Instant Chocolate Mousse

When I first made chocolate mousse, when I was about 10 years old, my sister, a devoted chocolate lover steadfastly refused to eat it as it contained raw egg. She has a "thing" about eggs (the worst thing for her is finding stray pieces of egg shell in her food). Come to think of it my mother also loathed eggs while pregnant with her so you'd suppose this has been passed on to her. This recipe is ideal for her and anyone who dislikes the idea of eating raw egg. It's also ideal for those short on time, who don't have hours to wait for a mousse to set.

It is ludicrously easy and sets straight away. The only thing that you might find is that it takes a while to melt the marshmallows (and don't forget the water like I almost did, it will burn if the marshmallows are sitting at the bottom of the pot) and I wanted to set aside some time for the chocolate mixture to cool so that my thick whipped cream didn't collapse. I set the pot of melted chocolate in a cold water bath and within 5-10 minutes while I was whipping the cream it had started to set and cooled well enough to fold in the cream. I used milk chocolate as I had used up all my dark chocolate on other things and didn't have the time to buy some. The most fun part about this apart from eating it is dolloping it in the glass, it has the perfect dolloping texture and holds its dolloped shape. And whatever you do, don't refrigerate it like I did, it becomes a bit too hard and loses it light mousiness. Keep it at room temperature and it will be lovely, soft and light.

Easy Chocolate Mousse by Nigella Lawson from Nigella Express

Serves 4-6

INGREDIENTS

• 150grams mini marshmallows

• 50grams soft butter

• 250grams best-quality semisweet chocolate, chopped into small pieces

• 60ml hot water from a recently boiled kettle

• 250ml heavy cream

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

Step 1 - Put the marshmallows, butter, chocolate, and water in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Put the saucepan on the stove over fairly gentle heat to melt, stirring every now and again. Remove from heat to cool.

Step 2 - Meanwhile, whip the cream with the vanilla until thick and then fold into the cooling chocolate mixture until you have a smooth, cohesive mixture. Pour/scrape into 4 glasses or small dishes, about ¾ cup each in capacity, or 6 smaller (½ cup) ones, and chill until you want to eat. The sooner the better! And do not refrigerate if you can help it.

Recipe by Nigella Lawson from Nigella Express