Dark Chocolate Mousse
This French style dark chocolate mousse is incredibly rich, with a light, fluffy texture! This dessert is easy to make & is sure to impress.
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I’m a huge chocolate mousse fan & I’ve spent several weeks & many batches perfecting my recipe. It’s a hard job I know!
So this is a French style mousse, which is made with a chocolate custard base that we fold French meringue & softly whipped cream into, to make a light & fluffy mousse. Now there’s many different ways to make chocolate mousse but this is the one that I like the most. It’s incredibly rich & chocolatey yet still as light as a cloud!
If you scroll down this page, there’s a full step by step YouTube video on how to make this chocolate mousse, including a couple of different ways to serve it; either in glasses or scooped to serve. This is a super easy dessert to make but is a guaranteed crowd please that wouldn’t feel out of place at a dinner party.
For more homemade puddings, take a look at our ever growing collection of dessert recipes! There’s lots to choose from here, including sticky toffee pudding, panna cottas, tiramisu, homemade ice creams & loads more…
What You’ll Need
- Dark Chocolate – A good quality dark chocolate is best for mousse. Make sure to use a chocolate with a cocoa content around 72%, for the best flavour.
- Eggs – We’re going to be weighing out the egg yolks & whites. You’ll need 5 yolks & 6 whites. The extra yolk can be saved for an egg wash, for another recipe.
- Cream – You’ll need double cream (heavy cream) for this chocolate mousse.
- Milk – The chocolate custard is made with whole milk, for the richest, creamiest flavour & texture.
- Sugar – We’re using caster sugar in this mousse, to add sweetness. We’re adding enough sugar to make our chocolate mousse just sweet enough, to really let the chocolate flavour shine through.
- Cocoa Powder – Adding a small amount of Dutch cocoa powder to our mousse makes it even more chocolatey! If you haven’t got any, feel free to leave it out though. I wouldn’t recommend using sweetened cocoa powder though.
- Coffee – We’re adding a small amount of instant coffee to our chocolate custard to enhance the chocolate flavours in the mousse! You’ll only need a tiny amount but don’t worry, the mousse won’t taste like coffee.
- Salt – Adding sea salt to our mousse, does the same job as the coffee; enhancing the chocolate flavour! A good quality sea salt is best, I use Maldon.
How To Make Dark Chocolate Mousse
This French style chocolate mousse is made with a chocolate custard, egg white meringue (French) and softly whipped cream. Each component is prepared separately then folded together to make the mousse!
Chocolate Custard
The first step is to make a chocolate custard. To do this, we warm milk with sugar, cocoa powder, instant coffee & salt then whisk in egg yolks and cooked until thick (it should reach a temperature of 82°c/180°f).
Once the custard is cooked, we pass it through a sieve into a bowl that contains our dark chocolate, which we’ve chopped into small chunks. We let this sit for a minute then stir to melt & combine. We set this aside for now.
Egg White Meringue
Next, we make a classic French meringue. We’re making this the usual way, by whisking egg whites to soft peaks, gradually adding in caster sugar then whisking to stiff peaks. The key thing here is to whisk the meringue to stiff peaks (but not over whisk!), to ensure that our chocolate mousse is light & fluffy.
Whipped Cream
The last component of this mousse is some very lightly whipped cream. To make this, we add cold double cream into a mixing bowl with a splash of vanilla paste then whisk by hand until it reaches very soft peaks. It’s important that we make sure not to over whip the cream, as this will affect the texture of our mousse.
Folding Together
Now that all of our components are ready, it’s time to bring them all together!
First, we add a quarter of the meringue into the chocolate custard then gently whisk by hand to combine. This loosens off the custard, which makes it easier to fold in the rest of the meringue & whipped cream.
Next, we fold the rest of the meringue into the mousse, in 2 additions, followed by the whipped cream (also in 2 additions). Each addition should be folded in gently & should be fully combined by the end of this process. It’s important to keep the number of folds as low as possible, to avoid knocking the air out of the mousse.
Setting – In Glasses Or In A Tub
Once mixed, we transfer the mousse into individual glasses or into a tub then leave to set in the fridge for at least 4 hours before serving. If your mousse is in glasses, it can be topped then served. If the mousse is in a tub, you’ll need to scoop portions out with a large spoon, place into bowls then serve.
Serving Suggestions
A good chocolate mousse really doesn’t need much with it, except maybe some light whipped cream and some fresh berries, or something crunchy like toasted hazelnuts or pecans! I served mine with some vanilla whipped cream, macerated strawberries & some shavings of dark chocolate. However, some honeycomb or other berries like raspberries & cherries would work well. If you check out my YouTube video for this recipe, I show a couple of different ways to plate up this mousse…
Tips & Tricks
- Use a good quality dark chocolate; something you’d eat on it’s own! This makes all the difference when making a homemade chocolate mousse.
