Serves: 6-8
Valrhona chocolate is the best you can buy. It is very expensive but its price reflects its quality. If money were no object I would always choose Valrhona to cook with but when times are hard I save it for special occasions. Having said that, the white chocolate is always worth shelling out for as it melts really well and is easy to work with. This mousse could be sickly sweet but the ripple of tart blackcurrant purée cuts through the richness of the chocolate.
Ingredients
- For the blackcurrant purée
- 1 sheet gelatine, (roughly 2g)
- 300g blackcurrants, stalks removed
- 100g caster sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- For the white chocolate mousse
- 250g white chocolate, broken into small pieces
- 45ml milk
- 300ml double cream, left out at room temperature for 1 hour
- 3 egg whites
- 100g caster sugar
Method
- For the blackcurrant purée, soak the gelatine in cold water for 5-10 minutes. Meanwhile, place the fruit, sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan and cook over a low heat, stirring, for about 5-6 minutes until the fruit has softened to a pulp. Take off the heat. Lift the softened gelatine out of the water and stir into the blackcurrants until the gelatine has melted- the residual heat should be enough to melt it. Pour the mixture through a fine sieve and extract as much liquid as possible. Set aside the purée to cool to room temperature.
- For the mousse, place the chocolate and milk in a pudding basin and fit this on top of a saucepan filled with about 2cm water. Place over a low heat and stir until the chocolate has melted. Lift the basin off the pan and leave to cool – to about blood temperature. If the chocolate is too hot it will harden when coming into contact with the cream.
- Whip the cream to soft peaks and fold in the cooled chocolate. In a very clean bowl and with very clean beaters, whisk the egg whites to soft peaks. Gradually whisk in the sugar a tablespoon at a time. The egg whites should be stiff and glossy. Fold into the chocolate mixture.
- Pour about 2/3 of the blackcurrant purée into the base of the serving dish. Pour the remainder into the chocolate mousse and fold in once or twice-no more or you will lose the rippled effect. Pour into the serving bowl. Chill for 5-6 hours until set.
