During the last weeks I started – again – with creating Mousse au Chocolat. I think it’s one of the best desserts during cold autumn and even colder winter. There are lots of versions out there in cookbooks, on food blogs … especially concerning flavoring the chocolate mess. My approach is a pure one – almost a pure one – concentrating on chocolate, overwhelming chocolate.
So my main ingredients are:
- dark chocolate
- fresh eggs
- whipping cream
- sugar.
It doesn’t take much time to create Mousse au Chocolat. However, it’s important to stick to the process & allow some hours for cooling the mess in your fridge.
Starting with melting the chocolate: get a bain-marie & fill it with some water. (My approach is a small cooking pot & an oven-safe bowl.) You should break the chocolate into lumps … then let it melt. If about half of the chocolate is melted you should rescue the chocolate from the bain-marie and store on your kitchen counter. Stir every now and then – the lumps of chocolate will melt and the chocolate will come to room temperature.
In the mean time grab your electric handheld mixer and whisk the whipping cream until stiff. Put it in the fridge.
Then take the sugar and break the eggs. The egg yolks march into the sugar while the egg whites are will come to rest in another bowl – a clean bowl.
Next step is whipping the egg whites until stiff. When ready the beaten egg whites also march in the fridge.
Now it’s time to whip the egg yolks and the sugar. I like to use icing sugar and sift the sugar before use. Then it’s definitely a creamy egg yolk mess …
You may add a pinch of salt to the egg yolk mess … & btw this is the point in time to add any flavors like vanilla, orange liqueur, lemon liqueur, brandy, espresso … or whatever! Just mix it into the egg yolk mess.
Until now we used the electric handheld mixer for all the preparations. From now on let’s work with an egg whip and a spoon.
The chocolate is a smooth mess at almost room temperature by now. Let’s combine it with the sugar & egg yolk mess. Then add the whipped cream and finally the beaten egg whites. I prefer to fold in the beaten egg whites with a spoon.
Afterwards put the Mousse au Chocolat in a big bowl or distribute into some small bowls or glasses. In either case put the bowls/glasses in the fridge and let it rest for at least 2 hours – better 4-6 hours or even overnight. Then the Mousse au Chocolat has set and is a heavenly creamy dessert.
Enjoy!
- 200 g dark chocolate (70%)
- 250 ml whipping cream (32%)
- 4 eggs (size M)
- a pinch of salt
- 50 g fine white sugar or icing sugar
- handheld electric mixer
- egg whip
- bain-marie
- Break the dark chocolate in (small) pieces and use a bain-marie to melt the chocolate. Stir frequently. As soon as about 50% is melted took the chocolate out of the bain-marie and stir as long as the rest is melted. Don't cook the chocolate!
- Let the melted chocolate rest on your kitchen counter. It should cool down to a slightly warm mess at room temperature.
- In the meantime: whip the whipping cream with the handheld electric mixer until stiff. Put it in the fridge.
- Separate the eggs.
- Whip the egg whites until stiff and put it in the fridge.
- Whip the egg yolks, the sugar and a pinch of salt with the handheld electric mixed until creamy.
- Add the slightly warm chocolate to the egg yolk mess and mix with an egg whip until evenly distributed.
- Add the whipped cream and mix with the egg whip.
- Add the stiff egg whites with a large spoon and fold in carefully.
- Put the mess in a bowl resp. in small bowls or glasses and let it rest in the fridge until serving – at least 4-6 hours or even overnight.
