Chocolate Mousse

This Chocolate Mousse is made the proper French way, with the right ingredients and technique so it has beautiful chocolate flavour with a rich and luscious texture, yet not too sweet. It feels a little fancy but is surprisingly straightforward. Excellent for dinner parties – make it ahead and keep it in the fridge for days, ready to serve!

A classic, proper Chocolate Mousse recipe

I’ve never been 100% happy with the various chocolate mousse recipes I’ve tried in my lifetime. Not fluffy enough, not chocolatey enough, too sweet, too grainy. But the most common flaw was that they left a greasy mouthfeel from excessive use of whipped cream which many “easy” chocolate mousse recipes tend to solely rely on to set the mousse, rather than a combination of cream and whipped eggs which is the classic way chocolate mousse is made.

Thus, when Chocolate Mousse was submitted by a reader as a Recipe Request, I had reason to focus and make it over and over again until it was exactly what I wanted.

Let me repeat: I had to make chocolate mousse over and over again for work purposes.

Life is tough, my friends. The sacrifices I make…. (she says sadly, shaking her head, thinking about the various body parts on which all that chocolate mousse appears to have ended up residing…)

What goes in chocolate mousse

Just FIVE ingredients, all good stuff we like: chocolate, cream, sugar, eggs and butter. Make sure you use chocolate intended for cooking purchased from the baking aisle! More on this below. Don’t use eating chocolate – the only exception is Lindt 70% cocoa chocolate. That is suitable for eating and cooking.

70% cocoa chocolate

It’s important to use the right chocolate for chocolate mousse to ensure it mixes in seamlessly, gives the mousse enough chocolate flavour and the right texture.

• 70% cocoa dark chocolate – This is the chocolate I use which has good intense chocolate flavour, is not as sweet as milk chocolate but sweeter than unsweetened chocolate. It is also firmer than milk chocolate so it ensures that the mousse sets to the perfect consistency. Brands I use: Best – Lindt 70% cocoa (which is actually an eating chocolate but because it’s tempered it works for baking too, find it in the confectionary aisle). Every day purposes – Cadbury or Nestle Plaistowe baking chocolate block 70% cocoa.

• Must be baking chocolate – Be sure to use a chocolate intended for cooking, purchased from the baking aisle, not one from the candy aisle. Chocolate made for eating is actually designed to not melt easily (think – hot hands, left in car) and if you use an eating chocolate, you’ll find it won’t melt smoothly (you get little lumps) or it burns in patches before it fully melts (if you use the microwave). Lindt is the only exception. As noted above, it’s an eating chocolate but because it’s tempered (“snaps” when you break it, and is shiny) it can also be used for baking and is my premium option.

• Bittersweet chocolate can be used – The cocoa percentage of chocolate labelled “bittersweet” can range from 60% to 85% cocoa solids. It will add good chocolate flavour into the mousse but is slightly less sweet than using 70%.

• Milk chocolate work too – It has a lower cocoa percentage (30% – 40% usually) so the mousse won’t have as intense a flavour, it makes the mousse a little sweeter and it sets a little softer, but it can be used here.

RAW EGGS

Raw eggs are key for real chocolate mousse, the classic French way to make it the way it’s served at fine dining restaurants. You will not achieve a result as good using a recipe that doesn’t use raw eggs, no matter what they promise. It’s just not possible to replicate the fluffy-yet-creamy texture with anything other than eggs whipped into a foam. Those “no egg” recipes will either be too dense, taste like whipped cream (and leave a slick of cream fat in your mouth that mousse does not), or have a weird jelly-like texture.

---

How to make chocolate mousse

The path to light and fluffy Chocolate Mousse involves just a few key steps:

1. Melt chocolate with the butter;

2. Whip cream and egg whites separately until fluffy;

3. Gently fold everything together with the yolks; then

4. portion into glasses and refrigerate to set.

Here’s are step-by-step photos with a little more detail. And don’t forget there’s a tutorial video below as well which is quite helpful if you are a first-timer!

1. Beat egg whites and sugar until foamy.

2. Soft peaks (floppy elf hat!) – Then keep beating to fluff it up into a meringue (ie white fluff) until it is “firm peaks”. This means that the mixture stands upright but the pointy end flops down as pictured above. I call it a floppy elf hat!

   If the mixture stands upright with the pointy end pointing up (not flopping) this means it has be beaten to “firm peaks” which is a little far for chocolate mousse. However, don’t worry! It’s ok, the mousse will work fine and will be great for 2 days, but it deflates a bit more on day 3 and beyond.

3. Whip cream to stiff peaks. This is one step further than firm peaks which we did for egg whites. So for the cream, we want the peaks to point upright – no floppy elf hat! Stop beating as soon as your cream reaches stiff peaks. If you beat it too much, the cream starts to get lumpy – and if you keep beating, you’ll turn it into butter which we definitely do not want!!😂

4. Fold together cream and egg yolks. By “fold”, I mean gently combining the mixtures using a lifting and turning motion rather than stirring, so you keep all the air in the mixture and end up with a light, airy mousse. Don’t beat furiously – that’s the sure fire way to a pot of liquid chocolate rather than fluffy mousse!

5. Fold in melted chocolate. Make sure the chocolate is at room temperature but is still runny. If it’s cooled too much and is thick (not pourable), microwave and stir in 5 second increments until it;s pourable again.

6. Gently fold egg whites into chocolate mixture. The fluffed egg whites is what makes our mousse beautifully aerated so be gentle in this step!

7. Mousse mixture – Keep folding until you no longer see egg white lumps or streaks.

8. Spoon into individual pots or a larger dish, then refrigerate to chill so it sets. It will take around 6 hours for individual pots.

**The recipe video is super helpful to see the consistency of the egg whites and cream, as well as how to fold the ingredients into each other.**

I chose to make little pots (using whisky glasses!) but you can make one dish if you prefer, then scoop out to serve.

First timers – never fear!

If you’re a chocolate mousse first timer and are concerned about deflation because you’re taking your time with the steps, don’t be worried! When I film recipe videos, I’m always faffing around with camera set ups and batting away a certain giant dog who is always sprawled where I want the tripod to be.

So it probably took me 3 times longer than it usually does to get the mousse in the fridge so I was quite concerned about deflation of the egg whites and cream.

But it was fine! The chocolate mousse came out exactly the same as it always has. Fluffy, chocolate perfection, as show in the photo above! – Nagi x

---

Watch how to make it

PS More ways to get a serious Chocolate fix: Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting or Ganache and Chocolate Mirror Glaze, Chocolate Cream Pie and BROWNIES!

---

Life of Dozer

Back at the beach with his mates! Under strict instructions to take it easy* and ease back into it. Unfortunately, he doesn’t understand what “taking it easy” means…..

* Post knee op a few months ago. According to Dozer, he was back to 100% the week after surgery, but the doc says no! It will be months! 😂