This easy chocolate mousse recipe is for real chocolate lovers. Its rich, delicious, dark chocolate flavor mixed with whipped heavy cream gives this dessert a light texture that won't leave you disappointed.
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Ingredients you will need
Dark chocolate - Choose a good quality semi-sweet chocolate (with at least 54.5% cocoa).
Heavy cream - You'll need heavy whipping cream to make the chocolate ganache and for whipping, so you can create a mousse-like texture.
Egg yolks, water, and sugar - You'll need these three ingredients to create pâté à bombe.
Vanilla and salt - Vanilla extract is optional, but don't skip adding salt. As you probably know, you need to add salt to make sweet things even sweeter.
What chocolate to choose
The better the chocolate you use, the better the flavor. This chocolate dessert is one where you want to spend a little bit extra to achieve a deep, rich, dark chocolate flavor. I use Belgium dark chocolate from the Callebaut brand (54.5% cocoa). It’s a little bit on the pricey side, but it’s so worth it.
If you don’t feel like spending extra money on fancy chocolate, you can buy any dark chocolate bar with 55-60% cocoa solids. Chop it up and use it as described in the recipe instructions.
Why you should try this recipe
It’s safe! Unlike other recipes, where you need to use raw eggs, here you’ll create pâté à bombe (pasteurized egg yolk mixture) which you’ll add to chocolate ganache. To make pâté à bombe, you need to heat the egg yolks to the point that they’re safe to eat, so this recipe is safe to enjoy for everyone.
It’s easy to make. Just because this recipe is French doesn’t mean it’s complicated to make! The only difficult thing about this recipe is waiting until your dark chocolate mousse sets in the fridge.
The texture and flavor are to die for. If you’ve never tried this dessert before, I guarantee you’ll be impressed by how smooth the texture is. This mousse just melts in your mouth!
You can easily double or triple this recipe. This dessert is perfect for parties and family gatherings. Even though I made this recipe to serve only four people, you can easily make 8-12 or even more portions just by multiplying the ingredients by 2, 3, etc.
Cooking tips
Prepare the ingredients by weighing them using a digital kitchen scale. It's important that you weigh the ingredients properly. If you add too much water and heavy cream or too little chocolate, your mousse will turn out way too soft or won't set at all.
It doesn't take a lot of time to make. It will take 15-20 minutes of your time with all the preparations to create this delicious mousse with chocolate.
Make the chocolate ganache first. The chocolate ganache needs a little bit of time to cool down before combining it with the egg yolk mixture, so make it first.
Use an instant-read thermometer. We need to bring our pâté à bombe to a certain temperature to pasteurize the egg yolks. It's impossible to do this without a thermometer. Also, the chocolate ganache should be 38C or 100F to mix well with the egg yolk mixture.
Don't hurry to dig in. Dark chocolate mousse needs time to set, so give it time for our dessert to become stable in the fridge. The best way to do this is to let it sit in the fridge overnight.
Step by step directions
1. Place the chocolate into a heat-safe bowl and set aside.
2. Add 125ml of the cream into a saucepan and heat over medium heat until simmering. Pour the cream into the chocolate and let it sit for 2 minutes. Then, whisk until the chocolate has melted and formed a homogenous consistency with the hot cream. Add the vanilla extract and salt and mix. Set aside to cool down.
3. Meanwhile, place the egg yolks, sugar, and water into a heat-safe bowl and place it over a pot with lightly simmering water (double-boiler). Heat, mixing consistently, until the mixture reaches 75C (165F). Use an instant-read thermometer to check the temperature.
4. Remove from the heat and beat on medium-high for 5-6 minutes with a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Whip until tripled in size and pale.
5. Combine the egg mixture and the chocolate ganache using a rubber spatula to a homogenous consistency.
6. In a bowl, add 125ml of cold heavy whipping cream and whip until soft peaks form, then add to the chocolate mixture. Fold in using a rubber spatula until fully combined.
7. Pour into clean and dry dishes that you will use to serve the mousse (I use 4 standard-sized ramekins).
8. Refrigerate overnight or for at least for 5 hours (or freeze for 1-2 hours), or until set. Decorate with fresh raspberries, whipped cream, cocoa powder, or shaved chocolate, and serve.
Serving variations
This mousse dessert is quite sweet, so I wouldn’t recommend topping it with something that’s also sweet. Fresh berries like strawberries or raspberries will help to cut through the sweetness and give our mousse some freshness.
If you want a pure chocolate flavor, you can pipe some unsweetened whipped heavy cream on top of the mousse and sprinkle on some shaved dark chocolate or cocoa powder.
FAQ
Store it in the fridge for up to 4 days.
You can freeze it for up to 2 months. Before freezing, let the mousse set and then cover the ramekins with plastic wrap and a piece of foil. Thaw in the fridge overnight before serving.
You can, but you’ll need to adapt the recipe by changing the amounts of all ingredients.
More chocolate dessert recipes
Easy homemade chocolate truffles
Recipe card
Chocolate mousse
Equipment
- Digital kitchen scale
- Stand mixer or a hand mixer
- Instant read thermometer
Ingredients
- 125 ml heavy whipping cream
- 150 g semi-sweet chocolate 55-60% cocoa
- Pinch of salt
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract optional
- 2 egg yolks of large eggs
- 35 g white granulated sugar
- 10 ml water
- 125 ml heavy whipping cream cold
Instructions
- Place the chocolate into a heat-safe bowl and set aside.
- Add 125ml of the cream into a saucepan and heat over medium heat until simmering. Pour the cream into the chocolate and let it sit for 2 minutes. Then, mix until the chocolate has melted and formed a homogenous consistency with the hot cream. Add the vanilla extract and salt and mix. Set aside to cool down to around 38C (100F).
- Meanwhile, place the egg yolks, sugar, and water into a heat-safe bowl and place it over a pot with lightly simmering water (double-boiler). Heat, mixing consistently, until the mixture reaches 75C (165F). Use an instant-read thermometer to check the temperature.
- Remove from the heat and beat on medium-high for about 5 minutes with a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Whip to ribbon stage (if you lift the whisk, the pale mixture should slowly run down, leaving a ribbon on top of the mixture) or until tripled in size and pale.
- Combine the egg mixture and the chocolate ganache using a rubber spatula to a homogenous consistency.
- In a bowl, add 125ml of cold whipping heavy cream and whip to soft peaks, then add to the chocolate ganache. Fold in using a rubber spatula until fully combined.
- Pour into clean and dry dishes that you will use to serve the mousse (I use 4 standard-sized ramekins).
- Refrigerate overnight or for at least 5 hours (or freeze for 1-2 hours), or until set. Decorate with fresh raspberries, whipped cream, cocoa powder, or shaved chocolate, and serve.
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