Tag: dairy free

Chocolate Mousses

You did read properly “Chocolate Mousses” with a “s” at the end.  Yeah!!!

This means we get to speak about a few versions of this hero dish.  There is no single recipe for chocolate mousse, the recipe to use depends on the application: is it to be served on its own? or is it to use as a layer in a cake?

I have also ventured into the word of raw and vegan people by trying the raw chocolate mousse in which avocados are used to create the body of the mousse. I even tried the water chocolate mousse from Heston Blumenthal, which was a lot of fun!

The classic French Chocolate Mousse

Use: dessert in individual portions or in a large bowl to share.

Ingredients: good dark chocolate and eggs ONLY (no sugar, no cream).

Accessibility: super easy to make and always a winner. Needs to be done in advance

I love this one, for me it is “the chocolate mousse”.  Mum used to make a large bowl of it for the family and guests.

RECIPE HERE

Mousse au chocolat

The chocolate whipped cream mousse

Use: in proper cooking, it is used as part of a layered cake but you will find it as a stand alone recipe if you google chocolate mousse in Australia (and probably most anglophone countries).  When I am served such a mousse in a cafe or restaurant, it is for me a massive let down (and I won’t eat it, not a fan) and generally says much of the restaurant. However, in a layered cake, where it is associated with some more complex flavours, these mousse has its place.

Ingredients: cream whipped and mixed with chocolate powder, cocoa and sugar or at best cooking chocolate.

Accessibility: super easy. Should be done earlier.

The mixed version

unctuous chocolate mousseI happen to make recently (not for the first time) a mousse which we really like.  It is quite strong and is often served with some fruity notes and a crunchy element. This mousse is decadent! It is yummy and you must stop yourself to avoid cleaning off the bowl!

Use: As an element of a dessert. Likened to little chocolate pots desserts. The texture is silky and shiny!

Ingredients: chocolate, eggwhite, water, sugar, thickened cream

Accessibility: super easy. Needs to be done in advance.

Recipe HERE.

mousse choco onctueuse (1)

The raw avo chocolate mousse

Use: dessert or in a raw chocolate tart.  Loved by vegan, raw food adepts.

Ingredients: cacao, avocado, liquid sugar/sweetener

Accessibility: super easy. Can be eaten straight away.

I tried the avocado chocolate mousse in order to know what it is all about. I purchased some raw cacao and was lucky enough to do my grocery when there was a special on avocados!

The concept is very simple: put the avocado flesh in the food processor with some raw cocoa and some liquid sweetener and whizz! You can add a little drop of water to reach the desired consistency.

raw chocolate mousse

I tried three versions of it:

  1.  raw cacao
  2.  dutch cocoa
  3.  good dark chocolate

The recipe is HERE. I pushed it and made some raw tarts (see photo).

raw chocolate mousse tarts

Result: the fruity flavours of the cocoa, or maybe the avocado are really the novelty for me.  If you don’t use enough cocoa, the avocado taste comes through which is not great.  All together, it has a very earthy smell and flavour which is not for everybody.  As for the tarts, the texture is very crumbly (just nuts, oil and sweetener), which is no surprise as there are no binder.  Both the avo mousse and tarts were not a success in our household.

The Water chocolate mousse (Heston Blumenthal)

I had to try it. I saw it on television and just the idea of it grasped my curiosity.

Use: dessert. Experimental, for fun!

Ingredients: Chocolate and water.

Accessibility: needs elbow oil. Serve immediately! (it hardens quickly)

The method is easy, you bring to the boil the water and pour it over your chocolate previously chopped in small pieces.   Now start whisking and don’t stop! The whisking will integrate air bubbles while the temperature decreases.  Eventually it reaches a crystallisation point.  That point is reached all of a sudden. You get some warning as you see and feel the mix thicken, just then, it sets, if you go to far (like I did the first time) you get like a dirt texture which can actually be great for some specific desserts set up.

water choc mousse (5)
Water chocolate mousse. It hardens the minute is is made, to serve immediately.

Tips:

  • If you went too far, you can reheat the mousse a little , it will liquefy again, Start whisking again!
  • You can use a large bowl of ice to bring the temperature down quicker but remove it as soon as the mix starts to change a bit
  • The mix will be very liquid at first, then will become like cream, then thickened cream. Stop there. 

Recipe and video HERE.  Feel free to reduce the proportions, I used half of that.

Avocado Chocolate Mousse

The avocado chocolate mousse is often loved from vegan people or adept of the raw diet.  Most of the recipes use raw cacao powder.  This is where it gets confusing for the majority of us.  See below for definitions.

A few definitions

In English language the words cacao and cocoa refer to two different products.  Just reminding you here that in most Latin languages, the translation for “cocoa” is “cacao”!

Here are the adopted definitions (not by me, by all):

English WordFrench wordDefinitionDefinition (francais)
CacaoCacao cru Powder made from the bean of the cacao pod. The beans have not been roasted. Cacao cru ou «non torréfié», la poudre resulte du broyage des feves de cacao (pas de fermentation, et torrefaction).
CocoaCacaoPowder resulting from grinding cacao beans which have been roasted. Light brown colour. In Australia, this is the most used form of cocoa powder. In France and possibly some parts of Canada, dutch cocoa is mostly used. Poudre de cacao naturel ayant subi les procedes de fermentation et torrefaction. De couleur brun pâle. Ce cacao est plus acide et amère que la poudre de cacao alcalinisé. Son goût est par contre plus fruité. C'est la forme principalement utilise en recettes dans les pays anglophones.
Dutch cocoa (e.g. VanHouten, Blooker, Fry's)Cacao hollandais ou cacao alcalinisecocoa beans that have been washed with a potassium carbonate solution, to alkalise the pH and to neutralise their acidity. The powder is dark brown in colour.Poudre de cacao naturel qui a subi une alcalinisation. Le cacao est moins acide et sa couleur plus foncee. En France, c'est le cacao le plus utilise dans les recettes.

Got it?

Ingredients:

  • 2 large ripe avocados
  • 1/2 cup of maple syrup
  • 1 tsp of vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup of raw cacao

Note:  if you prefer using a good quality chocolate, you will need close to 200 g, melted.  You will end up with a higher volume of mousse. Note that couverture chocolate will harden, better stick to the 70% Nestle supermarket version. In that case, remove the maple syrup. 

Method:

Place everything in the food processor and blend on high speed until processed and smooth.  If you think the mousse is too thick, add a little water at the time.

avo choc mousse

Place in individual ramequins and refrigerate until use.

Note: this mousse can also be used to fill raw chocolate mousse tarts

 

Mousses chocolat a l avocat
Raw chocolate mousses, left one using a dark cooking chocolate, right one using cocoa powder (the one using raw cacao is not pictured here, it is similar to the right one, maybe a bit lighter in colour).