White Chocolate & Cardamom Mousse - Heaven in a ramekin

Mostly air so pretty healthy right?

Everyone loves a chocolate pudding (don't they?!), but this one is special. It's white, it's light, it's fluffy and it's delicately scented with the exotic aroma of cardamom, with a sneaky bit of bay in there as well. It turns out cardamom and bay are really good friends and play very nicely together. Gotta love a pud that can be whipped up in advance and left to set in the fridge while you frantically trash the kitchen creating the rest of dinner. It's so nice to just reach into the fridge, et voila, pudding is served, look how organised I am...

Makes 8 little ramekin sized mousses. You will need three bowls for this, or two bowls and a measuring jug, as I don't have three mixing bowls. Not serious. Use the biggest one for the egg whites.

Pour 100ml milk into a small saucepan, add 8 pre-bashed green cardamom pods and three bay leaves and gently heat. Just before it boils, turn the heat off and leave to infuse for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, melt 250g white chocolate (go with Green & Blacks, it's worth it) in a bowl over a saucepan of boiling water. Watch it, because if you keep heating it after it has melted it can go lumpy, so remove from the saucepan when melted. Whip 300ml double cream to soft mound status, and in a separate bowl, beat three egg whites to stiff peak turn the bowl upside down over your head status. Strain the milk through a sieve into the melted chocolate and stir it in really well until it becomes a bit velvety. A whisk makes this easier than a spoon. With a metal spoon, fold the milky chocolate mixture into the egg whites, and once gently combined, fold in the whipped cream, making sure it's combined really well, but don't smack all the air out. This is a mousse, not a blancmange. Pour into ramekins/teacups/one big bowl and leave to set in the fridge for at least two hours, longer if you have it.

You can sprinkle some cocoa powder on top before handing them out, but last night, after too many vinos, I forgot. Oooh some artistically grated dark chocolate would be nice... woah, let's not get carried away. Once served, these little beauties should disappear in less than 30 seconds. If they don't, you're doing it wrong.

Chocolate Souffle - do not be afraid!

Racing out of the office, homeward bound to hopefully get to my house before my girlfriend who was coming for dinner, I realised I had no pud planned for the evening. If a friend can be bothered to schlep all the way to mine, the least I can do is provide a sweet finale at the dinner table. But I was in a mad rush (had no idea what kind of state the Boyfriend had left the house in) and I reeeeally didn't want to slow myself down by going to the shop. What could I make that used stuff I already had? PING! Genius moment, chocolate souffle. Win. Thanks Google. This is based on a Channel 4 Food thingy. Very basic ingredients, and really simple to make, just follow the recipe and you can't fail to impress. And if a pudding is basically just air then it's excellent diet food right?

Feeds 4 (I halved for us two). Pre-heat the oven to 200c and shove a baking tray in. Break up 120g good quality dark chocolate into a heat-proof bowl and add a splash of brandy. Gently melt the chocolate into the brandy in the bowl over a saucepan of boiling water. Grease 4 ramekins with butter and dust the insides with caster sugar. Stir 4 egg yolks into the chocolate which has slightly cooled by now. Take a clean bowl and whisk 4 egg whites until stiff. Gradually tip in 60g caster sugar, keep whisking throughout. It will be all shiny and glossy and beautiful like Cheryl Cole's hair. Now stir a quarter of the egg whites into the chocolate until combines, then fold in the rest. Carefully distribute between the ramekins, making sure any excess mixture is wiped off and devoured. Bake for 12 minutes on the baking tray, they should be well risen by then, much to your delight, as there is little more exciting than watching a gooey mixture transform into floaty light chocolate souffle. Lightly dust with icing sugar to make it even prettier. That's lightly dust, not dump with icing sugar, as my dinner guest decided would be better. Thanks for your help there (see photo).

Pat yourself on the back and marvel at how simple it was. High five.