Chocolate Mousse

Chocolate Mousse may well be the ultimate chocolate fix! Rich and creamy, yet light and fluffy, one pot is satisfying but always leaves me wanting more…….

This is a classic chocolate mousse made the proper French way, as served in fine dining restaurants. Less cream, more chocolate, a more intense chocolate flavour and a beautiful creamy mouth feel.

Chocolate Mousse in glasses topped with a dollop of cream and chocolate shavings, ready to be served
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, grainy, etc etc. Many “easy” chocolate mousse recipes tend to use too much cream so the end result is more like custard, rather than aerated like real chocolate mousse should be.

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…)

Overhead photo of Chocolate Mousse with a scoop taken out, showing how light and fluffy it is
What goes in chocolate mousse
Just FIVE ingredients, all good stuff we like: chocolate, cream, sugar, eggs and butter.CHOCOLATE
Make sure you use chocolate purchased from the baking aisle of grocery stores, not the confectionary aisle (ie eating chocolate). Chocolate intended for cooking is made especially so it melts smoothly and properly (unlike eating chocolate).

All types of chocolate can be used for chocolate mousse but I like using 70% cocoa dark chocolate (which is a bittersweet dark chocolate) because it has a good intense chocolate flavour, it’s not as sweet as milk chocolate and I don’t need to hunt down a gourmet store to find it because it’s sold at supermarkets.

Milk chocolate is more milky but you still get a great chocolate flavour. The higher the cocoa % (dark chocolate), the more chocolatey and less sweet it will be.

High quality bittersweet dark chocolate is what good restaurants typically use – not the stock standard. The quality of chocolate used by restaurants is not sold at grocery stores, you need to go to speciality stores and expect to pay upwards of $20/kg ($10/lb).

EGGS
Raw eggs are key for real chocolate mousse, the classic way to make it the way its 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, or have a weird jelly-like texture.

Note on raw eggs concern
Raw eggs in food is more common than you think – and you’ve probably eaten it without even realising.

It is true that eating uncooked eggs carries a risk of salmonella food poisoning which is transmitted to the eggs via infected hens, but in this day and age, I do not consider it any greater risk than eating sushi.

This concern seems more prevalent in some regions around the world, most notably in the US and Canada, presumably because of the outbreak in 2010 which resulted in the recall of millions of eggs.

Raw eggs are used in a number of popular desserts including Tiramisu, it’s used in mayonnaise, the Japanese eat raw eggs on rice, the Koreans top Bibimbap with raw egg. And I don’t know about you but runny yolks is the only way I have fried eggs!

If you are concerned about eating raw eggs, you can used pasteurised eggs for this recipe. If you cannot find pasteurised eggs in stores, you can pasteurise eggs yourself at home if you have an accurate thermometer (have a read of this resource).

Note: raw eggs is not advisable for pregnant women and babies.

How to make chocolate mousse
The path to light and fluffy Chocolate Mousse involves just a few key stepsSoft peaks – it should be foamy but have SOFT peaks that flop at the top – as pictured above – not standing upright (“firm peaks”);

Whip cream;

Fold together cream and egg yolks;

Fold in melted chocolate;

Fold egg whites into chocolate mixture. Don’t beat furiously – that’s the sure fire way to a pot of liquid chocolate!

Spoon into individual pots or a larger dish, chill until firm.

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.

Individual pots of Chocolate Mousse
Close up of spoon holding a scoop of Chocolate Mousse
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

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!