‘Easy’ Chocolate Mousse

I call this ‘easy’ dairy free chocolate mousse, but I am well aware that ‘easy’ for most people is popping to the shop and buying some. Even so, whether you eat dairy or not, I don’t think any shop bought chocolate mousse can ever really compare with the delightfully rich homemade variety.

This is definitely a grown up version – rich, chocolatey and gently flavoured with coffee for extra depth and flavour. So although this is not as easy as buying ready made I would encourage you all to try this, as we all deserve something as scrumptious as this for a treat.

Serves four generously. Takes 25 minutes, plus chilling time of at least 1 hour.

Ingredients:

• 100g dark chocolate
• 1tbsp water
• 1 heaped tsp instant coffee
• 15g dairy free butter
• 10g Trex
• 2 eggs
• 35g caster sugar (needed as 20g and 15g in the recipe)
• 80ml dairy free cream
• 1 heaped tsp icing sugar, plus extra for dusting

1. Break the chocolate into small pieces and place in a glass bowl with the water, instant coffee, butter and Trex. Place the bowl over simmering water (take care that the water does not touch the bowl) and leave to gently melt.
2. Separate the eggs. Add 20g of caster sugar to the egg yolks and whisk until pale and roughly doubled in size – And when lifted, the whisk should leave a trail that disappears after a second or two.
3. Whisk the egg whites until they reach the soft peak stage, then slowly add in the remaining 15g of sugar as you whisk. Stop when all of the sugar is incorporated and your egg whites are smooth and glossy.
4. Add the icing sugar to the dairy free cream and whip until light and airy. I have never found a dairy free cream that behaves like proper cream when whipped, so stop once it is noticeably lighter in texture and full of air bubbles.
5. Take a heaped tablespoon of the chocolate mixture and mix into the egg yolks until combined. Then pour the now chocolatey egg yolk mixture into the rest of the chocolate, and gently mix until combined.
6. Fold the cream into the chocolate mixture, and then lastly fold in the egg whites. Fold until no more white patches of egg whites can be seen.
7. Divide between four dessert bowls and leave to chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
8. Dust with icing sugar immediately before serving and top with hazelnuts if desired.