Best Chocolate Mousse EVA!!

Chocolate is not cheating! After a salty meal, you need a little bit of sweet. This is living, not cheating.

Ali Landry

The other week a friend positively insisted that I try a recipe for a chocolate mousse.

“You’ll LOVE it, it’s got Baileys in it!!” – enthused my friend. So, two things that people assume relative to my heritage;

As I’m Irish I will LOVE anything with booze in it! Well, that’s not strictly unfair, I like a glass of wine and on hot days like we’ve had this week, a beer and I do enjoy a full-on trifle from time to time, (try Nigella Lawson's Boozy British Christmas Trifle – yummy!!).

The second thing is that I’m absolutely bound to like Baileys Irish Cream – hmmmmm…… at this point we need to agree to disagree, I mean, it’s okay I suppose however, it’s one of those things I’ll drink every twelve months or so as a reminder as to why I don’t really like it.

My friend is almost as big a foody as I am so I was really rather torn but, in the end, decided to give it a go. Off I trot therefore to procure the necessary ingredients. I wander down the hooch isle of my local supermecado and spy the booze infused creamy liquor. It’s in a huge 70cl bottle and I’m thinking, “I’m never going to get through that shite in a month of Sundays!” So, I’m staring at the shelf in the hope a smaller bottle of the dreadful stuff will materialise before my very eyes, as I’m staring I spy, Kahlua Salted Caramel Liqueur – I’m thinking, well, it can’t be any worse than Bailey’s and I like salted caramel so why not.

So, what was described as “Baileys Irish cream chocolate mousse” has become, “Lisa’s, (Yes, it’s so good I’m copywriting it!!), Silky Kahlua Salted Caramel chocolate mousse”.

It’s drop dead gorgeous but has hardly any ingredients and it’s a doddle to put together! Perfect for when you want to impress at a dinner party or just curl up on the sofa watching some comfort TV, one little spoonful at a time.

The base is a classic French chocolate mousse, which uses separated eggs, the yolks to add body and lushness and the whisked whites to give it that wonderful lightness, (this step also removes the calories, no, it does, really!). The Kahula gives a grown-up alcohol edge to the chocolate mousse and to the whipped cream topping. The star here is the mousse so don’t be tempted as I was originally to be a little over zealous with the Kahula – sadly it took me a couple of attempts to get the volumes right 😉

As this recipe relies on a very small amount of ingredients, make sure you get the very best, the freshest of fresh free-range eggs and the best dark chocolate you can find. The recipe I was given suggested an obscure brand, personally, if I’m cooking with dark chocolate I tend to use Åkesson’s 75% Criollo Cocoa, I get it from Amazon Prime but I’m sure other outlets stock it also.

So, here’s how to put it together;

Separate the yolks from 3 large fresh free-range eggs. Whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt until you have soft peaks and set aside.

Break up the chocolate into small pieces and gently heat in a small glass bowl placed over a sauce pan of gently simmering water until it’s smooth and velvety, (don’t let the bottom of the bowl touch the water).

Gently heat the Kahula and the cream, you just want to make it warm, don’t over heat it, it’s just to prevent any chilling of the chocolate as you add it.Turn off the heat under the saucepan and chocolate then add the warm Kahula to the chocolate and stir in gently.

Let the mixture cool slightly then add the egg yokes and combine with a balloon whisk, do it by hand, you don’t need your KitchenAid for this!You’re looking for a slightly thicker, glossy consistency.

Gently fold in the egg whites, until the mousse is smooth and has a uniform chocolate colour. Transfer the mousse into an assortment of small glasses or bowls, I used some shot glasses which may sound a little small but honestly, the intense chocolate kick from this means you won’t really want much more.Stick them in the fridge for at least an hour or until set.

To finish it off, whisk some double cream with a little more of the Kahula and pipe over the top of the set mixture.If you want to be really chefy dust them with a little cocoa powder.

Job Done! Now sit back and wait for the oooos and ahhhhs around the table 😊

Ingredients

For the mousse

200 g (7 oz) Åkesson’s 75% Criollo Cocoa

200 ml (7 oz) double (heavy) cream

50 ml Kahlua Salted Caramel

3 large eggs separated

Pinch salt

For the whipped cream

200 ml (7 oz) double (heavy) cream

3 tbsp icing sugar or more, to taste

50 ml Kahlua Salted Caramel