Raspberry, brownie and chocolate mousse pots recipe

Impress your dinner guests when you finish off dinner with these little pots layered with chocolate brownies, whipped cream, chocolate mousse and raspberries. Infusing the cream with cardamom gives the dessert an added special touch. Now, we know there are a lot of steps but trust us, when you tuck into your own serving, it will all be worth it.

Ingredients

For the brownies:

• 135g unsalted butter, chopped into small cubes
• 135g dark chocolate, broken up
• 60g plain flour
• 35g cocoa powder
• 2 large eggs
• 175g golden caster sugar

For the chocolate mousse and cardamom cream

:

• 350ml double cream
• 5 green cardamom pods, bashed
• 150g dark chocolate, chopped into small pieces
• 2 eggs, whites and yolks separated
• 2tbsp caster sugar

For the raspberry sauce

:

• 100g caster sugar
• 1tbsp cornflour
• 60ml water
• 150g raspberries

Method

1. Start with the brownies. Place the butter and chocolate into a heatproof bowl. Sit it over a small saucepan filled a quarter of the way with hot water, making sure the bowl doesn’t touch the water. Place it all on a low heat, allowing the chocolate and butter to melt. Mix together and then turn of the heat, removing the bowl. Set aside to cool.
2. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4. Break the eggs into a large electric mixer bowl and add the sugar. Crank your mixer up to maximum speed and whisk the eggs and sugar until they make a voluminous, thick and creamy mixture.
3. Pour the melted chocolate mixture over the eggs and sugar and gently fold together with a rubber spatula, bringing the mixture together until just combined. Sieve over the plain flour and cocoa powder and begin to fold this in gently too, until you start to get a thick, gooey mixture.
4. Pour the brownie mixture into the tin, leveling off the top. Put it in the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes. You don’t want the mixture to wobble and for the sides to just be coming away from the tin. Leave to cool in the tin completely and then set aside until ready to assemble.
5. Now start on the mousse. Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over simmering water, making sure the bowl doesn’t touch the water. When it’s mostly melted, turn off the heat and leave to continue melting.
6. Take 125ml of the double cream and whip until soft peaks form. Separate your eggs and putting the yolks into one bowl and egg whites into a clean, grease free bowl. Whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form and then add 1Tbsp of sugar, whisking until firm peaks form.
7. Take the bowl of chocolate, stir to make sure it’s all melted and then whisk in the egg yolks until combined. Fold in the whipped cream until fully incorporated. Whisk in a third of the egg whites and then gently fold in the remaining egg whites, making sure it’s completely folded in but not overdoing it. Cover the bowl and leave to chill and firm up slightly in the fridge for 25-30 mins.
8. Take the remaining cream and combine with the cardamom pods in a small saucepan. Heat until just at boiling point and then remove from the heat, cover and leave to infuse for 30 mins.
9. Now crack on with the raspberry sauce. Combine the caster sugar and corn flour in a saucepan and then add the water. Cook on a gentle heat and stir continuously until combined, the sugar has totally melted and it’s thickened. Add the raspberries and cook for 3-4 mins until the raspberries have softened but are not mushy. Take them off the heat and set aside until needed.
10. Now take the cream that’s been infusing, transfer to a medium bowl adding the remaining Tbsp of sugar and whisk until soft peaks form. Take four small dessert glasses and fill each with a layer of brownie, chocolate mousse, whipped cream, more brownie, more mousse and then some of the raspberries.