Chocolate Mousse - Mousse de Chocolate

I love Chocolate Mousse, if it's on a menu somewhere I just can't pass it up. I feel like a kid,in a candy shop, it's just so moorish. When travelling around Portugal it was one dessert that was on nearly 90% of menus.
Their was the good the bad & the ugly. On one occasion the ugly reared up it's head in a Lisbon tavern, when I ordered the dessert & found it to be soft & mushy with a runny liquid on the base, it tasted awful, so I just left it. When the waiter enquired why I hadn't eaten it, I explained why, & suggested that it was probably too old & probably had spoilt. He told me it was made from a packet & so wouldn't spoil so quickly. I was dumbfounded, I felt I had been so naive, to expect a restaurant to make their own. I learnt that I had to ask for caseiro (home made) if I wanted it fresh.
I can't imagine who would go to a restaurant & when presented with the choice of home made or packet would choose a packet dessert.
The Portuguese tend to make theirs a bit more denser than the french who make it more light & airy.


Recipe
Serves 6

• 400g dark chocolate
• 2 eggs, separated, room temperature
• 50ml Cointreau,  rum or 1 tab coffee granules
• 2 cups cream

1. Place the chocolate in a heat proof bowl & set over simmering water (don't allow the bowl to touch the water). Stir the chocolate as it begins to melt, not allowing the chocolate to over heat. Add any liquid at this stage. Once melted set aside.

    2. Separate the eggs, placing the yolks in one bowl & the whites in another.
        Whisk the egg whites in a clean mixing bowl till peaks form, then set aside.

      3. In another bowl whisk  the cream till soft peaks form. Set aside.

 
    4. Stir the yolks into the melted chocolate the add a large spoonful of the egg whites, folding it in gently. Then add half of the egg whites & fold into the chocolate mixture, once incorporated add all the egg whites folding them in.

   
    5. Once all the egg whites have been incorporated add the cream a spoonful at a time folding the cream into the mixture gently so as not to remove the air.
Once all the cream has been added transfer to your serving dish.

Note:

• I allowed the mix to set then transferred it to a piping bag & them piped the mix out onto my serving dish. The mix will not pipe effectively just after being made. 

• Make sure the water bath is on a simmer & not on a rapid boil, otherwise the intense heat will burn the chocolate.

• Soft peaks mean, if you pick it up it holds a shape but not for too long. A runny egg white & cream will result in a runny mousse. If the peaks are too stiff then you have a hard mousse.