Death By Chocolate Trifle, Ditch the Jelly and Sherry!

I absolutely, completely hate trifle: the jelly (which I hate in general) soaked into the sponge fingers has the most revolting texture, the canned fruit cocktail is abysmal, and cold custard.... oh, cold custard. My brother and my Dad love it (sans the sherry, because neither of them drinks), but I find it disgusting.

However! There are alternatives to traditional trifle for those who, like me, despise its very existence. At the end of the day, a trifle is simply a layered dessert which includes cream, cake soaked in a flavoured syrup, and some sort of other filling like custard and/or jelly and/or mousse. Once you know the basic formula, the ideas generate themselves.

In this trifle, I chopped two chocolate brownies into little cubes and sprinkled them with a simple syrup flavoured with peppermint vodka (which I made myself). I prepared some chocolate custard following this recipe.

I made a rich chocolate mousse by separating one medium (US large) egg, placing the white in a bowl for whipping, and setting the yolk aside. In a heatproof bowl over a pan of warm water I melted 1 ounce (30 grammes) of plain chocolate and 1 ounce (30 grammes) of unsalted butter. I then quickly beat in the egg yolk and heated it while stirring for a minute.

I whipped the egg white with 1 ounce (30 grammes) of caster sugar to form a stiff peaking meringue. I folded a third of the meringue into the chocolate, then poured the now-lightened chocolate mixture into the rest of the meringue and folded through completely.

In two 10 ounce (280 millilitre) high-ball glasses, I divided the mousse and allowed it to set in the fridge for about half an hour before adding in the brownie pieces, the custard, and then finally some whipped cream with I had lightly sweetened with caster sugar and swirled with a little red food colouring for a festive feel.

One of these trifles is enough to share between two people, so you can divide the mixture among four tumblers or dessert glasses if you prefer!

If chocolate isn't your thing, you can:

• Make individual tiramisu desserts, soaking lady fingers in coffee- and rum flavoured simple syrup, a traditional light marscapone mousse, and some whipped cream.
• Layer slices of jammy Swiss roll with strawberry mousse (like Angel Delight) and cream.
• Gently sprinkle some gingerbread slices with rum and layer with some thick caramel and whipped cream.

However you make your trifle, be sure to keep it in the fridge for no more than 3 days.

2-Ingredient Chocolate Mousse

Bonjour, mes amis! Encore, un dessert Français: mousse au chocolat!

I absolutely love chocolate mousse! It has such a pleasing texture, and feels really indulgent, despite its lightness. What I love more about it is that it only uses two ingredients.

For those who are not fans of raw egg, however, I've got bad news for you: one of those ingredients is indeed raw egg. At its simplest, chocolate mousse is made by mixing melted chocolate with whipped egg, at a ratio of an ounce (30 grammes) of chocolate per egg. Mousse can also be made with the addition of butter and cream, but I find that makes it unnecessarily laden with calories. Give it a go if you like!

This is such a simple treat that it's a great one to do with children as one of their first forays into the kitchen.

INGREDIMENTS
For four servings of mousse

• 4 ounces (115 grammes) your favourite milk or dark chocolate
• 4 eggs, separated
• 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) vanilla essence

METHOD

• In a heatproof bowl, melt the chocolate gently over simmering water or in the microwave until fully melted.
• Working very quickly, beat the egg yolks into the warm chocolate, beating vigorously so that the egg yolks don't cook.
• In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites to firm peaks. Take about a third of the egg white mixture and mix it fully into the warm chocolate.
• Pour the chocolate mixture gently into the rest of the egg whites, and fold through gently until there are no streaks of egg white left.
• Divide the mixture between four ramekins, tumblers, or other kind of serving vessel. Chill for at least 4 hours before serving chilled.

THIS TIME IN 2015: Experiments in Homemade Soft Drinks: Raspberry Lemonade and Orange Cream Soda
No blogs on this day in 2016, 2014, nor 2013