Believe it or not, I’m not a huge fan of chocolate! I mean, I do use chocolate in my baking (usually dark chocolate), and I like desserts such as Black Forest cake, but you’ll rarely find me buying chocolate just to snack on. Nope, eating chocolate on its own just isn’t my thing.

I do however, love a good mousse, including chocolate mousse! I had actually bought some strawberries, thinking I might make a strawberry mousse cake. But I ran out of time and decided to skip the cake part and just make a simple strawberry mousse. Then I remembered I still had some leftover dark chocolate in the fridge and figured I should probably just use it up (just as well, because my fridge really needs to be decluttered)! I had 205 grams of chocolate and I needed exactly 200 grams. So yeah, I actually popped that little extra bit of chocolate into my mouth!

Just to spice things up (pun intended), I added in some chilli powder to the melted chocolate, which gave it a really nice kick, and then almost as an afterthought, to make it more interesting, I removed the seeds from some some cardamom pods, crushed them up and mixed them in with the chocolate!

This chocolate mousse is incredible! The dark chocolate makes it really rich but not in a cloyingly sweet way. It’s just pure, velvety smooth and creamy, chocolaty goodness. The heat from the chilli and the citrusy sweetness of the cardamom add amazing flavour dimensions. You won’t go back to just plain chocolate mousse after this!

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CHILLI CARDAMOM DARK CHOCOLATE MOUSSE (Serves 4)

Ingredients:

200 grams dark chocolate (60-70%)
2 eggs
30 grams (about 2-1/2 tablespoons) sugar
1 teaspoon chilli powder
10 cardamom pods (remove seeds, crush/grind with a mortar and pestle)
300 ml whipping cream

Instructions:

1. Place whipping cream in a bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment. Whisk until soft peaks form. Transfer whipped cream to another bowl, and place in the fridge. Wash and dry stand mixer bowl and whisk attachment.

2. Place chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set it over a pot of simmering water just until it melts, then stir in chilli and cardamom. Set aside.

3. In a double boiler over simmering water, whisk eggs and sugar until foamy and warm to the touch. Transfer to the bowl of a stand mixer and whisk until frothy and pale.

4. Once the melted chocolate has cooled down until it is just slightly warm, quickly but gently fold it into the egg mixture.

5. Add in about one third of the whipped cream and gently fold it in. Then gently fold in the rest of the whipped cream.

6. Divide the mousse between 4 ramekins or dessert glasses and refrigerate for at least 12 hours before serving.

Note: Leftover mousse should be covered in plastic wrap and can keep in the fridge for 4-5 days.