There are so many different types of chocolate mousse but they all have one thing in common: their incredibly light, airy texture that melts in your mouth. Served in individual cups for a quick dessert, or as part of a more elaborate multilayer cake, chocolate mousse is one of those easy, make-ahead desserts.
We learned last week how to make crème anglaise. Today, let’s take it one step further and transform the cream into a mousse. All you need are two additional ingredients -chocolate and heavy cream- and a few extra minutes. So go ahead, take out those nice bowls you rarely use and let’s fill them up with something tasty!
Making Chocolate Mousse
Melting the chocolate
- Place the chopped chocolate in a large bowl and melt in a double-boiler. You can use a microwave if you prefer. Simply heat the chocolate in 30 seconds increments, stirring in-between.
- Place a medium-sized strainer over the chocolate bowl. We will be pouring the crème anglaise through it.
- Prepare the crème anglaise as we saw in this post.
Adding crème anglaise
- Strain the crème anglaise into the chocolate bowl and let it sit for a few minutes. Mix until the chocolate looks completely smooth. You can use an immersion blender if needed to obtain a homogeneous mixture.
Adding whipped cream
- While the chocolate is cooling down, whip the cold heavy cream until soft-medium peaks form. It shouldn’t be too firm so you are able to incorporate it into the cream.
Wait for the chocolate mixture to cool down to about 35°C (95°F) to 41°C (105°F) so the heat doesn’t deflate the whipped cream. If you don’t have a thermometer, it should feel neither warm nor cold to the touch.
- Fold in a third of the whipped cream into the chocolate mixture. Once combined, add the remaining cream in two more additions and gently fold in, being careful not to deflate the whipped cream.
I couldn’t resist putting a close-up shot here… Look at those streaks! Don’t you just love folding something into the chocolate?!
Storing the mousse
- Pour the chocolate mousse into desired cups and cover (without touching the surface).
The mousse will be runny initially and will set up as it cools down. You should pour it immediately into the serving cups before it firms up and becomes harder to portion.
I automatically stuck the parchment paper to the surface of the mousse, as I would do for pastry cream. But then removing the paper just peeled off the top layer of the cold mousse. Well, I did get to eat whatever was on the paper and I managed to take a picture to show you the amazing airy texture of the mousse.
This mousse was a big hit with my kids. When I asked my son if he liked it, he wrote on a piece of paper : 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 … “That’s how much I liked it, mummy!”
This mousse is delicious on its own and you just need to take it out of the fridge when you want to serve it. But if you want to add some height to it, you can top it with some sweetened whipped cream and chocolate shavings. Enjoy!
In case you missed it, head over to the crème Anglaise baking calendar to see what we’ll be learning this month.
You Might Also Like
- How to make Crème Anglaise
- How to make Sweetened Whipped Cream
- How to make Chocolate Lava Cake for Two
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Chocolate Mousse (with Crème Anglaise)
Course: DessertDifficulty: Easy3
people15
minutes10
minutesServed in individual cups for a quick dessert, or as part of a more elaborate multilayer cake, chocolate mousse is one of those easy, make-ahead desserts.
Ingredients
- For the crème anglaise
70 g whole milk
70 g heavy cream
2 large egg yolks, at room temperature
30 g granulated sugar
- For the chocolate mousse
100 g bittersweet chocolate, 65%, finely chopped
60 g sweet chocolate, 43%, finely chopped
200 g cold heavy cream (for the whipped cream)
Directions
- Place the chopped chocolate in a large bowl and melt in a double-boiler (place it over a pan of simmering water without touching the water). If you’d rather use a microwave instead, heat the chocolate in 30 seconds increments, stirring in-between.
- Place a medium-sized strainer over the chocolate bowl. We will be pouring the crème anglaise through it.
- Making the crème anglaise: In a small pot, add the milk, heavy cream and part of the sugar (about 1/3) and heat on medium-low heat (5 out of 9 for example) until simmering.
- In the meantime, whisk the egg yolks with the remaining sugar in a small bowl, until combined.
- Very slowly add part of the hot milk/cream into the egg mixture and whisk constantly.
- Return the mixture to the pot and keep stirring with a rubber spatula on medium-low heat.
- The foam will start to subside and the cream will thicken slightly. The cream should coat the spatula and if you run a clean finger through the spatula, the trace should remain. If you are using a digital thermometer, the temperature of the cream should be about 82°C (180°F). Make sure it does not exceed 85°C (185°F). Remove from the heat as soon as it’s ready.
- Making the chocolate mousse: Strain the crème anglaise into the chocolate bowl and let it sit for a few minutes. Mix until the chocolate looks completely smooth. You can use an immersion blender if needed to obtain a homogeneous mixture.
- While the chocolate is cooling down, whip the cold heavy cream until soft-medium peaks form. It shouldn’t be too firm so you are able to incorporate it into the cream.
- Wait for the chocolate mixture to cool down to about 35°C (95°F) to 41°C (105°F) so the heat doesn’t deflate the whipped cream. If you don’t have a thermometer, it should feel neither warm nor cold to the touch. Fold in a third of the whipped cream into the chocolate mixture. Once combined, add the remaining cream in two more additions and gently fold in, being careful not to deflate the whipped cream.
- Pour the chocolate mousse into desired cups and cover (without touching the surface).
- Refrigerate for at least 2 hours. The mousse will initially look very loose but will firm up and develop the characteristic airy texture in the fridge.
Notes
- Make-ahead tip: You can refrigerate the mousse, well covered, for up to 2 days.
- The crème anglaise: If you overcooked the cream and it curdled, use an immersion blender to smoothen it before straining it over the chocolate (step 8).
- Chocolate: The mousse made with only 65% had an intense chocolate flavor and wasn’t very sweet, perfect for dark chocolate lovers. Using only 43% produced a sweeter chocolate mousse, with a milder chocolate flavor. I decided to use both to get the best of both worlds but feel free to play around with the chocolate proportions. There is no need to add gelatin when using dark chocolate in this recipe. But if you use a much sweeter chocolate, you might need to add gelatin for the mousse to set and have the proper texture.
- If you prefer a lighter mousse, you can increase the amount of whipped cream (step 9). The more you add however, the less intense the chocolate flavor will be. You could also replace the heavy cream used in the crème anglaise with milk (step 3). But the mousse won’t be as firm and you might need to make some adjustments (more chocolate to thicken it for example).