Recipe: Chocolate Mousse

In all things the Lord taketh, and the Lord giveth.

So when he decided to create mousse, he made it a pain to beat the egg whites, but he also made it very easy to make it at least a day in advance to store conveniently in your fridge. Correctly made, chocolate mousse is light and airy, bittersweet and decadent, but very pleasingly so.

Ingredients (Serves 4)

125g dark chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup cream
2 - 3 eggs, separated (about 90g egg white)
1 Tbsp sugar



Notes on Ingredients: The egg yolks are not strictly necessary in this recipe, but add richness to the mousse if you want to use them. Try and use whites that are at least a day old.



Heat the cream till it's almost boiling, but make sure it does not boil or your cream will split and burn and make a frightful mess.



Once the cream is good and hot, pour it over the chopped chocolate, and let the heat of the cream do most of the work in melting the chocolate.



If the cream isn't hot enough to completely melt the chocolate, or for any reason you don't feel like doing it my way, you can also set the cream and chocolate over a pot of simmering water to melt evenly. Be sure not to let the chocolate seize, which will happen if you accidentally let some water drip in, which is why I recommend the boiling cream method.



Once your chocolate is good and melted, set it aside to cool slightly. If you decide to use the egg yolks, whisk some of the chocolate mixture into the yolks before mixing the yolks back into the chocolate until the mixture is smooth. This is a somewhat delicate process, so I don't advise it, since the mousse is fine without yolks anyway, and you can use them for other desserts, and you reduce the chance of salmonella poisoning.



Now for the fun part. Add the egg whites to a clean mixing bowl and add the sugar.



Beat till your whites are nice and fluffy. The result this time was much better than when I was making ile flottantes, mainly because I was using more egg whites, and because they were about four days old.



With a spatula, cut the egg whites into the chocolate mixture.



Fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture. This is supposed to be done carefully so that the egg whites don't deflate, but it's best to do it quickly, mixing thoroughly, otherwise your whites will deflate anyway. There should not be a speck of white left, merely a voluminous, airy chocolate mixture.



Pour the mixture into four wine glasses, cling-wrap the tops and pop them into the refrigerator overnight for them to set.



Enjoy them straight from the fridge, either plain or garnished with assorted berries or sauces.

The mousses will keep, refrigerated, two to three days, after which the whites will deflate and it's best not to taste what other odours and bacteria the mousses have picked up.

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