Nici Wickes: Chocolate Mousse

If I was to enter Mousse Masters, the competition currently underway to find New Zealand’s top chocolate mousse, this would be my entry – simple, classic and utterly delicious. It’s as much about the mouthfeel as it is about ensuring the distinct flavour of using a quality chocolate comes through.

Mousse Masters is a one-of-a-kind competition for pro chefs and promising young chefs. It's designed to captivate the food service industry, showcase the magic of Weave Cacao’s couverture chocolate drops, and celebrate the artistry of New Zealand's chefs and bakers.  

Serves 2-4  

  

Ingredients 

• ½ cup cream  
• 2 small egg yolks  
• 1 tablespoon caster sugar   
• 70g very dark good-quality chocolate, chopped (check out the Weave Cacao website)  
• ½ cup cream, whipped with 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or rum or orange zest or espresso)  
• grated chocolate to serve  

  

Method 

1. Bring the first measure of cream to the boil. Remove from the heat.  
2. In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar until pale, then slowly pour over the hot cream whilst continuing to whisk so the eggs don’t curdle.
3. Add the chopped chocolate and let stand, covered, to allow the chocolate to melt. Allow to cool.  
4. Fold the whipped cream gently into the cooled chocolate mixture.
5. Pour into four cups or glasses or ramekins and refrigerate until set -at least 3-4 hours. Have patience!  
6. To serve, grate over some more chocolate because, well, why not?! 

 

LISTEN ABOVE 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Team podcast
from News Talks That Be.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
And right now that it's time to catch up with
our cook Nikki Wickx, who's in this morning.

Speaker 3 (00:16):
Kilder kyolder, how are you?

Speaker 2 (00:19):
I'm very well, thank you. I've been eating a lot
of cassados over the last few days, which are there, well,
they're I mean they're not. It's kind of a very
simple costa ricameal, rice, beans, plantains, salad, tortilla, bit of meat.
That's basically it's good. It's good, but it's like honest food,
very simple food, but honest. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know.

Speaker 3 (00:38):
It's interesting, isn't I Who did you say before that
you have rice and beans and when you're sick of those,
you have beans and rice And it is true, isn't it?
And you've got all your you know, you've got all
your proteins and your amino acids in there. But it
does really come from history in terms of people not
being able to afford a lot of food and those
of the course.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
I tell you what they call Oh yeah no, there's
there's a lot of cacao and there is also there
are a lot of mangoes I've been making out being
a lot of mango is a lot of passion through
a lot of malons. So I haven't don't don't for it,
don't don't violent for me. This morning, we're racing this

(01:17):
morning on something a bit different. A competition, a one
of a kind competition that only involves pro chefs and
promising young chefs called Moose Masters.

Speaker 1 (01:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:28):
I really like this. I like that it's focused on
people who are working in the industry as chefs and
and those who are either news with it or they've
been in there forever. And a chocolate moose is something
that is if you like, a real classic. Everyone gets
taught out to make a chocolate moose at chef or
cook school. Absolutely so this wonderful company called Weave Cocaw

(01:48):
and they've got a great story for our listeners if
you want to go on.

Speaker 1 (01:51):
Their website Weave Cocaw.

Speaker 3 (01:53):
They essentially are trying to really support and us to
the cow growers of Papa New Guinea because the cacao
or cocoa markets or chocolate market it feeds into this
great bulk industry that when you're a small niche you know,
Pacific grower, it's very hard to survive. So these guys
are really doing great things. So yes, they want to
find New Zealand's top chocolate moose dessert, and I bet

(02:17):
they will be elaborate and fantastic, honestly. So I'm going
to share my very simple, very classic done in a
little partial and.

Speaker 2 (02:24):
I think over complicated.

Speaker 3 (02:29):
Yes, don't over complicate it, but I know that these
jets will probably look for height and towering things.

Speaker 1 (02:34):
And this, that and the other.

Speaker 3 (02:35):
But here's how to make a classic a classic. And
I'm going to stay safe because I don't actually use
the egg whites because they are raw and I think,
you know, sometimes people are a little bit weird about that.
But I've got a little trick for that. So here
we go. You want to bring and I think it's
all about texture as well as flavor for a chocolate
moos and hester all sort of almost disappear in your mouth.

(02:56):
It's I've got four in the French. How long do
you think they're gonna last? Anyway? So first of all,
take half a cup of cream and bring that to
a near boil and a little small saucepan and meantime,
while that's happening, although keep an eye on it in
a bowl whisked together two small egg yolks and a
heap tablespoon of sugar. And you want to do this

(03:18):
until it's beautiful and pale, and then keep whisking as
you slowly pour that hot cream into the eggs. And
that will one kodly eggs, but it will cook those
egg yolks enough, and then you've got seventy grams of
very dark, good quality chopped. Of course, I reckon that
you use some weave cacao because it's got a nice
high cocoa and cocoa butter. It's not sort of cheap

(03:41):
and just non cocoa fat, so throw that in. Add
you chop chocolate. Let it stand for a little bit,
and that chocolate will melt, so I chop it very
small and then allow that to cool, and then really
give it a good old whisk, and you'll see all
of that chocolate start to melt through the sugar and eggs,
and then you fold it in. Instead of some egg whites,

(04:01):
which is traditional, I just use the cream. So you
use half a cup green that you've then whipped with
a bit of vanilla extract and fold that gently through
so that you're not losing any of the air into
the chocolate, which it takes quite a while. I got
to be a bit patient pour it into four. I
just use little cups. It's rich, so you don't have to,
you know, have a huge amount of this. Refrigerate it

(04:22):
for at least three to four hours or overnight. Have
some patience with that because that helps set that. You know,
that chocolate again, of course, which gives you the texture.
Maybe grate some chocolate on top, maybe serve it with
a little bit of extra whipped creep on top.

Speaker 2 (04:36):
I don't know. And it's just beautiful, you know.

Speaker 3 (04:38):
It's the sort of thing that you know, you dig
your spoon into its moose like and then as I say,
it just sort of the mouth feel, it just sort
of disappears in your mouth, which is so good.

Speaker 2 (04:47):
So there you go. All right, Okay, well make sure
that is on the website. It sounds amazing. Thank you, Nikki.
You enjoy the remaining four I'm sure, like you say,
they won't last long, and we'll be back at a
couple of minutes for.

Speaker 1 (04:58):
More from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame. Listen live to
news talks that'd be from nine am Saturday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio