Mousse Mocha Tia

This is a delicious, light mousse made without the usual cream or eggs (as a result it has more of a jelly like consistency than a mousse like consistency once set - but is still lovely). Most of the recipes on my blog are tried and tested favourites which I?ve been making for years, but this was the first time I?d ever tried this one.

The name ?Mousse Mocha Tia? comes from the suggested Mocha Tia Liqueur which you add to it, as directed in the original recipe. As the recipe is from a book dating back to the ?70?s I?m not sure if this liqueur is still available (a quick Google search yielded no results) so I have taken that out and simply added ?Coffee Liquer? in place of this. If you prefer a booze free alternative (as in my case, so that it?s child friendly too) you can add coffee instead. Oops hold on, is coffee child friendly for under 5?s with set bedtimes ? Maybe not. But then I suppose you could always go the decaf. route !


Mousse Mocha Tia (from ?More Food With Flair? by Lynn Bedford Hall)

125 gm slab quality Chocolate, broken up
24 diced white Marshmallows (around 150 gm)
50 ml Milk
50 ml Coffee Liqueur (or strong filter coffee)
1 tin Evaporated Milk (450 ml), chilled overnight & stiffly beaten
10 ml Lemon Juice*
2 ml Vanilla Essence

Place the chocolate, marshmallows and milk into the top of a double boiler, & stir until melted & well blended. Remove from heat & pour into a bowl. Add the liqueur (or filter coffee) and allow to cool. In a separate bowl, pour in the stiffly beaten evaporated milk, lemon juice & vanilla essence & beat again to blend. Now fold this into the chocolate mixture.

Pour into individual glass pudding bowls (fill to the brim as they will sink a little on setting) & chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours before serving. (Alternatively, this mousse would look lovely served in small espresso cups). Decorate with whipped cream & grated chocolate/ chocolate shavings if desired. (I chose to top mine ? as pictured above - with sliced marshmallows & grated chocolate.)

*To me, the lemon juice added an odd taste to the Chocolate-Coffee combination & did not really seem to do the dessert any justice (unless to help thicken the evaporated milk ?) Next time I would leave it out, adding an extra 5 ml of Vanilla Essence instead