Today is my real man’s 50th
birthday and I didn’t make him a cake!
No wait – I had my reasons. The
thing is for many years our friend Carol has been in charge of providing him
with cake and his birthday is no exception.
As I fully expected she did make him a cake but, here’s the rub, it has
a note attached saying "Needs a few days maturing (like you)” so it couldn’t actually be eaten on The Day.
I didn’t panic; I just calmly made his
favourite chocolate mousse. This is a
recipe I have been using pretty well since time began and it has always been
popular with punters and friends alike. What took it to new heights, however,
in the selling department was my adding a description to the menu …
... the reason I said "inexplicable" is because I have no idea why they happen. Every time I make this mousse I wonder if they'll be there and they always are!
Dark Chocolate Mouse marbled with Cream
& Brandy (as it happens) ~ with inexplicable etc. etc. etc.
This makes quite a lot – enough for 6-8 I
would have thought.
Handy hint – to break chocolate I usually
throw it onto the floor, still wrapped of course.
285g
dark chocolate – broken
85g
butter
5
egg whites
5
egg yolks (convenient!)
50g
caster sugar – divided into 2 x 25g
480ml
double cream
tot
of brandy, rum or whatever
•
Put the chocolate and butter
into a bowl and melt in accordance with the instructions under Tips, hints,good ideas etc.
•
Whisk together the egg whites
and 25g of caser sugar till stiff.
•
In a separate bowl whisk the
egg yolks and the rest of the sugar till creamy.
•
In yet another bowl whisk the
cream and brandy together till thick.
•
Fold together the yolks and
whites then fold in the chocolate. Folding
is essential here, not stirring, as you need to keep all the air that has been
whipped in earlier.
•
Fold in the cream – I do it
partially for a marbled effect.
•
Put in a pretty bowl and chill
till needed. This keeps for several days
if you don’t test it too much – see below.
Here is the mousse hiding in the fridge (I couldn't find the R!), I tried to take one with the candles alight but I was useless!
At one time, when I ran the kitchen of a
very busy island resort in the Caribbean , I made what felt like gallons of the stuff every day. Having always been a stickler for quality
control, especially where chocky is concerned, I used to assiduously check the
mousse every time I went into the cold room (several times an hour) till I
developed borderline high cholesterol and decided it was probably keeping OK on
its own!
This afternoon we went to Charlestown
Whilst moseying about we came upon a
friendly chap running a mobile farm shop from an old electric milk float. Seems to extend a warm welcome to everyone!
I nicked that picture off their site – but
took this one myself…
He had some tempting local fruit and veg
for sale, homemade breads, plus my favourite Spicy Red Onion Marmalade, Raw
Chocolate and all sorts of goodies.
Might have to pop down to Charlestown
Smelly Cat – I just said that because
apparently it is trending!
2 comments:
The little lumps most likely happen because you're folding melted chocolate into a fluffy mix.
Try this: Stir the chocolate into the yolk/sugar mix until smooth, then fold in the whites into that mix (about a quarter quite roughly to loosen the mix and then the rest gently in stages).
However, I love having bits of solid choc in my mousse, and will actually add chopped choc into the finished mousse (before chilling).
I relish the lumps of chocolate too - a real boon!
Post a Comment