The challenge of chocolate mousse

Chocolate mousse - ready to serve

The making of chocolate mousse this weekend was a challenge on a number of levels, although in itself chocolate mousse is not a difficult dish. The secret is ensuring the elements are not over whipped or beaten so that they combine, but retain their lightness and fluffiness when refrigerated.

Firstly, getting started again on the Cooking Class Cookbook project after a fewweeks of culinary apathy was the biggest challenge that Scott had to face.

Secondly, this was the weekend that our niece was coming to stay over - she likes to help cook and this meant Scott had to find a recipe that would work well for a 6-year old to assist with. It was thought chocolate mousse, with relatively few (4) steps and a minimum of danger (aside from melting chocolate and using an electric mixer) would be well within the capabilities of both Scott and his assistant.

So without further ado, let's get down to business!

Ingredients are simple, namely:

• 125g dark chocolate
• 1 tablespoon brandy
• 4 eggs, separated
• 1 cup of cream, extra for serving

The recipe says it will serve 4. These servings are quite large, so you can also serve 6 with slightly smaller servings.

Step 1 - melt the chocolate in a double boiler over simmering water. Once melted, take the chocolate off the heat, allow to cool slightly and stir in the brandy then the egg yolks. Beat until the mixture is smooth and thick.

Step 2 - Whip the cream, taking care not to overwhip, otherwise it will be hard to fold in the cream. Once whipped, fold the cream into the chocolate mixture.

Step 3 - Whip the egg whites until soft peaks form, making sure again not to overbeat them as this will make it hard to fold them in.

Step 4 - Fold in half the egg whites into the chocolate mixture, then fold in the second half of the egg whites. Once combined, spoon the mixture into either 4-6 individual dishes or one large dish.

Step 5 - Refrigerate the mousse until firm. To serve, whip some extra cream and place on top of the mousse and shave chocolate over the top of the cream/mousse. (Tip: Use a vegetable peeler to grate the chocolate - this gives chunkier shards of chocolate.)

Step 6 - EAT!!!!!