If making the hazelnut garnish, pre-heat the oven to 180°C. Once ready, roast the hazelnuts for 15 minutes until golden, then let them cool down and blitz in a spice grinder or blender until broken down.

For the chocolate mousse, melt the chocolate over a Bain Marie (inside a heat-proof bowl placed over a pan of barely simmering water, without the water touching the bowl). Then carefully lift off the bowl (mind the steam, it’s hot) and set it aside to let the chocolate cool for 5 minutes, otherwise it’ll make the mousse grainy.

Peel and de-stone the avocados. In a food pressor, blend together the avocados, maple syrup, vanilla extract, cacao powder and a pinch of salt. Then drizzle in the melted chocolate and blend again until completely smooth. Transfer the mixture to a bowl or container and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to firm up.

In the meantime, make the spun sugar, if using. Combine the sugar, water and lemon juice in a small sauce pan (the acidity in the lemon stops the caramel from crystallising). Then cook the mixture over low heat until all the sugar has dissolved. Raise the temperature to medium high and boil it until it forms thick bubbles and the sugar begins to turn into a gold brown. Give the pan a gentle twirl to colour it evenly, then turn off the heat and let it cool down slightly. To check if the caramel has cooled enough for the spun sugar, dunk a fork into the caramel and lift it up. It should form a thin thread rather than simply dropping back into the pan. Once this happens, the sugar is ready.

Place a deep bowl in front of you. Dunk the fork into the caramel and move it rapidly from one edge of the bowl to the other to allow the threads of sugar to spin across the bowl. This is similar to how cotton candy is made. When you’ve used up all of the caramel, use your hands to gently shape the sugar threads into a delicate form and serve it on top of your avocado chocolate mousse.

Tip: to remove any hardened caramel in the pan, simply fill it with water and bring it to the boil for the caramel to dissolve.

To serve the chocolate mousse, heat a tablespoon in a jug of hot water. Then scrape the dried but warm spoon over the chocolate mousse to form a quenelle. Serve on a plate with a sprinkle of the crushed hazelnuts and top with the spun sugar.