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Homemade Chocolate Mousse

Today, I was a woman ruled by her uterus. That’s right, shark week is upon me, and my uterus was quite persuasively attempting to convince me to EAT ALL THE CHOCOLATE. When nomming away on my clearance horde from Valentine’s Day was not enough to appease the dictator within my abdomen, I knew drastic measures had to be taken: a chocolate dessert.

“But what should I make?” I asked myself. I already had brownies and doughnuts and cookies and chocolate frosting (hey, when you’re desperate, you’re desperate) the past few shark weeks. I needed something different. And then, it came to me. Chocolate mousse! I had never made it before, but it was one of my favorites. And it couldn’t be that hard, right?

Right?

Well, I wouldn’t say it’s the most difficult recipe I have ever made, but the time intensiveness of the project is what made it difficult. And actually, it took less than an hour to make. But I worked really hard in that one hour, because I, in my infinite wisdom, decided to try whipping the mousse by hand. Can’t be too hard, yeah? And then I would know how all the real chefs make mousse! (Hint, they hire someone to whip that shit in an electric mixer.)

All I know is, my arms hurt like I did 20 burpees, but this mousse was so good, it was totally worth it. But next time, I think I will pull out the electric mixer and save my arms the trouble.

Photo of the ingredients needed for making this chocolate mousse.
Just four ingredients for a delicious dessert!

What You’ll Need

  • 10 ounces heavy whipping cream
  • 4 ounces high quality dark chocolate, broken into small pieces. (I used Ghirardelli)
  • 1/4 cup extra fine white sugar
  • 1 egg, brought to room temperature

What To Do

1. Heat half of the cream over medium-high heat until boiling. While the cream is heating, fill a large bowl with ice water, and place a medium-sized bowl within it. This is where you’ll be whipping your cream.

2. Remove cream from heat, and stir in chocolate until melted. Pour the mixture into the bowl on ice, then add the rest of the cream. Whip to soft peaks, then remove from ice.

Photo of boiling cream
When you're getting some bubbles around the edges, remove from heat and add the chocolate.
Photo of chocolate being stirred into boiling cream
Stir in the chocolate until smooth. Mmmm. (Note: if all you want is hot cocoa, stop here!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo of cold cream being poured into melted chocolate.
Pretty!
Photo of softly peaking whipped chocolate cream.
A soft peak. About 10 minutes by hand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Separate the egg, saving the white and tossing the yolk. Whip the egg white to stiff peaks.

Photo of egg whites being whipped.
Whisk whisk whisk whisk. You'll be doing this for a while.
Photo of stiffly peaking egg whites
This is what you're aiming for. About 20 minutes by hand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. Once the egg white is whipped, slowly add the sugar to the whites. Whip until you have a fluffy, delicious meringue.

5. Gently fold the meringue into the whipped chocolate cream. Be careful, because you don’t want to deflate your mousse.

Photo of a three-quarter meringue.
You want it to be almost stiff.
Photo of meringue being folded into whipped chocolate cream.
Be very gentle, and don't over stir.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6. Chill until ready to serve!

As I said, this was my first time making mousse, and it was awesome. I bet with more practice (and an electric mixer) I could do better, but this was not a bad first attempt by any stretch.

Let us hope my uterus will find my offering suitable. Though the prospect of laying in bed with a heating pad and a large bowl of mousse really isn’t so unappealing. Hmm…

Photo of completed chocolate mousse
Finished! Now pop it into the refrigerator and let it chill for an hour. Be patient, it will be worth it!

11 replies on “Homemade Chocolate Mousse”

I just made this, but used white chocolate instead. I thought I had dark in my cabinet, but I must have used it all up when I did strawberries last time. I had a heck of a time getting the egg to merengue. Should I have been whipping the egg over the ice bath? It seemed to work better for me when I had to redo it with a cold egg. It’s in the fridge chilling right now. I can’t wait to eat it!

Actually, room temp egg whites usually whip up more quickly than cold ones. The problem may have been that there was a little bit of yolk with your whites (even a small bit of yolk can prevent the whites from whipping), or that there was some residual oil in your bowl (which also stops the foaming process). Oddly enough, cold eggs separate better than room temp eggs! When I have time during a recipe, I separate my eggs as soon as I take them out of the fridge, then let the whites reach room temp before I whip them. The temp doesn’t really matter that much, though, not like the yolk/oil thing does.

I figured what I did wrong- I had the wrong mixer attachment! I had the beaters on instead of the whisk. I tried it again just now (with the right kind of chocolate, too) and the egg fluffed right up and didn’t deflate when I added the sugar. I made a merengue! And it took every bit of willpower not to eat the entire bowl before I got it to the fridge. I had a spoonful and I gave a spoonful to future mister. Now I’m watching the clock for an hour until I can have my precious again.

This would be most timely, but one of the side effects of the colds I’ve been getting lately has been loss of appetite. Deep enough to override even the hormone-fuelled insatiable hunger, 2 periods in a row. So the pictures above do nothing for me today. It’s bizarre, I tell you, bizarre!

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