Chocolate mousse cupcakes

[makes 6]

You will need:

100g organic milk chocolate
100g organic 70% cocoa chocolate
3 organic eggs, separated
¼ cup granulated white
sugar
100g butter
pinch of salt

For the icing:

100g 70% cocoa chocolate
100g butter, softened
100g icing sugar, sifted

For decoration:

speckled eggs

Step one: Melt the chocolate

Preheat the oven to 200ºC and grease a patty pan tin. Set aside a roasting pan large enough to hold the patty pan tin for the water bath later on. Break up the chocolate into a clean, dry bowl that fits over a small pot. Fill the pot with water (it mustn’t touch the bottom of the bowl), place on the stove and bring the water to a gentle simmer so that the steam melts the chocolate. No water or steam must come into contact with the chocolate or it will seize. Alternatively, fill the pot with boiling water, place the bowl on top and leave it to melt slowly without putting it on the stove.

Step two: Beat egg yolks and sugar

Beat the egg yolks and sugar until the mixture is thick and pale yellow and falls off the beater in a ‘ribbon’. Stir the butter into the melted chocolate and then fold the chocolate mixture into the egg yolk mixture.

Step three: Beat the egg whites

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites, with the salt, until they are firm (keep stopping to check – overbeating will cause them to separate or become rocky). Stir a large spoonful of the egg-white mixture into the chocolate mixture to loosen it.

Step four: Fold the egg whites into the chocolate

Add the rest of the egg whites to the chocolate mixture and fold in gently but firmly until incorporated.

Step five: Make a water bath

Fill the patty pan cavities to the top with the chocolate mixture and place the tin in the roasting pan. Pour boiling water into the roasting pan (without splashing any on the patty pan) and fill until the water comes halfway up the sides of the patty pan cavities. Bake for 20 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Remove from the oven and leave to cool before removing them from the tin. They will rise in the oven like soufflés and settle again once cool.

Step six: Decorate

To make the icing, melt the chocolate as in step one and beat in the butter and icing sugar. Spread the icing onto the tops of the cooled cupcakes, make an indentation in the middle and fill with speckled eggs to make a nest.

Tips

• It’s easier to fold the mixture with a large metal spoon because it doesn’t knock the air out as a wooden spoon might.

• Baking the cupcakes in a water bath gives them a light moussey texture inside.

• The mixture can be doubled to make 12 cupcakes and it can be adapted to make tiny cupcakes (just bake for 10 minutes instead). The cupcakes can also be placed into paper cases once cooled.

• Some other ideas: ice with cool chocolate ganache, serve as a dessert with warm ganache poured over the top or simply dust with cocoa powder and serve with a scoop of strawberry ice cream on the side.