Author: Padraic Guilfoyle

This quick and easy chocolate mousse is a brilliant vegan dessert. Made with silken tofu, it’s even high in protein!

Equipment: you will need a confectionery thermometer.

Each serving provides 620 kcal, 8.5g protein, 86g carbohydrate (of which 74g sugars), 27g fat (of which 7.5g saturates), 2g fibre and 0.4g salt.

Ingredients

For the chocolate mousse

• 300g/10½oz silken tofu, drained
• 150g/5½oz vegan dark chocolate, broken into pieces
• 1 vanilla pod, seeds only
• ½ tsp ground star anise
• 2 tbsp treacle
• agave syrup, to taste
• 20g/¾oz toasted flaked almonds, to serve

For the honeycomb

• 100g/3½oz caster sugar
• 100g/3½oz glucose syrup
• 2 tbsp golden syrup
• pinch bicarbonate of soda

For the apricots

• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 4 dried apricots
• 1 star anise
• pinch sugar

How-to-videos

Method

1. Put the tofu, ground star anise, vanilla seeds, treacle and agave syrup into a large bowl and blend with a hand blender until silky smooth.
2. Melt the chocolate in a heatproof glass bowl sat over a saucepan of simmering water, being careful not to let the bowl touch the water. Fold into the tofu. Spoon the mixture between 4 glasses and refrigerate until set.
3. To make the honeycomb, line a baking tray with baking paper. Put the sugar, glucose and golden syrup into a deep saucepan and heat until it reaches 145C. (This should take about 5 minutes). Quickly whisk in the bicarbonate of soda. Be careful as the mixture will bubble up very suddenly. Quickly pour onto the lined baking tray. Set aside to cool and harden.
4. To make the apricots, heat the oil in a frying pan. Add the apricots and star anise and cook until the apricots start to caramelise. Sprinkle over a pinch of sugar and leave to cool.
5. To serve, sprinkle the toasted almonds on top of the mousse and serve with the apricots and peices of honeycomb.