Chocolate Mousse
Published July 6, 2022
- Total Time
- 20 minutes, plus overnight chilling
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- ½cup/120 grams heavy cream, plus more if needed and for serving if you’d like
- 12ounces/340 grams bittersweet chocolate, coarsely broken or chopped (see Tip)
- 8large egg whites (265 grams/1 cup)
- ¼cup/50 grams granulated sugar
- 4large egg yolks (56 grams)
- 1teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Nutritional analysis per serving (10 servings)
256 calories; 16 grams fat; 9 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 5 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 28 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams dietary fiber; 24 grams sugars; 6 grams protein; 54 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Bring an inch of water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Combine the cream and chocolate in a large heatproof bowl. When the water boils, turn the heat to low so the water is barely simmering or just steaming. Set the bowl over the saucepan and melt the chocolate, gently stirring with a whisk now and then.
- Step 2
While the chocolate melts, whisk the egg whites in a clean bowl using a stand mixer or electric hand mixer on medium speed. When the whites are foamy, add the sugar in a slow stream while whisking. Continue whisking until stiff peaks form. The whites should look glossy but not dry, and, when you lift the whisk from the mixture, a peak should form in the bowl and hold.
- Step 3
Once the chocolate has melted completely, turn off the heat but leave the bowl over the saucepan. Holding the bowl with a kitchen towel, add the egg yolks one at a time, whisking after each addition. If the mixture looks broken, remove the bowl from the saucepan, cool for a minute, then add 1 tablespoon cream and whisk just until shiny and smooth. Whisk in the vanilla. (Don’t worry if it still doesn’t look completely smooth. It will come together in the next step.)
- Step 4
Add a quarter of the beaten whites to the chocolate mixture and stir gently with a flexible rubber spatula until incorporated but still a little streaky. This will make it easier to fold in the remaining whites to create an airy mousse by gradually lowering the temperature of the chocolate (tempering) and making the mixture loose.
- Step 5
Add the rest of the whites and fold them in by running the spatula from 12 o’clock on the bowl to 6 o’clock, then scooping up the chocolate on the bottom and gently folding it over the whites as you move toward 9 o’clock. Rotate the bowl 90 degrees and repeat. Continue folding just until the last streak of white disappears. It’s OK if there are a few lumps of whites left. It’s better to not deflate the batter by folding too much.
- Step 6
Scoop into a pretty bowl or into individual cups or bowls for serving if you’d like. Otherwise, keep it in the mixing bowl. Refrigerate the mousse uncovered until cool, then cover and refrigerate for at least 4 more hours and preferably 24. The covered mousse can be refrigerated for up to 5 days.
- Step 7
If you’d like to serve the mousse with whipped cream, whisk heavy cream until soft peaks form. A cup or two of heavy cream is plenty for this amount of mousse. Serve the mousse cold, straight from the refrigerator, with the whipped cream.
- Use chocolate meant for eating or for making confections, not baking chocolate, which has a higher proportion of cacao solids and results in a dense and possibly gritty mousse. Chocolate with 70 percent to 74 percent cacao is ideal, but choose your favorite. This will taste best with whichever bar of chocolate you enjoy eating on its own.
Private Notes
Comments
Licking the bowl of cake batter, aioli, chocolate mousse and Caesar dressing are great reasons to test the salmonella gods. Live a little!
This is very similar to a recipe for mousse my mother used in the '60s and '70s. It was her special dessert; she made it annually for Thanksgiving. She always layered the mousse with lady finger halves (each moistened with a quick dunk in a small bowl of milk). When finished, it was like a big layer cake in a bowl. She finished it with slivered almonds on top to add a crunch and always served with whipped cream. She loved explaining each step to me, her admiring helper, every year.
Re the uncooked egg whites. It used to be quite common to eat uncooked eggs. When I was a child my mother used to make me an eggnog when I was sick from uncooked eggs, milk, sugar and vanilla. I have also all my life eaten a little raw cookie dough and licked the cake bowl, eaten the occasional chocolate mousse or homemade eggnog. I’m 73 and never have I been ill from any of this. If you are worried, move on to another recipe. I wouldn’t serve to a pregnant person or small child just to be safe.
Amazing recipe!! I thought a bit of run flavoring would have been mice in the mousse, but didn't think about it until I was licking spoons at the end. So I add a bit of rum to the whipped cream. YUM! Also, I made the mousse a day before serving it. What's not to love?
I waited 20 hours for the mousse to set. It came out a bit slimy and not very mousse-like. After reading other reviews I realized that I have added all eight yolks instead of just four. The flavor is very nice, a balance of sweetness and chocolate flavor, but the texture is inedible beyond a few bites. I thought it could have been under whipped egg whites until I realized the yolk count is too high. I will try again!
In the recipe tip, it says use bittersweet chocolate with 70% cacao. Do you mean 70% cocoa? Thank you!
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