Super light Chocolate Mousse

My Husband Mark has such a sweet tooth, it is so bad that I'm almost certain that if I told him that he could only ever eat cake for the rest of his life I think it would suit him very much. There are certain things that you expect from your spouse once you embark on the long journey which is the sanctity of marriage, honesty , love, compassion and apparently cake? Now my husband is a modern man who does not feel that donning a pair of marigolds is in any way emasculating , but he does love the notion of a freshly baked cake or scrumptious dessert waiting for him when he comes home from work. I have to say I love spoiling him and if "daily dessert" was subliminally in the contract of our marriage, I'm only happy to oblige. 

  This weekend was our "Date night," the once a month spectacular when our beautiful son gets to keep grandma and grandad up all hours and allows us to sleep through. We always make sure you go to great lengths to make the most of our evening so this date night consisted of Singapore chilli crab, and of course my husbands dessert, and adult version of a childhood classic, chocolate mousse.

There is something incredibly comforting about a simple chocolate mousse, maybe it's the fact that it appeals to the inner child in most of us. Remembered flavours are usually the most soothing. 

You will need:

100g 70% cocoa solid dark chocolate
50ml water
50g caster sugar
1 vanilla pod
1 tsp espresso powder
A pinch of salt
3 eggs Separated
100ml double cream

 Place a small pan on a low heat cook the water and sugar until the sugar has dissolved and resembles a clear syrup, this should only take 5 minutes. Turn the heat off and add the chocolate, coffee powder, vanilla and salt into the warm syrup and allow to melt, keep stirring until fully incorporated. What will happen is the chocolate will begin to seize because of the water and create a paste rather than a glossy liquid. Do not panic, this is perfectly normal. When the paste has cooled beat in the egg yolks reserving the whites for later. When you beat the yolks into the paste it will begin to break it down and turn the paste into a thick glossy mixture.
Whisk your egg whites until they form stiff peaks, Beat in one spoonful of the whites into the chocolate so that the mixture loosens. Carefully fold the rest of the whites with a metal spoon or a spatula, be as gentle as possible so that you do not knock the air out the egg whites.
Once just incorporated whisk the double cream and fold this into the mousse mixture like the egg whites. Decant the mixture into glasses or ramekins, (I have used champagne flutes). This mousse will make four generous portions. For a finishing touch I have grated some extra dark chocolate over the top.