thebigfatnoodle

Boozy chocolate mousse with a crusty sugar topping

Posted by thebigfatnoodle on November 22, 2011 · 12 Comments 

Mmmmmm, chocolate…..

Boozy chocolate mousse with a sugar topped coat

It’s been a while since I made this chocolate mousse for my husband.

If you follow my blog, you’ll know that I’m not really that crazy about chocolate but I do love these chocolate mousse pots. The only thing is that mousse is a bit boring to eat; by that, I mean that there’s really not much texture beyond the silkiness of the chocolate melting on your tongue. So, I decided to burn some sugar over the top of the mousse, like the sugared coating you get on a creme brulee.

The result? Well, I LOVED it!

When your spoon cracks open the sugar and falls into a soft cloud of chocolate mousse, it is absolute chocolate heaven. Plus the added crunch of the burnt sugar was exactly the additional texture I’ve been looking for to set off the soft chocolate mousse.

Chocolate creme brulee. But with boozy chocolate mousse instead of chocolate custard

It’s best you make this mousse the day/night before and only add the sugar topping before you’re about to eat it. Funnily enough, these chocolate mousse pots really taste their best when you let them set in the fridge for 2-3 days. During that time, the armagnac/cognac you add really has a chance to permeate the chocolate. Plus the mousse firms up a little, which actually results in a thicker but silkier chocolate texture when you eat it.

Crunchy sugar top. Super soft and silky mousse on the inside.

I love these little chocolate pots so I hope you will too!

Chocolate mixture. Meringue mixture. Combined to become a beautiful chocolate mousse.

Boozy chocolate mousse (makes 8-10 chocolate pots)

100 grams vanilla sugar (or plain caster sugar and 1 teaspoon of good vanilla essence)

5 egg yolks

Keep 3 of the egg whites for this recipe (either freeze the other 2 egg whites for future use or make an egg white omelette the next day)

1 heaped tablespoon of chocolate powder

150ml of double cream

70 grams of salted or unsalted butter (I personally prefer using salted) – cut into pieces

150 grams of good 70% chocolate (broken into pieces)

3 generous tablespoons of armagnac (or you can replace with rum, cognac or brandy or cointreau – whatever alcohol you like!)

Put 40g of the sugar, all 5 egg yolks, the cocoa powder and the cream together into a bowl. Place the bowl over the simmering saucepan of boiling water (make sure your bowl doesn’t touch the boiling water) and mix until everything’s combined. You want to keep stirring this until the mixture coats the back of the spoon (don’t worry it if looks like not all the cocoa powder’s dissolved because it never dissolves fully whenever I’ve made the mousse).

Turn off the heat and start adding the butter and chocolate pieces, a bit at a time, and keep mixing until everything’s melted and you’ll have beautiful bowl of dark, velvety and glossy chocolate.  At this time, stir in your alcohol of choice!

Leave to the side to cool and in another bowl (make sure this doesn’t have any trace of egg yolk!), beat the egg whites until you form stiff white peaks and start adding the remaining sugar in staggered amounts (a tablespoon at a time) until the egg white mixture is shiny and stiff (like the consistency of a thick  meringue mixture).

Spoon a dollop of the egg white mixture into the chocolate and start folding it in until all the egg white is combined with the chocolate.

ladle the mousse into cups/bowls and leave to set overnight or ideally for 2-3 days before eating.

Creating the sugared topping

Over your set mousse, spoon about 1 teaspoon of demerara or brown sugar over the top and spread the sugar evenly over the top. Fire up a blow torch and burn the sugar until it caramelises and melts evenly. Pop these back into the fridge and then with a spoon, crack open the sugared topping to dive into the chocolate mousse!

Boozy chocolate mousse

Lots of love

thebigfatnoodle