Chocolate Mousse

At last, a dessert recipe! and why not start with one of the most universally adored desserts!

Now a little confession, one of my chocolate desserts was once famously described as being "challenging" in front of a dozen or so other guests - a word of warning I don't do sweet chocolate desserts!

Ingredients (serves 6)

300 g best quality bitter - sweet chocolate
4 tablespoons strong espresso coffee
40g unsalted butter
2 tablespoons Cointreau
6 medium eggs

Instructions

Break chocolate into a bowl which will sit over a pan of simmering water (a bain-marie) - please ensure bowl does not come into contact with the water. Add the butter and the coffee. As chocolate melts stir occasionally until fully amalgamated.

Remove bowl from pan and add the Cointreau. I use Cointreau to give a gentle orange flavour, but please feel free to add any liqueur that suits your palate!

Separate the egg yolks and white and beat the whites to a "firm peak".

Stir the egg yolks into the chocolate mixture whilst still relatively hot, one at a time - this allows the yolks to cook slightly.

Take a couple of tablespoons of the egg whites and fold into the chocolate mixture, allowing the mixture to loosen somewhat. Now fold the chocolate mixture into the egg whites using a metal spoon. Try to fold gently but ensure that there are no streaks of egg white remaining.

Pour into traditional pots (actually I use espresso cups), cover with cling film and chill in fridge for approximately 6 hours.

Delicious served with very cold pouring cream!

Variation: Occasionally I add very finely ground dry chillies to the chocolate mix to give a surprising but pleasant kick to the desert - not for everyone but interesting nonetheless!