This recipe is courtesy of the legendary chef Raymond Blanc (from the Guardian).
No butter. Just 3 simple ingredients. I cannot wait to make it.
Serves: 4
Preparation time: 20 mins
Cooking time: n/a
This recipe is best prepared 1 day in advance and left covered in the fridge
Ingredients
180g dark chocolate, at least 66% cocoa solids, finely chopped (Raymond says, "Do use the best quality of chocolate. With 70% cocoa solids you can expect the best chocolate experience!")
240g / 8 egg whites, free-range/organic
30g / 2 tbsp fructose sugar
Method
Place the chocolate in a large bowl set over a pan of hot water and leave to melt over a low heat. Turn the heat off when liquid.
In an electric mixer, (not on full power) whisk the egg whites and fructose until they form soft peaks. (By whisking egg whites, you can 'harvest' the air by trapping tiny air bubbles inside a network of protein. However, if you over whisk the egg whites, they will become thick and grainy, lose volume and separate into a dry froth and a runny liquid.)
Whisk in 1/3 of the egg whites to lighten the mixture and immediately fold in the remaining egg white with a large spatula. Do not over mix at this stage as you will knock all the tiny bubbles of air out and be left with a dense mousse.
Pour into a glass bowl or individual glasses and leave to set in the fridge for 2 hours or until required.
Variations
Baked chocolate fondant
Dilute 12g of arrowroot (or cornflour) with a tbsp of water and fold it into the chocolate mousse. Fill small oven proof moulds (buttered and lined with a 1/2 cocoa powder half 1/2 caster sugar mixture) 2/3 of the way up the mould and bake in a preheated oven (170C) for 6-7 minutes. The chocolate fondant should be cooked on the outside and melting in the centre.
Warm chocolate soup
You could also take the chocolate mousse and fill a soufflé mould, place in a bain marie and gently warm in a pre-heated oven at 170C for 6-8 minutes depending on the size of your mould. This will give you a lovely warm chocolate soup which will start to soufflé on top.
