Chocolate Mocha Mousse Cups... with a kick!

Should I bake a cake, make some cookies, try my luck on the macaroons again, or maybe I should try something easy... Something which doesn't require baking. With such a condition laid, only two items popped into my mind - cheesecake or mousse. Without blinking, the list of ingredients in my store room and refrigerator started checking themselves against the two competitors. I wasn't surprised when competitor mousse won the nomination since I lacked the most basic ingredient needed for a cheesecake - cheese!

When I went through the blogs and food recipes, I was extremely delighted to find a Gordon Ramsay mousse recipe which needed mascarpone as the base ingredient. With at least 3 tubs of mascarpone stored in my refrigerator, not that I am complaining since I enjoy the fluffy and light texture of mascarpone very much myself. But I had to use them somewhere before the expiry date or they would end up in the 'big mouth' (My personal nick-name for the dustbin).

It was a fuss-free recipe and within half an hour, everything was whipped up, combined, cupped and set in the fridge. All I had to do was wait... which was really tough on me since I was really excited how the mousse would turn out using mascarpone as the base and the new addition of expresso into it. After several hours, there it was...

It was dense and creamy, heavy on the palate but surprising very smooth. Each spoonful was devoured with the aromatic scent of coffee. In a short matter of time, my cup of mousse was empty and I wonder why... =)

Chocolate Mocha Mousse Cups (From Gordon Ramsay)

Makes 4

100g dark chocolate (70% cocoa)

125g mascarpone

2 tbsp icing sugar

4 tbsp strong expresso, cooled (I used coffee, it turned out well too)

150ml double cream

1. Melt dark chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of barely simmering water. Leave to cool.

2. Whisk mascarpone and icing sugar together until smooth, add in expresso and chocolate to combine. Leave aside.

3. Whip double cream till soft peaks form and fold it into the mascarpone mixture, make sure they are well-combined.

4. Spoon mixture into small cups and chill for a few hours or overnight.

5. Serve with whipped cream or crushed amaretti.

Well, I found out that amaretti biscuits wasn't to my liking, so it's a no no for me...

TIRAMISU

I love tiramisu, but rarely ate it, I wonder why. It never occur to me that I should try making it one day. And I am glad that I decided to make it because it was extremely easy, no baking and no flour. There was hardly any work except for whisking up the egg whites.

I went through several recipes and finally decided on the nigella's one, it was one with more liqueur and I choose Baileys since I had it at home and I do enjoy the liqueur from time to time. Baileys with milk is one of my all time favorite for a night cap. The taste was fabulous, the Baileys has seeped beautifully into the sponge fingers, filling your mouth with the taste of coffee and Baileys at the same moment. The cream mixture texture was just right after leaving it in the fridge to set, there was no sugar residue thanks to my KitchenAid mixer. Thumbs up for the Tiramisu!

Tiramisu (serves 8-12)

350ml water

9 tsp expresso powder (normal coffee powder can do too)

250ml Baileys liqueur (any liqueur you prefer)

2 x 200g Savoiardi (sponge fingers)

2 eggs

75g sugar

500g mascarpone

cocoa powder

1. Mix water with expresso powder in a wide shallow bowl, let it cool before mixing in 175ml of the Baileys liquer.

2. Dip in the sponge fingers till it is damp but not soggy, place a layer of soaked sponger fingers on the base of your container.

3. Separate the yolk and white for one of the eggs, whisk the yolk with the other egg and sugar. Beat till the mixture becomes thick and of a paler yellow, mix in the remaining Baileys liqueur and mascarpone. This should give you a moussy mixture.

4. Whisk up the remaining egg white till thick and frothy, fold the egg white into the yolk mixture, spread half the cream mixture over the layer of sponge fingers in the container.

5. Repeat with another layer of soaked the sponger fingers and topping of the cream mixture. Cover the container with cling film and leave it overnight in the fridge to let it set. Serve it up with cocoa powder by using a sieve to dust the top of the tiramisu.

Tips: Make sure that there is no more sugar residue in the yolk mixture before adding in the Baileys liqueur and mascarpone, this will ensure that the cream mixture is smooth and silky. If there is not enough time to leave the tiramisu in the fridge overnight, you can cheat by leaving it in the freezer for less than 2 hrs and place it back down again.

Enjoy your sweets!