Caroline blogs about one of her favourite puddings to make for dinner parties and family gatherings…

With more and more awareness of the fact that raw eggs are one of the most common causes of food poisoning, I decided a while ago that sadly chocolate mousse was definitely off the menu.

I stopped making my own mayonnaise too in an attempt to avoid the Russian roulette of salmonella but as there are so many good quality mayonnaises available commercially this was less of a problem.

Tiramisu too contains raw eggs but not being a coffee lover this was something that I only ever made for others anyway. The chocolate mousse ban, however, was beginning to get to me and so I was delighted to come across a Nigella recipe which did not contain a single egg.

I made it exactly according to the recipe the first time but have since adapted it slightly to suit my personal taste. Nigella uses good quality dark chocolate, at least 70% cocoa solids. I found this too bitter and now use a third milk chocolate and two thirds plain. I also found the quantities too large for four servings as the mousse is very rich so have reduced the amounts in the recipe by a third.

The recipe is dead easy and very quick to make.

You need:

160 g chocolate (all dark or a mix of dark and milk according to personal preference)
100 g mini marshmallows
35 g butter
40 ml boiling water
180 ml double cream
1 tsp vanilla essence

All you need to make the mousse

Here’s what you do:

1) First of all, break the chocolate into small pieces and put into a saucepan along with the butter, water and the marshmallows. If you can’t find mini marshmallows it is possible to use larger ones cut into smaller pieces but this is a frustrating and sticky process so not to be recommended!

2) Put the saucepan on at a gentle heat and stir occasionally until everything is melted.

Mmmmm marshmallows!

3) Remove from the heat and let it cool while you whip the cream and vanilla essence until thick but not too thick as this makes it harder to get a good smooth consistency when doing the next step.

Melted chocolate

4) Fold into the chocolate mixture and pour into glasses or ramekin dishes. I have found out the hard way that to avoid drips all over the ramekin edges you should decant the mixture from your bowl into a jug and pour from the jug into the dishes or glasses.

The finished product

5) Chill in the fridge until needed. They don’t take long to set so are great if you are in a hurry. Equally they can be made the day before and certainly don’t deteriorate.

The mousses can be decorated however you want. I have used grated chocolate or raspberries in the past.

Another idea that came to me (not yet tried out given my aversion to coffee), is to substitute 40 ml of strong coffee for the water.

However you tweak the recipe I’m sure you will find it easy to make and delicious to eat!