Chocolate Mousse

This is the most divine chocolate mousse I ever tasted! It is one of my favourite recipes and you really wow your guests with this dish. The most tricky bit of this recipe is splitting the eggs and beating the egg whites to stiff peaks. make sure your bowl and utensils are clean and fat free. Even if there's a tiny amount of yolk in the bowl with the whites, you can beat until your arm falls off, but you won't get stiff peaks. A fool proof method is to break one egg at the time into a small cup. Then pour the egg white into the big bowl and break another egg above the small cup. This will prevent you from throwing the bowl through the window! And it will save you on eggs. Trust me, I've been there...

The Brandy gives a nice touch to the mousse. You can also leave the Brandy out if you want an alcohol free chocolate mousse. But I have to tell you it won't be the same!
Serves 6.

Ingredients:
- 200 gr good quality chocolate, chopped (I use Whittaker's 50% cocoa)
- 30 gr unsalted butter, diced
- 5 eggs
- 2 Tbsp Brandy
- 3 Tbsp caster sugar

Utensils:
- 2 big bowls
- 1 heatproof small bowl
- Cup
- Electric mixer or hand mixer
- Large metal spoon
- Scale
- Small pot that can hold your small heatproof bowl,
   filled with about 2 fingers of water
- Spoon
- Knife
- Teaspoon and Tablespoon for measuring
- Big serving bowl or small lemonade glasses
- Stove and fridge


Preparation:
Put the pot with water on the stove and heat the water. Do not let the water boil or you'll burn the chocolate. Put the chopped chocolate and diced butter in the small heatproof bowl and place the bowl on the pot. Make sure the water in the pot does not touch the bowl. Melt the chocolate and butter, stirring occasionally. Do not let the chocolate get too hot or it will be oily and go grainy when stirring in the egg yolks. As soon as most of the chocolate has melted, take the bowl of the pot (careful not to burn yourself) and stir a couple of times until all the chocolate pieces have been dissolved.

In the meantime, separate the eggs. Combine the egg yolks with the Brandy in one bowl and the egg whites and caster sugar in the second bowl. Gently stir the chocolate mixture in the egg yolks. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks. (They will look thick and glossy.)This will take approximately 6-7 minutes. You can test if the whites are stiff enough by holding the bowl upside down. If the whites will stick, then your good. Don't put the bowl upside down over your head though. Make sure you trust your skills enough before you do that. If you really want to challenge yourself, do it when nobody is watching!

Using the large metal spoon, stir a 1/4 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture to enlighten it. Fold in the remaining egg whites, gently but thoroughly, leaving no white streaks or lumps in the mixture. If you beat vigorously then all the air you've been trying to create inside the whites while mixing them, will disappear and you'll get a dense, slimy mousse that is not nice to eat. Let alone serving it to guests. Pour the mixture into the serving bowl or the small glasses and refrigerate until set.

Really delicious with a good dollop of cream and a big scoop of ice cream. You can also scatter some chocolate shavings over the mousse before serving and serve with a little bit of the Brandy. If there's any left...




Note: This recipe is not suitable for pregnant women, as it contains raw eggs!