As my baking adventure from last week wrapped up and I said goodbye to my sweet friends, I realized that I had 6 extra egg yolks from the macarons and Swiss buttercream we created. I put them away in the fridge and moved on to my next project which was getting ready to head back to St. Louis for a weekend with family and special celebrations. While I was there, my sister’s mother-in-law asked me why I hadn’t posted a preview of what the next blog post will be about….honestly….I didn’t know yet. So when I got home on Monday, I realized that I needed to work on my next post and it needed to include those egg yolks. The first thing that came to mind was to make a post about the chocolate mousse that I had made a while ago and forgot to take pictures of the steps.
Here it is — when you have extra egg yolks — make MOUSSE!
It is that special mousse that you get when you have already had too much to eat at a French restaurant but you can’t say no to the chocolate mousse because it is just so good!
If you have read the previous posts you know that I got this recipe from a french baking class that I took with my mom several years ago. It does not have very many ingredients, but it turns out silky, rich, deeply chocolatey and decadent!
This recipe calls for 8 egg yolks (I now have 2 egg whites calling my name in the fridge…it is a never ending cycle), 5 cups of heavy whipping cream, 9 tablespoons of sugar & 14 ounces of chocolate at least 62% cocoa. I added vanilla and salt for depth of flavor.
I began by getting all my ingredients prepped. In a cold, heavy bottomed (but not enameled cast iron because it retains too much heat when you pull it off the stove) pan, I put 2 cups of heavy whipping cream, 5 tablespoons sugar, 2 teaspoons vanilla and a pinch of kosher salt. I pour the rest of the cream in my mixmaster fitted with the whisk attachment and measured out 4 tablespoons of sugar to mix with the yolks. I didn’t mix them together right away because I did not want the sugar to burn my egg yolks.
Next, I chopped the chocolate into small pieces. I read that a serrated knife will help stop too much static electricity forming on the chocolate and help keep it from spraying all over the cutting board while chopping it – I gave it a shot and am happy to report that I will be doing this again in the future! I poured the chocolate into a large mixing bowl and placed a fine mesh strainer on top of it for later.
I then turned the heat on the stove to medium low and watched it to see when bubbles started to form around the edge of the pan. I took it off the heat though before it reached a boil. When I could see that the cream was starting to get close to the ready point I whisked the yolks and remaining sugar together in a medium mixing bowl. As soon as I took the cream off the heat, I began to slowly temper the hot cream into the eggs and sugar. This means that I poured a little in at a time as I continually mixed the eggs, sugar and hot cream together. The reason for doing this step is that you want to gradually increase the temperature of the egg yolks so that you do not cook them and end up with scrambled eggs. After the mixture is tempered, I poured it back into the pot and return it to low heat. I Continually stirred the egg and cream mixture until it reached 180 F degrees on an instant read thermometer. (Quick note- I put my mixture back on the stove on medium low heat. I think that it cooked my mixture too quickly and I ended up curdling some of the bottom while the top was still a little thin when I pulled it off. This could also be because I whisked it the whole time instead of using a wooden spoon to stir it…but I’ll report back on that when I make this again.)
Once the custard reached 180 F degrees I poured it over the prepared bowl and used the strainer to catch all the bits of egg and cream that cooked too much during the heating process. Then I let the mixture sit so that the custard could melt the chocolate. While this was happening, I began beating the cream in the mixmaster.
After the cream reached soft peaks, I whisked the custard and chocolate together. If you follow allieandtheoven on instagram this was the preview picture I sent! This by the way it is the most delicious chocolate pudding!! Next, I folded the whipped cream into the pudding in batches until it was light and fluffy. At this stage it has a pretty loose consistency. It flows fairly easily when you pour it and it is hard to scoop up with a spatula.
I poured the mousse into a large glass container and topped it with a little extra salt and put it in the fridge to chill overnight. The next picture is of my sink after making everything. For a recipe with so few ingredients, it did create a lot of dishes!
I am always surprised by how much the consistency of the mousse changes after being in the refrigerator overnight. It goes from a runny pudding to the mousse of your dreams! In my mind it is that special mousse that you get when you have already had too much to eat at a French restaurant but you can’t say no to the chocolate mousse because it is just so good!
Final thoughts:
- This recipe is all about the prep
- It can really easily be halved because it makes a LOT of mousse
- It is a pretty simple recipe – the scariest step for me is the tempering of the egg yolks
Recipe – Chocolate Mousse
Ingredients
- 5 cups heavy whipping cream
- 9 tablespoons sugar
- 8 egg yolks
- 14 ounces chocolate 62% cocoa or higher
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- pinch of kosher salt & some more to top the mousse
Directions
- Prep- Put 2 cups of heavy cream, 5 tablespoons sugar, the vanilla & salt in a cold, heavy pot on the stove top. Then chop your chocolate and place it in a large mixing bowl and put a fine mesh strainer over the top. Pour your remaining cream in the mixing bowl of your mixmaster fitted with the whisk attachment. Have your egg yolks and remaining sugar ready to mix in a medium bowl but do not mix yet.
- Bring the cream, sugar, vanilla and salt to a scald (bubbling around the edge but not boiling) over medium low heat
- Just before the cream reaches the scalding point mix the 4 tablespoons sugar and egg yolks in a medium bowl
- Take the cream off the heat once scalding and add a small amount of the hot cream mixture to the egg yolk mixture a little at a time while whisking constantly
- Once all incorporated, return the mixture back to the pan and heat over low heat while stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until the mixture reaches 180 F degrees
- Immediately remove the custard from the heat and pour over the strainer on top of the chocolate in the large mixing bowl – do not push the caught bits through the strainer
- Whip the cream to soft peaks while the custard melts the chocolate
- Whisk the chocolate and custard together and allow to cool slightly
- Gently fold the whipped cream into the custard in 3 batches
- Pour into a container with a lid and sprinkle with salt then cover tightly
- Chill overnight in the refrigerator
- Enjoy!
