Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Chocolate Mousse and a cure for a hot day!


I had my first taste of Mousse when I was about 16 - Man, it was yucky. It was a strawberry mousse and the airy texture looked very much like the hair sculpturing mousse that I used at the time - think Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, Duran Duran hairstyles, we all needed mousse for our high tide fringes - you teenagers in the 80s will know exactly what I'm on about. That strawberry whatever really put me off mousse for many years. It was not until I had a Chocolate mousse torte at a french patisserie here some uh-mmm 20 years later that I discovered that the REAL THING had a BODY to it. It didn't feel like FOAM in my mouth. In fact, it felt silky and tasted really good.




I found myself fancying Chocolate mousse more and more, so much so that last Christmas saw me featuring a Gianduja Mousse Torte for dessert. I LOVE Chocolate pots too, but in this scorching heat, you want something lighter on your taste buds. There's a bonus too, it's sooooooo easy to prepare. I bet Paige could make it all by herself with her eyes closed.



Easy Peasy Chocolate Mousse
Makes approximately 6 espresso sized cups

70g good quality dark chocolate
1 tsp granulated gelatine
2 tbsp hot water
1 egg at room temperature
1 egg yolk at room temperature
150 ml thickened cream



Melt the chocolate and set aside. Place the gelatine in a bowl and dissolve with hot water, stirring continuously. Strain the gelatine to make sure you get rid of any lumps. In a separate bowl, beat the egg and the egg yolk until light and fluffy, then stir in the melted chocolate. Very quickly, mix in the gelatine.



In another bowl, whip the cream until just thickened and then fold into the chocolate mixture. Fill your cups or moulds with the mousse, then refrigerate for at least 3 hours before serving.



Another yummy treat we've been making a lot here are Ribena Icypoles. Yes, I know all about that dirty Ribena scandal - there are probably NO vitamins whatsoever in the syrup, but I didn't LOVE Ribena for the loads of Vitamic C that was supposedly in them. Carol Rode LOVES UNCONDITIONALLY. Enough said.




Icypoles are so quick and easy to make, and the children look forward to having them, especially if they've made it themselves. I know its more convenient to just buy a pack of ready made icypoles but there are so many nasties (additives) in these products. I made sure (in fact, I have a Ribena bottle in front of me) that Ribena has no artificial colors, flavors or sweeteners in it, but if someone proves that is not the case, I shall have to re-evaluate the unconditional love thing.



So, go get the kids an Icypole mold, mom, it does'nt matter what syrup you choose, it's gonna be healthier than the stuff you get from the supermarket freezer. Oh, if anyone wants the recipe for the Icypoles, please e-mail me, I would love to 'chat' with you, and then I'll get paige to tell you how to make the Icypoles.




Last weekend (26th January) was Australia Day! We had an awesome time at our friend's home having dinner and watching the spectacular skyworks. I put a pavlova together for dessert and had Ming record the whole thing hoping to post it on youtube and on my blog. I need to edit the recording but have no idea whatsoever on how to go about it. So, if anyone of you out there can educate me, I'd be very grateful.




Have a great week, EVERYBODY!

29 comments:

Chibog in Chief said...

these choco mousse are sweet but nothing could be much sweeter than the smiling faces of your kids.;they look really pretty...cant wait for mine to grow fast and share wonderful moments like that mom and daughter :-)

Patricia Scarpin said...

Oh, Carol!!!! These are luscious!

Oh, the 80's... bad hair, bad clothes but great music, I love Duran Duran!!! :)

Finla said...

I love the choco mousse. It looks so delicious.
And always really elegant when one serve for a dinner party

Joy said...

I love chocolate mousse. My first taste was at the age of 12. There was no going back. My recipe is not as 'sophisticated' as yours - it's just dark chocolate and double whipped cream :D And it's not bad!

Enjoying your summer, eh? It's darn cold over here! :D

joy
A Pinay In England
The Goddess In You

Brilynn said...

Chocolate mousse is my Dad's favourite, this looks delicious!

Annemarie said...

You've conjured up memories of bad mousses (blech! blech!) and banished them with pictures of your far-superior version. Looks lovely.

daphne said...

oh my goodness... look at the chocolate goodness! *thumbs uP!*

SIG said...

Love the mousse. Have you tried milo icypoles? It's great too! Love your photography.

Big Boys Oven said...

