Chocolate Mousse Recipe

I’m unsure a universally beloved dessert exists. But when there was one, I’d be prepared to guess it’d be chocolate mousse—chocolate pudding’s extra grown-up, fancier cousin. It’s a timeless dessert, and one which continues to star on restaurant and feast menus. Wealthy with bittersweet chocolate and light-weight as a cloud, every spoonful is a deeply pleasurable expertise. Chocolate mousse is straightforward and chic, and since it should be made forward of time, it’s a great dessert for entertaining. Set it and overlook it, then prep the remainder of your dinner. You gained’t must return to it till the espresso and digestifs have been poured. 

There are quite a few methods to make chocolate mousse. You’ve obtained avocado chocolate mousse, which will get its silky texture from ripe avocados whizzed along with cocoa powder and a few type of syrup (normally maple or agave) in a meals processor. Molecular gastronomist Hervé This makes use of simply two elements—bittersweet chocolate and water—and slightly cooking science to create an extremely creamy chocolate mousse that feels (and tastes!) slightly too good to be true. After which there’s the normal French technique of folding whipped cream, a meringue, and egg yolks into melted chocolate. I discover the final of those to be probably the most scrumptious. 

When you’ve by no means made chocolate mousse earlier than, the prospect of getting to include not one, however three completely different elements into melted chocolate can really feel intimidating. There are a number of potential dangers: What if the chocolate seizes? What if the egg whites deflate? What if it is not chocolatey sufficient? (Nobody’s anxious about it being too chocolatey, proper? Proper?) 

This recipe hopefully takes these worries out of the equation. Via rounds and rounds of testing, I’ve landed on a recipe that streamlines the method and improves probabilities of success. Right here, I skip the entire folding-whipped-cream-into-chocolate factor, selecting as a substitute to soften chocolate with heavy cream to assist stabilize it and safeguard it from seizing. And with slightly know-how, you gained’t must worry the egg whites deflating—simply whisk them at a slower velocity for slightly longer to higher stabilize them, then gently fold with out fear.

I all the time joke that no matter you’re cooking can sense your worry. Do not give this chocolate mousse that pleasure. Method the recipe with confidence, and you’ll find yourself with a spectacular mousse that might make a pastry chef proud.

The Finest Chocolate for Chocolate Mousse

You’ve seemingly seen the odds on chocolate, however what do the numbers really imply? As Marissa Sertich Velie wrote for us in her guide to baking with chocolate, percentages inform you how a lot of the chocolate comes from precise cacao beans, just like the chocolate liquor and cocoa butter. Chocolate liquor is what offers chocolate its signature taste, whereas cocoa butter (the fats in cacao beans) carries little taste and contributes largely to the feel of chocolate. A 70% chocolate, for instance, signifies that 70% of it’s a combination of chocolate liquor and cocoa butter, and the remaining 30% is sugar. The upper the share, the much less sugar there may be, making the chocolate a extra bittersweet one.

The most effective chocolate mousses handle to straddle the road between a light-weight and ethereal texture and a wealthy, darkish chocolate taste. The lightness comes from the whipped egg whites and cream, whereas the chocolatey taste comes from, nicely, the chocolate. After arriving at a way and ratio of elements that achieved the precise gentle and ethereal texture, I attempted the recipe with 4 completely different goodies: milk chocolate (40%), semisweet (46%), and darkish chocolate (64% and 70%). Each the milk chocolate and semisweet proved slightly too candy, and although I loved the mousse made with 64% chocolate, I discovered that utilizing 70% chocolate resulted in a extra balanced and sophisticated tasting mousse with bittersweet notes. 

Since chocolate is the star of this dessert, I like to recommend going out of your method to purchase actually wonderful chocolate. My most well-liked chocolate is Valrhona Guanaja 70% (which I order on-line as a result of it isn’t available in grocery shops) however Guittard’s 70% baking bars are additionally a fantastic choice.

Stabilizing Your Chocolate

One of many pitfalls of melting chocolate is having it seize on you: that unlucky second when the velvety-smooth chocolate you’ve simply melted turns into sandy and too stiff to work with. “The tiniest little bit of moisture, even steam, could cause flowing, shiny melted chocolate to develop into a stable, uninteresting, grainy mass,” writes Shirley Corriher in her 2008 e book BakeWise. With chocolate mousse that’s made the normal method, the place you incorporate each whipped cream and a meringue, seizing normally occurs once you’re introducing these elements too rapidly or on the flawed temperature. 

The answer is counterintuitive. Somewhat than keep away from liquid, we wish to add extra—simply sufficient!—to coat the cocoa particles and maintain them fluid. The upper the share of chocolate, the upper the quantity of cocoa, and the extra liquid you’ll want so as to add in an effort to forestall seizing. Whereas semisweet goodies (55 to 60%) require simply 15ml of liquid per 2 ounces of chocolate, darkish goodies (60 to 70%) want at the least 22ml per 2 ounces of chocolate. 

The way you introduce that liquid is vital. “The fail-safe solution to mix chocolate with different recipe elements,” Corriher advises, “is to soften the chocolate with any liquid or butter within the recipe.” Her chocolate mousse recipe is straightforward, and includes simply melting chocolate, sugar, and cream collectively, then permitting it to sit back in a single day earlier than whipping it to agency peaks. Taking a web page out of Corriher’s e book, I made a decision to not whip my heavy cream. As a substitute, I positioned the heavy cream in a bowl with chocolate set over a simmering pot of water to soften collectively. This not solely stabilizes the chocolate and prevents it from seizing, but in addition lightens up the combination, making it simpler to fold along with the whipped egg whites with out deflating the mousse. Although this recipe lacks the whipped cream you see in conventional strategies, the mousse will get sufficient aeration from the egg whites alone and is equally gentle in texture.

The Key to Gentle, Ethereal Mousse: Making a Correct Meringue

A sturdy, well-whipped meringue is crucial for a light-weight, silky mousse. When you’ve ever had a dense meringue-based chocolate mousse, it’s seemingly that the egg whites deflated throughout the folding course of. The thought of getting to maintain your meringue intact whereas incorporating it into your chocolate combination may be daunting, however there are methods to safeguard your meringue and forestall it from collapsing, specifically—stabilizing it. 

It could appear logical to show up the velocity of your mixer when beating egg whites—sooner beaters equals extra air, proper?—it is really the other that is true. For a extra secure foam that’s much less more likely to deflate, you’ll want to beat it at a slower velocity for longer. (I’m not speaking about turtle-speed-slow—medium velocity on a stand mixer is simply superb.) In his e book Kitchen Mysteries, French gastronomist Hervé This explains that the air bubbles in egg whites are massive after we start whipping them, however develop into smaller and extra secure the longer we whisk—the results of proteins unfolding and connecting with each other to type a community across the bubbles. By setting the mixer to a medium velocity, we give ample time to type this finer foam construction, which is extra secure than one filled with bigger bubbles. Including a contact of acid like cream of tartar additionally helps to strengthen and coagulate egg white proteins. Nonetheless, in line with This, it’s extra essential to whip your whites nicely.

As soon as your egg whites attain stiff peaks, you’ll wish to use a silicone spatula to softly incorporate it into the combination of melted chocolate and cream, working upwards alongside the curve of the bowl to fold the underside excessive. Begin by incorporating 1 / 4 of the meringue to loosen up the chocolate, then fold in the remainder, rotating the bowl as you go. There’s no dashing this! Be affected person and work slowly and totally to make sure the meringue and chocolate are totally mixed, lest you’d like streaks of egg white by means of your mousse.