Chocolate brownie with chocolate mousse and cherry compôte
- Prepare
- less than 30 mins
- Cook
- 1 to 2 hours
- Serve
- Serves 4
- Dietary
- Nut-freeVegetarian
An indulgent chocolate dessert of one-bowl chocolate brownies alongside a light chocolate mousse, all topped with a sharp cherry compôte to balance the richness. The perfect mixture of sweet and sour.
Ingredients
For the one-bowl brownies
- 75g/2½oz salted butter, plus extra for greasing
- 50g/1¾oz good-quality dark chocolate (preferably 70% cocoa solids), broken into pieces
- 50g/1¾oz brown sugar
- 1 free-range egg
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 50g/1¾oz plain flour
- 25g/1oz cocoa powder
For the chocolate mousse
- 75g/2½oz dark chocolate (ideally 55% cocoa solids), broken into pieces
- 3 large egg whites
- a few drops vanilla extract
- 1 heaped tbsp caster sugar
For the cherry compôte
- 250g/9oz frozen cherries (pitted)
- 1 heaped tbsp caster sugar
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
Method
Grease four holes of a muffin tin and preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6.
To make the brownie, melt the butter in a large saucepan over a low heat. Take off the heat and add the dark chocolate, allow it to melt in the residual heat. Stir until fully melted and combined.
Add the brown sugar, egg and vanilla and mix until glossy and well combined.
Sift in the flour and cocoa powder. Stir to combine.
Pour the mixture into the prepared muffin tin. Bake for 10–15 minutes. When cooked, the brownies should be slightly soft in the middle but set at the edges.
Remove from the oven and heavily slam the muffin tin on the work surface 2 times (this removes the air from the brownies and keeps them very soft and moist). Leave to cool completely.
To make the chocolate mousse, melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water (make sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water).
Whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form, add the sugar to the egg whites and whisk again until stiff peaks form.
Add a third of the whisked egg whites to the melted chocolate to loosen the mixture, before folding in the remaining egg whites.
Fold in the dash of vanilla extract and pop in the fridge. Allow to chill for at least 1 hour before serving.
To make the cherry compôte, in a pan add all the ingredients plus a tablespoon of water. Bring to a boil.
Simmer until the compôte has thickened, this will take about 15 minutes. Leave to cool.
To serve, place a brownie on a plate and add a generous spoonful of mousse on top.
Drizzle over the compôte to finish.