Everything you will need:
Ingredients (makes about 6 servings of mousse)
3 1/2 ounces dark chocolate (62% cacao is ideal)
1 tablespoon salted butter
2 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon white sugar
1/4 cup water
1 tiny pinch salt
1/2 cup chilled heavy whipping cream
Equipment:
Saucepan
Whisk
Bowl
containers for serving
Steps:
Chop 1.5 ounces of chocolate into small pieces for easy melting and set aside with 1 tbsp of butter
I realized after I started that I didn't have enough baking chocolate (each square is only 1/2 oz instead of 1 oz like I thought) so I had to supplement with chocolate chips.
In the end, my 2oz of 60% Cacao baking chocolate mixed with my 1.5 oz semisweet 46% chocolate gave me
= 54% cacao
So not too far off the recomended 62%
Before
After
Add to saucepan:
2 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon white sugar
1/4 cup water
1 tiny pinch salt
Cook over medium-low heat, whisking continuously until the mixture is thick and foamy
(I doubled this recipe, if you're counting)
Once the yolk mixture is thick and hot, add:
3 1/2 ounces dark chocolate (chopped)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
Whisk until all the chocolate is melted. Remove from heat and continue to whisk occasionally until room temp. The mixture shouldn't be too warm or it will deflate our whipped cream (which we'll make in the next step)
Whipped Cream:
ingredients:
1/2 cup chilled heavy whipping cream
powdered sugar and vanilla (paste preferred, extract works)
if you're feeling vigorous, you can hand beat your cream. I like to throw mine in the food processor for 30-45 seconds.
The Dreaded Fold
Now we need to fold our chocolate mixture into our whipped cream. we "fold" instead of "mix" so that we keep as much air in the final product as possible.
See the gif to the right for my attempt at folding.
Start by adding 1/3 of the chocolate mixture and folding it in, then add the rest.
Just Whipped cream
Folding
The final product
1/3rd of the chocolate
The rest of the chocolate
Finally, scoop the mousse into your serving containers and refrigerate for at least 1 hour to let set. Serve with more whipped cream and optional fruit
Ok, now let's discuss
These images are from my first time making mousse - I know this isn't a traditional French mousse recipe, but it was easy and the end result was well worth it. My main commentary is on the folding technique. Amateur bakers probably see this a lot and feel just like the clip from Schitt's Creek
The main thing to note is that it's not THAT complicated. We are essentially mixing, but trying not to break down the structure that we've created in whipping our cream. Some of that will happen naturally as we mechanically manipulate our mixture, but in folding we are reducing those effects.