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.
Table of Contents:
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 tbsp 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.
Adele
Outstanding chocolate mousse!! Rich, smooth and the perfect ending to great meal.
Next time I would love to make a white chocolate mousse with a cranberry sauce. Would the recipe stay the same when substituting white chocolate for the dark chocolate? Do I need to change the amount of white chocolate?
TC
Absolutely my favorite mousse recipe I have found. There’s simply no comparison to the versions that only use whipped cream, powdered gelatin, or heaven forbitd, cool whip (*shudder*) for the “mousse”. The sabayon is really key. I made this for my girlfriend on our first date. 4 course dinner topped with this? Yeah, I won the evening 🙂
Going to try to adapt into a peanut butter version and incorporate into a pie for her birthday next.
Chef Dennis Littley
I’m very happy to hear that you enjoyed my chocolate mousse and it helped you win the evening!! I hope you find more recipes to try on my site. Thanks for the idea on the peanut butter mousse, I’ll put that on my list.
If your GF likes tiramisu I have the best recipe for that.
TC
I did that for our second date 🙂 It was absolutely divine. I think I’ve earned “keeper” status pretty early by proving the best food comes from my kitchen and my heart, not any restaurant at any price. I also do windows.
Ann
Will this mousse hold up at room temperature for a wedding cake?
Chef Dennis Littley
It does hold up well, but this is something you would want to test ahead of time. I would think it would need to be refrigerated until the last minute
TC
I’m going to use the base recipe for a punkin mousse at Thanksgiving. I’m hoping the pumpkin puree won’t weigh the whipped cream down too much, but pumpkin pie mousse on a golden Oreo crust? THAT is something to be thankful for!
Chef Dennis Littley
let me know how it turns out
Dawn L Reed
My husband has (had) throat cancer and is relearning to swallow. He asked for pudding and I wanted to go the extra mile and make a mousse. He hasn’t eaten in 6 months so really sweet is not his thing. This mousse was decadent! a bit labor intense but so good. He loved it and so did I. Thank you for the recipe! I will definitely make this again.
Chef Dennis Littley
Thank you for letting me know your husband enjoyed the chocolate mousse. He might also enjoy my tiramisu cream, you can make it like a pudding and leave out the ladyfingers if you don’t think your husband would have problems with them.
Trout
I’ve made traditional French style mousse before. I wanted to make again, and had trouble finding a recipe using Sabayon until I found this one. I believe in traditional style cooking whenever possible. It turned out fabulous! My girlfriend thinks I’m the greatest chef ever. Doesn’t hurt I paired it with my traditional mushroom risotto. Learned that one in Italy. A note to beginners about the desired consistency for the Sabayon while hand whipping over the double boiler would be helpful. I know what I’m looking for, but it’s the only fine detail missing in your otherwise flawless explanation.
jennie phoenix
i imagine chocolate mousse doesn’t have to wait around, it gets gobbled up – but – how long will this last in the fridge? is it really best to make it the day you’ll serve it?
Chef Dennis Littley
it will hold up 5 days or more. The only problem you run into is it stiffens up. Just rewhip it a little to soften it up and you’re good to go. Too much left, fill a pie shell and freeze it.
Meg
Love love love this recipe.
Really, not hard to do at all, but the result is just simply fabulous, each and every time.
Makes an EXCELLENT filling for swiss roll cakes, or even, yule log filling and coating with chocolate ‘bark’ set in on the outside – divine
Jackie
I made this over the weekend and used it to fill a chocolate cake. It is over-the-top delicious, so smooth and creamy. Thanks so much for sharing the recipe. I have a lot of chocolate lovers in my family, so I’m sure I will be making it often!!
Deanna
Hello,
If I wanted to reduce the sugar, what amount could I use? Your recipe looks sensational and I cannot wait to make it.
Chef Dennis Littley
you could probably reduce the amount to 1/3 cup but the sugar does balance the chocolate since the recipe calls for semi-sweet chocolate. You don’t want to go to all that work and have the mousse be bitter. So I personally wouldn’t reduce the sugar.
Parker
I loved this recipe! Is there a way to make this mint chocolate? If so, how? I considered adding peppermint extract. Thanks!
Chef Dennis Littley
you can definitely add peppermint extract to the recipe and you can also swap out the Kahlua for your favorite peppermint liquor.
Parker
If there isn’t a way for mint, what about some sort of peanut butter flavor? I suppose the larger question at hand is, how can someone play with the flavor in a mousse?
TC
I tried using this precise recipe with peanut butter. I tried creamy peanut butter whipped with the cream. It turned into a lumpy mess immediately. I then tried to whip it into the sabayon. Pretty much the same. I ended up using powdered peanut butter and whipping that into the cream. It’s more dense than regular whipped cream, but it worked. I put this into an Oreo cookie crust in a spring form pan with a layer of thick ganache between the crust and peanut butter. Absolutely fantastic. Three tries? Yup. Was my GF’s birthday, and I was not going to fail.
Chef Dennis Littley
when all else fails remember you can freeze it. One of my best desserts came from a failed chocolate tiramisu.
Elly
Chocolate mousse i like it….
Delicious
Christine Wallace
I’m making this with students. I need to leave out the Kahlua. What should I substitute?
Chef Dennis Littley
You can sub coffee for the Kahlua.
Charles Alan Clemens
This looks wonderful and I am anxious to make it. Yesterday I made chocolate mousse using raw eggs & I was concerned about salmonella & the recipe made a godawful mess of my blender. Your recipe looks wonderful, safer, and easy to make. The mousse I made, yesterday was delicious & I like the addition of coffee. I’ll never buy the faux mousse sold in the grocery store again.
Debra
Mmm…nice tip on the patience for the whipping cream! Thanks.
Robyn
I love the addition of coffee and Kahlua in this chocolate mousse – can’t wait to make this!
Leslie
Fantastic chocolate mousse recipe! Love the tip about the whipping cream!
Amy
My partner LOVES chocolate mousse! Will definitely be making them this weekend!
Alexandra
The name is accurate – this really is the best chocolate mousse!
Arlene Alonso
love it
Sue
Delicious! Chocolate mousse is the best!
Linda
It’s really hard to say no to chocolate especially after a long hot summer day. You surely know how to make this chocolate mousse looks so easy to make and I can’t wait to try this.