Have you ever tasted French Chocolate Mousse? I’m talking about real chocolate mousse, not the instant or quick versions that use gelatin or cool whip.
They may make fine cake fillings, but once you’ve had the real thing, there is no substitute for Real Chocolate Mousse.
Trust me when I tell you, once you taste this chocolate mousse, you’ll never be happy with the imitators.
What ingredients do I need to make Real Chocolate Mousse?
Let’s start by gathering the ingredients we need to make Chocolate Mousse. In Chef Speak this is called the Mise en Place which translates into Everything in its Place.
Not only does setting your ingredients up ahead of time speed the cooking process, but it also helps ensure you have everything you need to make the dish.
The first step in making this classical French dessert is melting the chocolate. Using a stainless steel bowl over a pot of simmering water will melt the chocolate easily.
Once the chocolate has melted add the butter to the chocolate and fold it into the melted chocolate. Set aside and let the chocolate cool.
Add the egg yolks to the bowl of your mixer and begin to whip them until doubled in size, then begin to slowly pour the sugar in a steady stream into the yolks. Continue to whip for another minute.
Add the Kahlua and coffee to the whipped eggs.
Can I add another liqueur to my Chocolate Mousse?
You sure can! Some of my other favorite liqueurs to add to chocolate are:
- Peppermint Liqueur
- Chambord
- Frangelico
- Gran Mariner or Cointreau
**You can also add your favorite extract instead of using liqueurs
Using a double boiler method whip the mixture over a pot of simmering water until it thickens. **This will also cook the egg yolks.
Transfer the mixture to your stand mixer bowl and whip until it cools (2-3 minutes).
When the sabayon has cooled fold the chocolate into the sabayon. Completely incorporate the chocolate into the sabayon.
**Do this by hand, don’t use an electric mixer.
Slowly whip the cream until it forms stiff peaks.
What’s the secret to making Whipped Cream?
The mistake that everyone makes when whipping cream is doing it too quickly. The secret to whipped cream that will last for days is doing it slowly.
Start out at a low setting and gradually turn up the speed of the mixer over 10 minutes. Don’t over whip the cream or you’ll get butter!
Chef Dennis Tip:
I prefer using heavy whipping cream vs. whipping cream. It holds its shape longer and produces a creamier result. Most heavy cream in grocery stores is 36% but if you can find 40% cream go for it.
Gently fold the chocolate mixture into the whipped cream.
After you’ve folded the whipped cream into the chocolate mixture, you’re done.
The chocolate will firm up the colder it gets. It’s best to place the Chocolate Mousse into the serving dishes before it fully sets up.
**The chocolate mousse can be rewhipped if necessary.
The chocolate mousse is perfect by itself, or served with berries. But you can also use the mousse to make other desserts:
- Chocolate mousse pie (pie shell or springform pan)
- Second layer on a cheesecake
- Used between layers of a cake
Recipe FAQ’s
Pudding is usually made with milk and cooked. It’s thickened with cornstarch which activates when heated with the milk. Mousse is not cooked and is thickened by adding whipped heavy cream to the mixture. As the melted chocolate cools, it thickens the mousse and gives you that rich silky texture which is due to the cooked egg sabayon, which is folded into the mousse. Pudding is semisolid and dense, while chocolate mousse is lighter and much richer.
If you want to make the mousse look lighter and airier after being refrigerated, simply re-whip the mousse. that will fluff it up a bit and make it easier to serve and more visually appealing.
Traditionally mousse is made with dark chocolate to give it that rich taste that only dark chocolate can give. You can, of course, use milk chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate to make the mousse. Just don’t use baking chips! Baking chips will work, but they have ingredients added to keep them solid. Use the best bar chocolate you can find.
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Chocolate Mousse
Ingredients
- 13 oz semisweet chocolate finely cut (milk or bittersweet chocolate can be used)
- 6 tablespoon unsalted butter softened (3 oz)
- ½ cup sugar
- 6 egg yolks
- ¼ cup strong black coffee or espresso
- ¼ cup Kahlua **If you can't use alcohol, substitute with black coffee or espresso
- 3 cups heavy cream
Instructions
Chocolate
- Place the chocolate in a stainless steel bowl, over a pot of simmering water, stir with a rubber spatula as the chocolate melts, if the pan starts to get too hot, remove it from the heat.
- Continue to stir the chocolate until it has melted completely, then remove from the heat.
- Cut the butter into 8 pieces and mix it into the melted chocolate until it has been completely absorbed by the chocolate.
- Set the chocolate aside to cool to room temperature
Sabayon
- Add the egg yolks to the bowl of your mixer and begin to whip them until doubled in size, then begin to slowly pour the sugar in a steady stream into the yolks. Continue to whip for another minute.
- Add the coffee and Kahlua to the egg yolk mixture and place your mixing bowl over a pot of simmering water and whisk the yolk mixture until it becomes very thick.
- When the egg yolks have thickened, continue to whip in your stand mixer until the mixture has cooled.
Combining
- When the sabayon has cooled, fold it into the chocolate mixture until well blended.