- Make sure that the cream is as cold as possible before whipping. This ensures that it’ll whip properly. Also, whip the cream up by hand, to avoid over whipping.
- Add a small amount of coffee & sea salt to your chocolate mousse, to enhance the chocolate flavours. You’ll only need a small amount of each.
- Let your mousse chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours before serving, to ensure that it’s properly set.
Frequently Asked Questions
Dark chocolate is best for chocolate mousse as it will give it the richest flavour. We’re also adding in a small amount of Dutch processed cocoa powder, which gives the mousse even more chocolate flavour! I wouldn’t recommend using a chocolate that’s less dark, as this could make the mousse too sweet.
Chocolate mousse will keep for up to 3 days in the fridge. Make sure to keep the mousse covered so that the top doesn’t dry out in the fridge.
Yes, chocolate mousse does contain raw eggs as this is what gives mousse it’s light, fluffy texture. Although in this recipe, the yolks are made into a custard & the whites are made into meringue. I’d give this recipe a miss if you’re concerned about eating raw eggs or if you can’t eat eggs raw.
Equipment Used
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More Dessert Recipes To Try!
- Brown Butter S’mores Brownie Tart
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- Banana Sticky Toffee Pudding With Miso Caramel
- Coffee Stracciatella Ice Cream
- Brown Butter Hobnob Cheesecake
- Amaretto Tiramisu
Watch How To Make This Chocolate Mousse
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Dark Chocolate Mousse
Equipment
- Serving Glasses (See Notes)
- Stand Mixer
- Large Mixing Bowls
- Saucepan
- Digital Food Probe
- Sieve
Ingredients
Chocolate Custard
- 360 g Dark Chocolate (72% Is Best)
- 350 g Whole Milk
- 50 g Caster Sugar
- 15 g Dutch Processed Cocoa Powder
- 1 tsp Instant Coffee
- ½ tsp Sea Salt
- 80 g Egg Yolks
Chocolate Mousse
- 200 g Egg Whites
- ½ tsp Cream Of Tartar
- 90 g Caster Sugar
- 250 g Double Cream (Cold!)
- 1 tsp Vanilla Paste
Instructions
Chocolate Custard
- Chop the dark chocolate into small chunks then add into a heatproof mixing bowl. Set this aside for now.
- Next, add the milk, 25g of the sugar, cocoa powder, coffee & salt into a medium sized saucepan then set over a low heat.
- Heat the milk until steaming hot, whisking to dissolve the cocoa powder & sugar. Don't let the milk boil though.
- Whilst the milk is warming up, add the egg yolks & remaining sugar into a mixing bowl then whisk until smooth & combined.
- Once the milk is steaming hot, pour half of it into the yolks, whisking as you do so. Pour the now tempered yolks into the pan of milk.
- Cook the custard over a low heat, stirring constantly with a rubber spatula until it is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon & has reached a temperature of 82°c/180°f.
- As soon as the custard is cooked, pass it into the bowl of chocolate through a sieve, leave to stand for 1 minute then stir until melted & smooth. Set the chocolate custard to one side & leave to cool slightly.
Chocolate Mousse
- Add the egg whites & cream of tartar into the bowl of a stand mixer then whisk on a medium speed until they've reached soft peaks. This will take 2-3 minutes.
- Next, turn the mixer speed down slightly then add in the caster sugar a tablespoon at a time, making sure to let the sugar mix in fully before adding in more. I find that adding a spoonful of sugar in every 20 seconds or so is best.
- Once all the sugar has been added in, turn the mixer back up to medium then continue whisking until the egg whites have reached stiff peaks. This will take another 4-5 minutes of whisking.
- Whilst the meringue is whisking, add the double cream & vanilla paste into another mixing bowl then whisk by hand until it has reached very soft peaks. Be careful not to over whisk it as this will affect the texture of the mousse.I like to whip the cream whilst the meringue is whisking, so that they'll be ready at the same time. Make sure to keep an eye on the meringue though, so that it doesn't get over whisked!
- Now, add a quarter of the meringue into the chocolate custard then gently whisk by hand to combine. This loosens off the custard, making it easier to fold in the rest of the meringue & cream.
- Next, add half of the remaining meringue into the chocolate then use a spatula to fold the whites into the custard, until mostly incorporated. Add the rest of the meringue in then fold again.Don't worry about a few streaks of egg white at this point, as it will be incorporated as we fold in the cream. Try to keep the number as folds as low as possible, to avoid deflating the mousse.
- Once the egg whites have been incorporated, fold in the whipped cream in 2 additions. Again, make sure to keep the number of folds as low as possible but make sure that the cream is fully combined.If there's any lumps of cream or meringue in the mousse, gently fold the mousse with a whisk to get rid of them. Do this very gently though!
- Spoon the mousse into serving glasses, cover with clingfilm then refrigerate for at least 4 hours to set. Alternatively, transfer the mousse into a tub, leave to set then scoop to serve.
