Serve decadent Chocolate Mousse Graveyards to your Halloween party guests. Each cup of chocolate mousse is topped with chocolate sprinkle dirt, a candy zombie hand, and a cookies and cream tombstone.
Chocolate Mousse Graveyards
When I make desserts for our Halloween parties I am always sure to whip up some of my amazing chocolate mousse. My party guests would be so sad if I did not have any on the dessert table. It is definitely the most popular dessert I serve.
When you make this mousse you will know why! It is decadently rich, smooth and creamy, and lusciously chocolatey.
It’s also fairly simple to make. I’ve been using this recipe for more than 20 years and everyone who tries it agrees it’s the best chocolate mousse they’ve ever tasted.
Chocolate Mousse Graveyards with Candy Zombie Hands
When I make this chocolate mousse I always use Peter’s burgundy dark chocolate. It is my favorite but you can use whatever chocolate you enjoy eating straight out of the package. The chocolate flavor is the star of the show in this dessert, so it’s really important you use chocolate you love to eat.
We aren’t hosting a Halloween party this year because we chose to take a vacation instead. That is why you haven’t seen too many new projects this year for Halloween. I am going to try to share a few new fun food ideas with you before the 31st.
My friend and blogging partner Meaghan from the decorated cookie. shared a recipe to make zombie fudge on our new HowToMakeEasyFudge.com website a few weeks ago. As soon as I saw the royal icing zombie hands she added to the fudge, I just knew I had to use them to create these chocolate mousse graveyards.
How to make Chocolate Mousse Cup Graveyards
Each cup of chocolate mousse is decorated with some chocolate sprinkles, one of the candy zombie hands and a cookies and cream tombstone.
Items you’ll need to make the chocolate mousse graveyards:
- 1 Best Chocolate Mousse Recipe
- dark chocolate
- water
- sugar
- egg yolks
- heavy whipping cream
- 12-20 small plastic dessert cups
- chocolate jimmies (sprinkles)
- 12-20 Wilton Royal Icing Zombie Hands
- If you buy the zombie hands they come with the chocolate sprinkles.
- If you prefer, you can make white chocolate zombie hands using a candy mold.
- 12-20 Cookies and Cream Tombstones
- OREO Cookie Crumbs
- white chocolate or white confectionery coating
- tombstone candy mold
How to make chocolate mousse for your graveyards:
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 160 degrees F.
- The egg yolks are heated through at this point and are safe.
- You can continue to heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens into a 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.
How to make cookies and cream tombstones:
- Melt white confectionery coating or melt and temper white chocolate. See my chocolate making tips page for detailed instructions.
- Crush OREO Cookies and stir them into the white chocolate.
- Pour into tombstone candy molds.
- Tap the mold a few times to remove any air bubbles.
- Place the mold in the freezer for 5-8 minutes if using confectionery coating or in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes if using pure white chocolate until the candy hardens.
- Remove from the freezer and carefully turn the mold upside down allowing the candy to fall out.
What type of white chocolate should I use to make Cookies and Cream Tombstones?
- Pure white chocolate which contains cocoa butter can be used in bars, blocks, or chips.
- Confectionery coating which is made using a vegetable oil, usually palm kernel oil, in place of the cocoa butter can also be used to make these cookies and cream tombstones.
- Brands of Confectionery Coating: Nestle Premier White Morsels, Peter’s Ice Caps, White Candy Melts, Vanilla Almond Bark, Ghirardelli White Melting wafers
See my chocolate making tips page for detailed instructions on choosing and melting white chocolate.
How to assemble a chocolate mousse cup graveyard:
- Spoon or pipe chocolate mousse into small plastic cups.
- Sprinkle with some chocolate Jimmy’s to make it look like you’re mousse cups are covered in dirt.
- Then add a candy zombie hand either sticking out of the chocolate mousse or laying down on the chocolate sprinkle dirt.
- Set a cookies and cream tombstone upright at the back of the mousse cup.
I found small plastic desert cups that were taller on one side than the other so the cookies and cream tombstone could lean up against the wall of the cup. If your cups don’t have something for the tombstone to lean up against then just push them down into the chocolate mousse a little farther.
How long will these mousse cups keep?
The chocolate mousse can be refrigerated for up to five days. You can also freeze the chocolate mousse for up to three months.
You can fill your mousse cups and refrigerate them, but don’t add the zombie hand or candy tombstones until you are ready to serve. The tombstones may develop beads of condensation if they are refrigerated.
So go ahead and fill the cups and sprinkle on the chocolate jimmies. Up to an hour or so before serving, remove the mousse cups from the refrigerator and let them sit for about 15 minutes before adding the zombie hands and tombstones.
I have allowed the mousse to sit out at room temperature at my Halloween parties for several hours without any issues but they are always one of the last things I put on my dessert table and usually the first desserts to get eaten.
You can find the supplies to make these Chocolate Mousse Graveyards from amazon (commission earned for sales).
Watch this video to see how you can make your own Chocolate Mousse Graveyards…
Chocolate Mousse Graveyards Recipe
Decorate small cups of chocolate mousse with chocolate jimmies, a candy zombie hand, and a cookies and cream tombstone for Halloween.
- 3 tablespoons water
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 3 large egg yolks
- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
- 12 ounces melted semi-sweet chocolate
- 2 cups whipped cream made from 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 12 ounces white chocolate or confectionery coating, melted (and tempered if using pure white chocolate)
- 1/4 cup OREO Cookie Crumbs
- chocolate jimmies (sprinkles)
- 12 candy zombie hands
-
Pour water into the bottom of a saucepan set over medium high heat.
-
Add sugar and allow to come to a boil.
-
Boil until all the sugar is dissolved, stirring if needed.
-
Pour egg yolks into a mixing bowl and whisk to break up.
-
Continue whisking while slowly drizzling in the sugar syrup.
-
Pour 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream into the saucepan and set it back on the stove on low heat.
-
Stir in the egg mixture and continue to stir for at least 3 minutes until heated through.
-
You may heat until thickened, if desired.
-
Pour through a fine mesh sieve that is set over your bowl of melted semi-sweet chocolate.
-
Discard anything that remains in the sieve.
-
Stir the chocolate until glossy and smooth.
-
Fold in whipped cream then chill until thickened.
-
Spoon or pipe into small plastic dessert cups.
-
Stir cookie crumbs into melted white chocolate.
-
Spoon into tombstone candy mold.
-
Chill in the refrigerator if using pure white chocolate or in the freezer if using confectionery coating (candy melts) for 5-10 minutes just until hardened.
-
Remove and un-mold candy tombstones.
-
Sprinkle some chocolate jimmies over top of each chocolate mousse cup.
-
Insert one zombie hand and one candy tombstone before serving.
Be sure to check out the blog post I wrote all about our Zombie Themed Halloween Party for dessert and decorating ideas.
Them check out these recipe tutorials to make some creepy Zombie Desserts.
That would be the only graveyard I would want to dig around in! 😉