- Whip the cream in your stand mixer until it holds its shape, then fold it into the chocolate mixture.The secret to making perfect whipped cream is to do it slowly. Start at a low speed and increase the speed over 10 minutes until firm peaks have formed.
- The chocolate mousse will set as it gets colder. Place the mouse in serving dishes berfore it completely chills. The chocolate mousse can be re-whipped if it sets before you put it into serving dishes.
Gardener
This recipe looks wonderful. How far in advance can this be made? I would love to fill my homemade cannoli shells with this for Easter but I need to prepare this in advance. Will that work?
Chef Dennis Littley
you can make it ahead of time and it will hold up, the only issue is it does stiffen up pretty well so using a pastry bag with a nice star tip will have it looking good. It will be amazing in cannoli shells!
Lorena wood
I made this today for Xmas eve for dinner guests and family. Everyone raved about it. I would say it was some shuffling of pans in the process but it turned out beautifully. I started off with Gerridelli 63% chocolate chips and melted them in the double broiler. I served the finished product in 63% dark cocoa cups (from Walmart) with raspberry sauce drizzled over (see recipe below), a fresh raspberry, and grated Hersey’s dark chocolate slivers. I’d attach a picture if I could. Here is the recipe for the raspberry sauce I made: approx. 3/4-1c. of fresh raspberries,1/4 c. of sugar or less, 4T.Kahlúa Rum or more, 2T. of cornstarch and 1/4-1/2 water. Place in blender on high to mix and grind seeds, then transfer to pan on medium high heat and bring to boil till it starts to thicken slightly. Add more liquid in the form of Rum or water to your liking. Drizzle over recipe and on plate for presentation. I have some Godiva chocolate Liqueur which would probably be great to add next recipe. If you have chocolate lovers this will do the trick, if you don’t, they too will love it. I verify! Chef Dennis’ recipe above made about 9 cups of mousse.
Chef Dennis Littley
Thanks for the feedback Lorena and the raspberry sauce recipe!
Beth Bilous
I need a rockin great chocolate mousse recipe and wondering if this might be it. I tried David Liebovitz version of Julia Childs recipe and was not too impressed, Please me if the kaluah might be the ticket to stellar chocolate mousse, I need to impress some guests.
Chef Dennis Littley
hi Beth
this really is an outrageously delicious mousse, I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!
Lian
I made this using Irish Cream and decaf coffee. It was amazing! Thank you, Chef Dennis, for sharing this amazing recipe! I always have leftover egg yolks when I make swiss meringue for cake/tart toppings; I think this will be my go-to recipe from now on!
I am considering to make a passion fruit mousse (using juice from concentrate), but would I use gelatin as a thickener? How much juice can I use with one envelope of powdered gelatin?
Chef Dennis Littley
hi Lian
I’m haappy to hear that you enjoyed the mousse! As for passion fruit you may have to experiment with the proportions a few times to get it right. The rule of thumb is one tablespoon of gelatin per cup of liquid, and usually the packet is two tablespoons.
Lian
Ok great, thank you so much!
KichiG4R
Hi, am interested in giving this receipe a try but have some question. Normally website would say heat the cream and pour it over chocolate to melt it. Can I use this way instead of directly melting just chocolate?
And for the Sabayon step 2, Add the liquid. If i’m not planning to add coffee or kahlua, can i miss this step and just thickend the egg yolk by itself?
Chef Dennis Littley
you can change the recipe anyway you like, but I can’t guarantee it will work. The steps laid out are for my recipe, and for it to come out the way it should they need to be followed.
Kichig4r
Thank you so much! I’ll give melting chocolate by itself a try again. I tried it last time n they burned so I was afraid to heat them directly..
Vanessa
Hi Chef Dennis,
I tried making the chocolate mousse today and something went awry. The chocolate and butter combination seemed fine–glossy, smooth (I thought anyway)–until I added the sabayon. After that, it seemed to get quick thick, almost like a paste. I think it may have seized. I went ahead with the recipe anyway but ran into problems when I added the whipped cream. I ended up having difficulty incorporating the two into a smooth mixture and instead had a lot of little pieces of chocolate. I mixed too much and the whipped cream started weeping. It tastes really good but I’m wondering if you can tell me what I might have done wrong and if there’s anyway to fix it at this point. I used bittersweet Ghiradelli chocolate if that matters.
Thank you!
Vanessa
Lorena wood
Vanessa, I”m not a trained chef but I just made this and have made a lot of desserts. I can think of some things that went awry by what you commented on. The butter/chocolate mixture weren’t fully integrated before it cooled. It should be a soft, smooth mixture barley holding its shape. If you added already made whipped cream that may have caused an issue verses adding heavy whipping cream-the ready made may have too much sugar or thickening agents added to it-a chemical problem. The other possible problem could be not mixing the mousse long and fast enough. I have made this recipe with Ghiradelli chocolate chips and had no problems. Better luck next time and don’t give up.
