The BEST Chocolate Mousse Recipe You’ll Ever Try!

Enjoy the most decadently rich and wonderfully creamy chocolate dessert you’ve ever tasted. This is the BEST Chocolate Mousse Recipe you’ll ever try. I promise. It’s elegant enough for a dinner party but simple enough to make for a weeknight dessert.

Best Chocolate Mousse Recipe

I shared this chocolate mousse recipe with you a few weeks ago as part of my Chocolate Mousse Heart Cups Recipe tutorial, but I had to share it again because it seriously is the Best Chocolate Mousse Recipe you’ll ever try. I wanted to make sure you didn’t pass up this amazing mousse recipe because you were intimidated by making heart shaped chocolate cups. I know that was a bit daunting for some of you.

The chocolate mousse I put into those chocolate heart cups is so silky smooth and incredibly chocolatey that I just know you’ll love it. Plus it’s pretty easy to make.

The trick to making the absolute best chocolate mousse is to start with your favorite dark chocolate.

• use semi-sweet chocolate if you prefer a delicately sweet chocolate mousse
• use bittersweet chocolate if you prefer a more robust and slightly bitter chocolate mousse
• the higher the cocoa content in your chocolate the more robust the chocolate flavor will be

Just pick a chocolate bar that you love to eat and you will be sure to enjoy the flavor of your homemade chocolate mousse.

What Brand of Chocolate Should I use to Make the Best Chocolate Mousse?

• I prefer to use Peter’s Burgundy Semi-sweet Chocolate but it’s not easy to find unless, like me, you are a chocolatier who buys 50 pound cases of the chocolate at a time.
  • I would love for someone to start selling small quantities on amazon but for now you have to buy 10 pound bars or a 50 lb. case.
  • I would totally recommend getting a bar if you like to make a lot of chocolate desserts.
  • Peter’s Burgundy Chocolate is a reddish semisweet chocolate with a fruity, winey flavor note and I’ve been using it for over 30 years for my business and my customers all say it’s the best dark chocolate they’ve ever tasted.
• I also love Callebaut chocolates and have enjoyed equally amazing chocolate mousse made using their chocolate and it’s available in much smaller quantities.
  • You can find Callebaut chocolates in gourmet grocery  and kitchen wares stores, at Trader Joe’s, and at cake and candy decorating shops.
• There are so many other wonderful chocolates that are available in grocery stores too. Just choose any that you really like.
• Don’t skimp here and use chocolate chips. Chocolate chips are not meant to melt at low temperatures and they aren’t as flavorful as other chocolates.
• Don’t use confectionery coating/Candy Melts (made with partially hydrogenated palm kernel oil). The flavor is definitely not as good as a pure chocolate made with cocoa butter.
• It’s best to use a bar of pure chocolate or to buy Callebaut callets (a bit larger than a chocolate chip but meant to melt at around 115 degrees F.)

You can find my favorite chocolates on amazon.com (commission earned for sales).

Serve your chocolate mousse is chocolate cups to make this an extra special dessert.

Speaking of Callebaut chocolates. These beautiful chocolate cups are made using their chocolate. Mona Lisa, a company which creates amazing chocolate bowls, cups, and decorations used by some of the top pastry chefs in the world,  sent me a box of goodies to try. I filled some with my decadent chocolate mousse and can’t wait to experiment with some other fun recipe ideas using their amazing products.

Chocolate mousse is a fairly easy dessert to make and it can simply be served in a bowl but when dressed up like those pictured above this dessert becomes the star at your dinner party.

How to make Chocolate Mousse

I’m sure you’ve seen mousse recipes that only call for two ingredients: chocolate and heavy whipping cream. That recipe makes a nice mousse but if you want the very BEST Chocolate Mousse then you need to add egg yolks, which adds to the richness and creaminess, and a simple syrup (boiled sugar and water), which adds a touch of sweetness.

In my original mousse recipe that I used to create my Chocolate Raspberry Mousse Cake, a Three Layer Chocolate Cherry Mousse Cake, and even a gluten free Chocolate Peppermint Mousse cake, I simply poured the boiling simple syrup into the egg yolks then added them to melted chocolate before folding in the whipped cream.

Being a top notch pastry chef taught me this recipe I had no reservations about the safety of the eggs, but several of you did, so I developed this method of heating the eggs and simple syrup a bit longer just to ensure the eggs are heated thoroughly.

To make the chocolate mousse:

• simmer the sugar and water until the sugar dissolves
• pour this simple syrup into whisked egg yolks
• return to the saucepan and stir in heavy whipping cream and heat until simmering and slightly thickened
• pour through a fine mesh sieve into melted chocolate
• stir until blended
• fold in whipped cream

Notes about heating the egg yolks and simple syrup:

• In the video below you’ll see that I heated the egg yolk, simple syrup, and cream mixture on the stove top and allowed it to simmer until slightly thickened.
  • The temperature of my egg yolk mixture registered about 150 degrees F.
  • The egg yolks are heated through at this point and are safe.
• You can continue to heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture registers 165 – 170 degrees F.
  • At this point the mixture will form a thick custard.
  • If you stir this thick custard into your melted chocolate your mousse will set more quickly but may be slightly more challenging to blend with the melted chocolate.

Notes about making custard:

• Stir the custard constantly. Do not walk away from the stove.
• If you overheat the custard, do not pour boiling custard over the chocolate or the cocoa butter will separate from the chocolate. Allow it to cool to at least 170 degrees F.
  • If your chocolate separates and becomes greasy pour a tablespoon of cold heavy whipping cream (not whipped) into the chocolate and stir until glossy and smooth. If needed, add a bit more cream.
  • To maintain the correct ratio in your recipe reduce the whipped cream by 2 tablespoons for each tablespoon of cream you add to your separated chocolate.

Watch this video to see how you can make the BEST Chocolate Mousse Recipe:

 

How to serve your Chocolate Mousse:

• Remove the mousse from the refrigerator at least 15 minutes before serving.
  • Allowing the chocolate mousse to come to room temperature will enhance the chocolate flavor and will amplify the creamy texture.
• Pour the chocolate mousse into dessert cups and top with shaved white chocolate.
• Serve the mousse in chocolate bowls or cups and add strawberries, raspberries, and chocolate decorations for an extra special touch.
• Turn the mousse into a pie or layer it in a cake.

The BEST Chocolate Mousse Recipe

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I’ve used the BEST Chocolate Mousse recipe to make other decadent desserts like triple layer mousse cakes, chocolate cups filled with mousse and more. I’ve also created many white chocolate mousse, caramel mousse, lemon mousse, and peppermint mousse variations as well. You can see all my mousse recipes, here.