Recipe From What's For Lunch, Honey?
Makes 12 small portions
Ingredients
100g good dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
1-2 tablespoons Bailye’s Crème Caramel
4 eggs, separated
Pinch of salt
80g sugar
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
Optional: flaked almonds
Method
Melt the chocolate over a water bath, where a metal bowl is placed over a pot of simmering water. Set aside.
In a clean mixing bowl whisk the egg whites with salt until frothy soft peaks have formed. Slowly sprinkle 40g sugar whisking the whites making sure they do not get too stiff.
Place another bowl over a water bath and using clean beaters whisk egg yolks with the remaining sugar until thick, pale and very creamy. The volume should have doubled at the end.
Gently fold in the melted chocolate, Bailey’s Crème Caramel and the cocoa powder using a spatula.
Finally, carefully fold in the egg whites, making sure not to deflate them and keeping it as fluffy as you can.
Pour the mousse into a metal bowl and refrigerate for at least 2-3 hours. Alternatively you can divide the mousse into individual dessert glasses.
If you are planning on serving these in the egg shells, you can either fill the mousse into a piping bag or spoon into the prepared egg containers. Sprinkle with some flaked almonds.
Tip and Tricks:
As this is an egg-white based mousse, the egg whites need to be beaten into a froth (soft peaks). The air bubbles trapped in the froth provides the mousse with its distinctive light and airy taste. Care should be taken not to beat the egg whites to the point that they become stiff. Stiff egg whites will be difficult to mix evenly into the rest of the ingredients.
The egg whites need to be "folded" into the other ingredients rather than stirred. Stirring the mousse will burst many of the precious air bubbles, which will result in a flat mousse. The basic folding technique consists of sliding the spatula or wooden spoon along the bottom of the mixing bowl and then lifting it up the side, keeping the spoon horizontal. This motion helps to mix the ingredients without losing the air bubbles trapped in the beaten egg.
The mousse needs to be put in the fridge to cool for a min of 2-3 hours prior to serving. Cover the dessert forms with wax paper or plastic wrap so that they don not absorb any aromas from other items in your refrigerator.
As this mousse contains raw egg it should be eaten the same day as it is prepared.
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