In recent years, more restaurants have been favouring chocolate crémeux over chocolate mousse – a rich, velvety dessert that’s closer to a silky ganache, rather than light and airy. It’s a trend we very much approve of, but we wondered what the result would be if we borrowed that texture and turned it back into a mousse. The result is a little more work than your average version, but that’s exactly what makes it next level – bringing the best bits of both desserts into one. A cré-mousse, if you will!
Tips for a perfect mousse
1. Silky touch
Making a custard based crémeux first ensures the finished mousse has a silkier texture, which makes it more luxurious to eat.
2. Coffee boost
The espresso doesn’t make the mousse taste of coffee – it just quietly boosts the complexity of the chocolate to create a grown-up dinner party dessert.
3. Go dark
Using chocolate with 70% cocoa solids results in intense cocoa flavour. Adding milk and cream softens the bitter notes.
4. Make it shine
Adding a little butter rounds out the flavour and gives the mousse a subtle, restaurant-style, glossy finish.
5. Easy meringue
We’ve made a French meringue base for ease. It contains uncooked eggs, but eggs with the British Lion stamp are safe to eat raw, even for vulnerable groups.
6. It takes two
Mousse recipes usually have either an egg or cream base, but this has a combination of the two for extra texture and richness.
7. Chill out
A rest in the fridge gives the mousse time to firm up and develop flavour. The result? A smoother mousse with more intense chocolate notes.
8. Seasoning
A final drizzle of grassy extra virgin olive oil and a few salt flakes cut through the richness and sharpen the cocoa flavour.
How to make it
Next level chocolate mousse
Serves: 6-8
Prep: 30 mins plus at least 6 hours chilling
Cook: 10 mins
More effort
Ingredients
- 100ml whole milk
- 350ml double cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp espresso or very strong
- black coffee
- 4 egg yolks and 3 egg whites (freeze the leftover egg white to use in another recipe)
- 125g golden caster sugar
- 200g dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa solids), finely chopped
- 25g cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
- extra virgin olive oil and sea salt flakes, to serve
Method
1. Pour the milk, 200ml of the cream, the vanilla and espresso into a small pan set over a low-medium heat and bring to a simmer. Meanwhile, put the egg yolks and 50g of the sugar in a heatproof bowl and beat using an electric whisk for 1-2 mins until slightly paler and thickened a little. Gradually pour the hot cream mixture over the yolks, whisking continuously, then return everything to the pan.
2. Cook over a low heat, stirring continuously using a heatproof spatula and scraping the bottom of the pan, until the mixture thickens lightly and coats the back of the spatula – don’t let it boil. Tip the chocolate and butter into a large heatproof bowl, then pour over the hot custard. Let stand for 30 seconds, then stir gently until the chocolate melts and the mixture is smooth and glossy. Leave to cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally – this is the crémeux.
3. For the mousse part, put the egg whites in a clean bowl, and beat to soft peaks using an electric whisk. Scatter in the remaining sugar and whisk again to stiff peaks.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk the remaining 150ml double cream to soft peaks. Stir a large spoonful of the whipped cream into the
cooled chocolate crémeux to loosen it. Gently fold in the rest of the cream using a large metal spoon or spatula. Next, fold in a third of the meringue to lighten the mixture, then carefully fold in the rest until no white streaks remain. Make sure you scoop right to the bottom of the bowl so you don’t leave any dense chocolate crémeux behind. Spoon into a large serving dish and chill for at least 6 hrs or ideally overnight until the mousse is softly set.
5 . To serve, dip a large serving spoon into a bowl of hot water, and drag it gently through the mousse to form smooth oval scoops. Serve in shallow bowls. For an extra flourish, use the back of the spoon to make a small dimple in the top. Drizzle over extra virgin olive oil and finish with a pinch of sea salt.
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