Mousse au chocolat (French chocolate mousse)
The classic chocolate mousse of French kitchens, with no cream and no butter: good dark chocolate, eggs and a little sugar, whipped light and left in the fridge for three hours. It tastes deeply of chocolate, and the texture is all air.
- Time
- 30 min (25 prep + 5 cook)
- Servings
- 6
- Per serving
- 234 kcal
- Protein
- 7 g
Ingredients
- 6 oz dark chocolate 70-85%, 70 % cocoa, broken up
- 4 large eggs, pasteurised, because they are not cooked; separated
- 2 large liquid egg whites, pasteurised, from a carton that says it will whip, or use the whites of 2 more pasteurised eggs
- a pinch salt
- 1 tbsp granulated sugar
Steps
- Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over barely simmering water, or in the microwave in 20-second bursts, stirring until smooth. Take off the heat and cool for 5 minutes, until just warm to the touch.
- Stir the 4 egg yolks into the chocolate one at a time. It will thicken and look glossy.
- In a very clean bowl, whisk all the whites with the salt to soft peaks. Add the sugar and whisk to firm, glossy peaks that still droop slightly at the tip.
- Stir a large spoonful of the whites into the chocolate to loosen it, then fold in the rest in two additions with a large spatula, cutting down and lifting, until no white streaks remain. Stop as soon as it is even.
- Spoon into six small glasses or one serving bowl, cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours. It keeps 2 days in the fridge and is at its best the day after it is made.
Good to know
Can I use less sugar or none?
You can leave it out with 70 % chocolate, but the sugar helps the whites hold their shape, so the mousse is lighter with it.
Why pasteurised eggs?
The eggs are never heated, so pasteurised eggs make it safe to serve to everyone. Carton whites labelled as whipping well work; some cartons will not whip.
Alternative
Per
- Calories
- 314
- Protein
- (13%)
- 10 g
- Fat
- (61%)
- 21 g
- Carbohydrates
- (25%)
- 21 g
- of which sugar
- 13 g
- Fiber
- 4 g
- Sodium
- 130 mg
More desserts
Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. How
As written, 1402 kcal goes into the pot and 452 g of ingredients comes out as about 447 g of food: 314 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.