Oh my goodness, one creamy and one so icy! We love the contrast! I want my ice lolipop! Can't wait for your class!

Annette Tan said...

Well, it seems I've missed out on plenty of your posts too! Happy belated birthday to the future Chrissy Hynde (o god, she's not even going to know who that is, is she? :)) But I assure you Chloe, she's very good. Come to think of it, she was in an episode of Friends playing alongside Phoebe.

And now I have a chocolate mousse craving...

Rafe Totengco said...

I miss icypoles! Perfect for the summer!

Veron said...

A lot of restaurants don't get chocolate mousse right which is why I shy away from them but when done right like you have it could be a sublime experience. And the ice candy ... I have great childhood memories of them!

Anonymous said...

Carolll, looks yummmmyyyy...
Let me know when you make choco mousse again, i will definitely come to ur house, even if im not invited!!! hahahah :P
And thanks heaps for having us last time, it was the best mee siam i've ever had!!!
-Fang-

tigerfish said...

Maybe because it was strawberry mousse, that's why it turn out yucky. Or maybe I just not for any strawberry except the fruit itself. Well, give me choc mousse anytime. Yours is divine.

Do you celebrate CNY over in Australia? Gong Xi Fa Cai and have a happy Chinese New Year.

The Downtown Boutique said...

Yes, I was a teen in the 80's...quite an era!

I was just thinking about chocolate mousse the other day, and wanting to find a GOOD recipe. I think I will go and try this...maybe this weekend.

Anonymous said...

Hi Carol, you definately can whip up delicious treats!! Wow so you live in Perth?! Me too!! hahah.. I actually live close to the church you go to!!

Ah just a question, could you please give me the recipe for the chocolate potato cake? I'm dying to make one of those cake

thanks

Dwiana P said...

in this cold weather I think I would like to have a cup of chocolate mousse then seating on the sofa and watching tv.... mmm sounds good. Your chocolate mousse makes me dreaming!

thwany said...

this is so Gourmet.

Ming the Merciless said...

I love GOOD chocolate mousse too. Bad mousse can be REALLY yucky. You know what goes well with GOOD chocolate mousse? A good strong cup of coffee!!

In NYC, I can easily get the blueberry cordial (syrup) at the Greek or Italian grocery stores. Mix that with seltzer water and voila, you have Italian soda. It's my favorite drink in the summer. Flavorful, sweet, light and fizzy.

Eck! Don't even mention Duran Duran! I have photos from the mid-80s where I tried to look like Simon LeBon. The sheer mention of them makes me blush!!

Susan from Food Blogga said...

Oh, this would be so easy-peasy to eat. Even at 8:30 in the morning!

WokandSpoon said...

Icypoles! They look great! And the chocolate mousse - mmmmmmmm!

Annina said...

wooow.... your blog is just... wooow ... fantastic! Lovin it! Go on like these... your kids are sooo cute! Love ur pics and ur writing! greetings (will add ur link on my page.. hope this is ok!) Annina (Ann) - www.anninasfood.blogspot.com

Sylvia said...

In m home the perfect dessert for all occasion is chocolate mouse.easy , quick and delicious. Yours looks delicious and I love the lolly pops

Kajal@aapplemint said...

oh my God ... these are just the thing i'm sure that God made and said to us humans , " here i bless you with heaven on earth " !

They look just perfect !

Jenni said...

Wow, those both look amazing!! Beautiful blog, thanks :)

Cakespy said...

That mousse looks so amazing--like eating creamy cake frosting. YUM.

I love Duran Duran too (guiltily!).

Chibog in Chief said...

happy valentine's dear!! :-)

Nora B. said...

Hi Carol,
I am still staying away from choc mousse because of my first bad experience of having it at one of those hotel buffets. But you make it look and sound so good. Maybe I will let my partner make me some because the first time we met, when he found out that I love cooking etc, he showed off my saying that he makes the best choc mousse. So you can imagine his disappointment when I said. "i don't eat mousse (full stop)" ;-) Never say, never...

You have a good week ahead too!

x Nora

Anonymous said...

Back in the 70's (I hope that I'm not the only one that was cooking back then) I had the most delicious recipe for chocolate/coconut icypoles. They were creamy - with dessicated coconut through them. The kids absolutely loved them. Now I have grand children on the way and the kids have put me on notice that I must find the recipe! Can anyone assist?? I would be very greatful.