Mousse au Chocolat

The featured blog for Tried & Tested July 2008 is Meeta's blog - Whats for lunch honey?. Tried and Tested is an event started by Zlamushka of Zlamushka's Spicy Kitchen and has everyone interested, cooking from a chosen blog, each month. As everyone is familiar with Meeta's blog I dont have to describe how beautiful her blog is and how fantastic and tempting her pictures are. Since I am a dessert lover, I chose her Mousse au Chocolate (Chocolate mousse) recipe for T&T.

Chocolate mousse is enjoyed by everyone, I guess, because of its looks, texture and taste. The texture is smooth, airy and fluffy because of the beaten egg whites and cream gently folded in (rather than stirred) to maintain its aeration. This is literally a "melt-in-your-mouth" creation which can be whipped up in minutes. Then comes the agonising wait for the dessert to chill. I assure you that nobody would be able to resist the temptation of this sinful dessert. Do try this out soon. The perfect dessert for a special occassion or to impress some guests or loved ones. I couldnt help myself from posting all these beautiful pictures. We enjoyed it a lot and so will you! à bientôt !! (See you!).

Recipe:

Bittersweet chocolate - 100-120 g (an exclusive chocolate preferably with 71% cocoa)
Butter - 15 g
Eggs - 2 , separated
Heavy cream - 200ml, beaten till stiff

Method:

Place a bowl over a pot of water and bring to a boil. Make sure the bowl does not touch the water in the pot.

Melt the chocolate and butter in the bowl.

Mix well until the chocolate and butter are melted and combined well, without any lumps.

Set the mixture aside and stir to cool for 30 seconds.

Add the egg yolks and mix together. The mixture will take on a thicker consistency.

Allow to cool further.

Gently fold in the whipped cream.

Beat the egg whites until stiff.

Fold the whites carefully into the chocolate-cream mixture.

Make sure that everything is mixed until smooth, fluffy and well-blended.

Transfer the mousse to individual serving bowls or a large single bowl.

Chill for several hours before serving.

Tips:

1. How to put chocolate designs on a glass/serving bowl ? In this case, since the mousse was going to be dark colored, I decided to go with white chocolate design. Melt some white chocolate in the microwave and transfer to a ziploc/sandwich bag. Cut off an end very close to the tip. Hold the glass tilted in your hands and pipe any design that you would like on the bottom and/or inner walls of the glass/serving bowl. In this picture I just piped random lines at the bottom of the glass and spaced dots on the walls. Allow to set in the refrigerator for a few minutes. These dressed-up glasses can be used to serve desserts/drinks that are not hot!



2. Meeta used chocolate with 71% cacao. I used a 4 oz (113g) Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate bar with 60% cacao. I would try this with bittersweet 71% cacao chocolate next time.
3. My chocolate-egg yolk mixture became a bit (and yes, just a bit) lumpy probably because I added the yolks too early?. For the fear of deflating the cream and whites, I didnt mix too much. This didnt affect the taste at all, but I had a few chocolate lumps, which I enjoyed just as much! :-)
4. Just for the presentation, I dusted the top with some cocoa powder and used a bit of whipped cream, with white chocolate pipings.

I am sending this sinful Chocolate Mousse also to "Sweet Series - Cool desserts" event at Mythreyee's Paajaka.

Dont forget to check out my Apple Swan too! ;-)