Spencer L Lane

Welcome any time!

Absolutely!

Yep, it's good!

Thank you for joining us on this special edition of #MasterChefBear

Until next time, whenever that may be, be the person your dog thinks you already are, and your bear knows you can be.

Yes, a peeler is a much better tool Bethany.
Now it's time to enjoy!

When it's ready to serve, you might like to go a little fancy and shave a little more dark chocolate on the top.

No, not like that, Bethany! Silly bilby!

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*Obscure reference. Ask your parents.*

You MUST. CHILL!

Now comes the hardest part:
You have to let it chill for at least 4 hours!!!

If you leave it uncovered, it might develop a slight crust on the top which some people really like.

If you want to avoid the crust, put some cling film over the top, making sure it makes contact with the mousse.

You can put the bowl in the fridge to chill and then scoop it out to serve, or put it in single-serve dishes. We're going with whisky glasses cos whisky. Oh, Lucien!

You can combine the chocolate and cream fully, or leave a ripple effect if you prefer.

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We now pull the chocolate mix out of the fridge and gradually introduce the cream to the chocolate.

Cream, this is chocolate.
Chocolate, this is cream.
I'm sure you'll have lots to talk about.

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Your cream will now have a nice pinky tinge if you've done it right and your photographer has a clue.

When the cream is whipped good, add 2 tablespoons (or more, we're not being prescriptive) and whisk it in.

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Where was I? Sorry, I got all distracted talking about drinky-poos.

Well Lucien says when a problem comes along...

Also, Curaçao should be pronounced "cure-a-sow."

If you say, "cure-a-kayo" well, I suppose we can still be friends.

We are using genuine Curaçao that our people picked up when they visited Curaçao.

Fun fact: Like Champagne, only Curaçao made in Curaçao should be called Curaçao. Otherwise, it's just coloured triple sec.

But they didn't have France's legal budget, so the name is unprotected.

The recipe calls for Cointreau but we didn't have any of that, so we are substituting another orange liqueur, Curaçao.

Now, grab another bowl because we are going to whip up some double cream. It has to be double cream. This is not the same as two bottles of normal cream!

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There's no need to guard it, Bethany. I still have the bottle out here.

Yep. Kinda like that.
Then bung it in the fridge for a bit.

Next, dump all the chocolate into the rest of the egg white and stir through until it is... um... stirred through.

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Plop just a few spoonfuls of the egg white into the chocolate and stir it through to lighten up the chocolate mix.

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Lucien wishes it known he hasn't been at the brandy. He just suffers from an affliction @oliverbear.bsky.social calls Round Bottom.

Lucien says these peaks look stiff enough.

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While the chocolate and egg yolks rest a while (they've had a big day already) beat the egg whites until they make stiff peaks.

Hold on tight because the mixer can vibrate.
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Let the chocolate cool. While that's happening, separate 4 eggs. Best let your human do this to avoid sticky paws.

Silly photographer forgot to take a picture of this step. He will be flogged later.

Add the 4 egg yolks to the chocolate AFTER it has cooled because you don't want chocolate quiche.

Now we need to melt them. To avoid burning the chocolate, boil a pot of water, and put the bowl on top to let the steam melt the chocolate.

We are using a bain marie. You could just as easily use a bain michelle, a bain rebecca or a bain rodney if you like.

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Next, you will need 10 tablespoons of brandy.
Put 1 in the chocolate and the other 9 in the bear.

First, you're going to need 125g of dark chocolate. Pretty much any kind of chocolate will do but dark chocolate is the best. If you have it in bits, plonk it in your bowl. If it's in a block, smash it up like a really frustrating thingy, then plonk.
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This recipe comes from a book called Light Bites. Presumably it's available at all good recipe book stores and most of the bad ones.