Chocolate Orange Mousse

Posted on December 10, 2022

Hello friends.

I loved the colourful, supportive world that was created by food blogs over the years, but things move on and blogging is not the new-new thing any more.

The pull of Instagram and shorter formats means the food blogging community has drifted away, but I still enjoy keeping in touch with you all on other platforms. Places like Substack, where Ed has found a home for FirstLight Workshop, have risen from the ashes, but I can’t let my Things{we}make go, just yet.

I have moved on with my work life though, wound down Claire Sutton Images, and have been working for over a year in public sector communications. Luckily I am able to pull on the weird and varied collection of skills I have gathered during my career(s) and have found a home for most* of them in my new role, where I am enjoying working in a team again.

*I’ve not been asked to video slow-mo cream dolloping yet, but there’s still time.

Lots of my recipes and photos didn’t get shared when they were published, including this selection of ‘festive food’ that I put together for the Co-Op. Working with magazines was always quite different to my other work as I was given a brief and a colour scheme and a collection of products that I needed to use for product placement.

I felt I lost a bit of the essence of my style on these jobs, but the recipes still stand and I still plan to document them here, so that when I need to find one I can search it and use the blog as my e-cookery book. My tatty folder of recipes is falling apart at the seams and it’s easier to read it from my chocolate smeared phone…usually.

This chocolate mousse was the standby ‘special dessert’ that my Mum used to make in a big cut glass dish, I only added a bit of orange to Christmas-it-up. This week it’s a year since Mum’s funeral, and birthday too, so I raise a glass of chocolatey goodness to you, Mum.

Oh, and I stole the genius idea of cutting stars from clementine peel from Instagram, so all these ideas join up around the back at some point.

Have yourselves a merry little Christmas.

Chocolate Orange Mousse

A rich, simple chocolate mousse flavoured with orange zest.

Ingredients

• 180g Dark Chocolate (I used 90g 70% chocolate and 90g 56% Dark Chocolate with Orange)
• 6 Large Free Range Eggs
• 6tsp Caster Sugar
• The finely grated zest of 1 Orange or 2 Clementines

Optional

• Whipped Double Cream for topping

• 2Tbsp of Orange Liqueur to add to the mousse

Method

Break up the chocolate and melt it in a bowl over a pan of gently simmering water, stirring only occasionally.
When melted leave the bowl to cool slightly.
Separate the eggs putting the yolks into a medium bowl with the the caster sugar and the optional orange liqueur.
Whisk lightly until the sugar has dissolved.
In a separate bowl whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Do not over whisk.
Pour the egg yolk mix into the chocolate and stir until smooth.
Stir one third of the egg whites into the chocolate and egg mixture until well combined.
Gently fold in the remaining egg whites and orange zest with a large metal spoon.
Pour into small glasses or bowls and chill, then decorate with cream and orange zest.

Extra bits:

Cut a star from some orange peel using a cookie cutter, then tidy it up with a sharp knife.
Use chocolate with a lower % cocoa to make this sweeter.
You can stir lightly some whipped cream in the mousse before the egg white to make creamier.

(Serves 4/5 – 30 minutes Prep/Cooking Time)