Esther
Thank you for this easy to follow recipe! I’ve made this twice now and it’s getting better each time. This may sound like a travesty to you, but I want to try adding different flavors. Where I grew up we drink a malted chocolate drink called Milo, and I was trying to think of a way to get that flavor into this. It is sold as a powder. I guess you could dissolve as much as possible in some hot water or milk and then cool it and add it in place of the kahlua/coffee? Or could you incorporate the powder directly into the sabayon just like the sugar? I would think it would need to be pretty concentrated in order to taste it through the chocolate.
Chef Dennis Littley
hi Esther, I’m happy to hear that you enjoyed my Chocolate Mousse recipe, and as for adding other flavors I would try as you suggested adding it to water and letting it dissolve using it in place of the Kahluha. You could also let it dissolve in the cream before whipping and let it incorporate that way. Just be careful with the powder you don’t want the mousse taking on a gummy consistency or taste
mangiabella
Thinking of making this for valentine’s day…will keep you posted
Farah.F
Hi, this mousse looks delicious. Thanks for this great recipe. I was wondering if i use this to layer a cake, will i need to add gelatin, or will it be good as is?
Chef Dennis Littley
You won’e need gelatin with this Farah, the Chocolate firms the mousse up nicely.
Farah.F
Thank you 🙂 cant wait to try it.
john
Hi Chef – great dessert after your delicious Braciole.
This has to be the best Chocolate Mousse we have ever had. It was very light and wonderfully chocolate. As Chef suggested, I cut back on the cream to give it a decadent chocolate taste. I like the bitter sweet over the semi-sweet. I filled wine glasses half way with the mousse and after it chilled topped it of with some fresh whipped cream – to die for. Thanks for another wonderful recipe.
Chef Dennis Littley
your quite welcome John and I’m so glad you enjoyed the mousse! I love using the mouse as a cake frosting, and it also freezes well and I’ve made chocolate mousse pies out of it cutting it after it was frozen solid, and wrapping slices individually then taking them out as needed.
JJ
Hi Chef Dennis!
Just wanted to let you know I tried this out for a wedding cake filling and it turned out great! Thank you so much for sharing your stories and recipes. My initial test for this mousse didn’t work out so well, but the 2nd time around came out great.
I tried this recipe first with plain semi-sweet chips but that turned out horribly – the chocolate seized up immediately when I tried mixing in the butter. Using high quality chocolate instead definitely made all the difference. Would you have any insight into why semi-sweet chips (50% cacao) seized while the premium bittersweet chocolate (60% cacao) worked fine?
I just have a couple questions – after folding the sabayon into the melted chocolate, it just looked… wrong. It was almost like how chocolate looks like if it gets too hot while melting – kind of broken. I almost stopped and gave up at this point but I had come this far so I kept going. I folded in the whipped cream and the end result turned out great. So finally my question – what should it actually look/feel like when folding the sabayon into the chocolate? Or does it not really matter as long as you end up with mousse in the end?
Also, is there anything you would do differently if adapting the mousse for a cake filling?
Thank you so much Chef Dennis for taking time to answer my questions and also for your wonderful recipe! Happy New Year!
JJ
Chef Dennis Littley
hi JJ
sorry you had problems with the chips, but they can cause problems with the mousse sometimes because of the percentage of chocolate in them, its always best to use the best chocolate you can find for this recipe. I use Belgian and have used Ghiradelli if its not available. The other reason it may have looked that way is if the butter or eggs were too cold, you want to try and keep them closer to room temp (thats a good idea with cakes as well)
As for the consistency, it should look more velvety and even a little glossy but as you can see it didn’t have that much affect on the finished product.
For a filling it works wonderfully because the chocolate keeps it firm, you shouldn’t have to do anything else to it. If it were strawberry or another fruit flavor you would have to use gelatin to keep it firm.
I’m always happy to help and I’m grateful that you chose my recipes to try!
Happy New Year!
Dennis
Beth Bilous
Hi, I need a brand of chocolate that’s good please . Making this for Christmas Eve tonite, I know poor planning on my part does not constitute and emergency , but really there is one. I headed out the door soon to grab the chocolate. Please tell me what kind to purchase. BTW looked at dozens or recipes and settled on yours. High hope abound.
Chef Dennis Littley
At this late stage of the game I would look for Ghirardelli’s it might be your best bet. I usually buy Belgian Chocolate, but I don’t know what is available for you.
Beth Bilous
Hi, I need a brand of chocolate thats good please . Making this for Christmas Eve tonitht, I know poor planning on my part does not constitute and emergency , but really there is one. I headed out the door soon to grab the chocolate. Please tell me what kind to purchase. BTW looked at dozens or recipes and settled on yours. High hope abound.
Teresa
Thank you for this delicious recipe.
One question:
Can I double it?
Im entertaining tonight 20 people.
Thanks
Chef Dennis Littley
hi Teresa
it can be doubled it will just be a little difficult to mix together with that big of a batch. You want to be able to fold the whipped cream in without deflating it.
Lisa Ribeiro
Sorry dennis i forgot to say its for acake filling