This was Winston Churchill’s favourite recipe. It is actually a French recipe and is called Crème Marie-Louise.
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 6oz dark chocolate
- 5 eggs
- 1 small coffee cup of very strong sweet black coffee
- 1oz Caster Sugar
- 5 fl oz double or whipping cream
Method
- Take a pyrex (or similar) dish and a saucepan in which the dish can sit without its bottom touching the water.
- Fill the saucepan with enough water so that you can boil the water to melt the chocolate in the dish.
- Pour the cup of strong coffee (good instant will do) into the bowl, add the chocolate and heat until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth.
- Remove from the saucepan.
- Separate the egg yolks from the whites and beat them.
- Whisk the yolks into the chocolate mixture. Leave to cool to room temperature.
- Meanwhile, whisk the egg whites and sugar until firm.
- Whisk a third of this into the chocolate, gently folding in the rest.
- Whisk the cream until light and airy and also fold this in to your mixture (you can omit the cream if you’re watching the calories).
- For individual mousses, pour into ramekins or tall stemmed glasses. For a single mousse pour into a suitable dish.
- Place in the fridge for at least an hour or so until well set.
- Remove from the fridge 20 minutes or so before serving, to give the chocolate a chance to soften a little.
- Decorate with chocolate leaves or curls (see separate recipes) if required, and serve with a light biscuit such as an Amaretti.