What could be more delicious than a cut glass bowl of decadent chocolate mousse topped with fruit and a dollop of whipped cream for dessert after a satisfying meal? The creamy texture delights all palettes – from the most cultured taster right down to the baby seated in a highchair. Impressive and just a tiny bit tricky.... master mousse and you master the world.
Course Dessert
Cuisine French
Keyword Chocolate, Culinary 3
Ingredients
3 1/2ouncesbittersweet chocolatecoarsely chopped
3large eggsseparated, at room temperature
Pinchof salt
1 1/2teaspoonssugar
1cupheavy whipping cream
Instructions
Melt Chocolate
Gently melt the chocolate in a bain marie over a saucepan of simmering water. DO NOT LET EVEN A DROP OF WATER GET INTO CHOCOLATE.
Using a whisk, stir the egg yolks into the chocolate one at a time, only adding the next when the previous has been fully incorporated. Continue cooking and stirring until slightly thickened - about five minutes. Remove from heat and continue mixing until cool.
Make Meringue
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or in a bowl with a hand mixer, beat the egg whites with the salt until they start to form peaks. Beating all the while, gradually add the sugar. Continue to beat until the whites are shiny and hold medium-firm peaks.
Make Whipped cream
Beat the heavy cream until it forms medium soft peaks. Set aside and hold at room temperature. For best volume, make sure the bowl and whisk is spotlessly clean and VERY cold.
Combine
Spoon about one-quarter of the whites over the melted chocolate and stir with the whisk until the mixture is almost smooth. (Stirring in a bit of the whites lightens the chocolate and makes the next step easier.) Spoon the rest of the whites over the chocolate and, using a large rubber spatula, very carefully fold in the whites.
When the whites are almost completely incorporated, fold in the whipped cream.
Assemble
Spoon the mousse into individual bowls. Chill for at least one hour.
Top with soft, lightly whipped heavy cream or creme fraiche. Garnish with fresh berries, chocolate shavings, or crushed candied nuts.
Notes
Fun Facts:
Chocolate Mousse was first known as "mayonnaise de chocolat" and was invented by world-renowned French post-Impressionist painter Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, in the late 19th century.
"Mousse" is actually a French word meaning “froth” or “foam."
“Mousse au chocolat” is French for chocolate mousse.
The United States first became acquainted with chocolate mousse at a Food Exposition held at Madison Square Garden in New York City in 1892.
Dessert mousses were not created until savory mousses had already been around for a century.