Chocolate Cherry Mousse with Amaretto and Olive Oil

Use a knife to slice cherries in half and remove the pits and stems then get them into a small sauce pot along with 1/4 cups of sugar and the water to get things going. Leave this to simmer over low heat for 20 minutes. Once the 20 minutes has elapsed add in your lemon juice to brighten the flavours. Pull the mixture off the heat, transfer into a bowl and set in the fridge to cool.

In a large bowl using an electric mixer, whip the cream until it is fluffy and holds stiff peaks. Cover and set in the fridge.

Chop up your chocolate so that it is easier to melt and set it next to your stove top in a bowl for easy access.

Put a small pot over medium heat and fill it with about two inches of water. Find a metal bowl that will fit on top of the pot to form a bain marie (ensure the base of the bowl does not touch the water). In the metal bowl, combine your egg yolks and 2 tablespoons sugar and whisk to combine. Set this over the pot of simmering water and whisk until it is doubled in size, light yellow in colour and falls off the whisk in smooth ribbons (approximately 2 minutes).

Get your chocolate into the egg mixture now and whisk until melted. The mixture should be completely combined and smooth. Pull it from the heat.

Take 1/4 cup of the whipping cream and fold it into the chocolate custard. Should you find that it isn’t mixing together as well as you’d like, whisk it until smooth. Add in one tablespoon of amaretto. Fold in the remaining whipped cream using a spatula just until combined then taste. If you would like a stronger amaretto flavour add in a second tablespoon.

Get your mousse in a piping bag and pipe half of the mousse into your serving glasses or bowls. Top this layer of mousse with a layer of cherry compote then cover the cherries with the remaining mousse. Set these bowls or glasses into the fridge to set for at least one hour.

Before you serve the mousse whisk together the olive oil and teaspoon of amaretto in a small bowl.

Top each glass of mousse with a spoonful of the olive oil mixture. This gives the mousse a gorgeous silky feel.