Chocolate crème fraîche mousse

Spoonfuls of chocolate mousse are bliss. I add crème fraîche to my recipe, as it makes the chocolate sing. And always that little bit of salt and vanilla to make it hit the high notes.

MAKES 750G INGREDIENTS

150g crème fraîche

150ml whipping cream 100g egg (approx 2 eggs) 100g egg yolk (from approx 5 eggs)

100g caster sugar

80g light corn syrup

200g dark chocolate (60-70 per cent cocoa solids), chopped ½ tsp vanilla bean paste

½ tsp sea salt flakes

METHOD

Put the crème fraîche and cream in the bowl of an electric stand mixer and whip to medium peaks. Scrape the cream mix into another bowl and chill in the fridge.

Without cleaning out the mixer bowl, whisk the eggs and egg yolks on high speed for about five minutes. Just after the whisking begins, put the sugar and corn syrup into a 20cm-wide saucepan and bring to the boil over a medium-high heat, stirring with a heatproof spatula. The mix will look like a clumpy paste at first, then will melt and thin out as it heats.

As soon as the sugar syrup boils, turn the mixer off and quickly scrape the syrup on to the whisked egg. Stopping the mixer to add the syrup prevents it from flying around the side of the bowl and not fully mixing with the egg.

Whisk on high speed for about five minutes as it cools.

Meanwhile, fill the empty syrup pan with 5cm of water and bring to the boil. There’s no need to clean the pan, as we are using it as a double boiler – and this will also help clean the pan, so win-win!

Put the chocolate in a 25cm heatproof bowl and place it on the pan. Turn the heat off straight away and allow the chocolate to melt. This should time perfectly with the egg foam whipping and cooling.

Check the temperature of the egg foam – it should be cool, thick and moussey. Whisk in the vanilla and salt.

As soon as the chocolate has melted, remove the bowl from the heat and cool for five minutes.

Fold one third of the egg foam into the chocolate with a small balloon whisk and then fold in the remainder of the foam. Finally, fold in the chilled whipped cream (if the whipped cream is incorporated while the chocolate base is too warm, the cream can melt and deflate the mousse. It will have a hefty mouthfeel but still taste great).

Chill the mix for about one hour until set. This will keep for four days refrigerated. It also freezes and then thaws like a dream.