia’s, includes butter and sugar, and is accompanied by a Marscapone cream which includes sugar and Baileys Irish Cream.
You will need the following, or double, as I did, for a large bowlful and enough to feed at least 12.
3 free-range eggs
100g caster sugar
300g dark chocolate, broken into small pieces
125g unsalted butter
500ml whipping cream
Cocoa powder, to finish (optional)
For the Baileys cream
200g mascarpone cheese
75ml Baileys
30g caster sugar
Equipment.
An electric mixer.
An electric hand whisk (you can do everything with the latter but it will take you longer).
A double saucepan, or a bowl which will sit over a pan of simmering water.
Beat the eggs and sugar together until they are light and creamy (at least 8 minutes).
Melt the chocolate and butter together in the double saucepan until the chocolate is entirely melted.
Whip the cream just a little until it begins to thicken.
Beat the chocolate mixture into the eggs and sugar, and then gently fold in the cream. Pour into your serving bowl and allow to chill thoroughly.
For the Baileys cream beat all the ingredients together until smooth.
Follow Ottolenghi’s full instructions here.
The mousse turned out to be easy to make, completely decadent, rich, smooth and chocolatey. You can’t eat very much of it.
I made the Marscapone cream leaving out the sugar, and adding rum as well as Baileys which made it more alcoholic (obviously) and, I thought, a slightly better foil to the sweetness of the mousse.
I also defrosted a couple of packets of frozen mixed berries. Once defrosted I drained them, reduced the liquid by boiling and then added it back to the fruits. No added sugar.
You can serve this from three bowls (mousse, cream, fruits), or create individual deserts as I did a couple of days later from the leftovers using large glasses and putting a spoonful of mousse, topped by the cream, topped by berries.
Both disappeared at speed of light, which is why I don’t have my own pics to show you, when I make it again I will update this post.
