Valentine’s Day is approaching! This Chocolate Mousse will quickly melt in your mouth! Shredding chocolate is a little cumbersome so you can also use chocolate tablets instead. Make sure to use high quality fresh eggs whose shells are intact.

Cooking Information

Difficulty: Medium
Time: 30 minutes
Number of servings: 6-7

Ingredients

• 100g Dark Couverture Chocolate, about 65% cocoa content (3.5 oz)
• 2 Egg Yolks
• 2 Egg Whites
• 20g Extra Fine Granulated Sugar (0.7 0z)
• 100ml Heavy Cream, 36% fat or more (3.4 fl oz)
• 1 tbsp Rum, optional
• Cocoa Powder
• Whipped Cream
• Strawberries

Directions

1. [Chocolate Preparation] Heat up 2 bowls of water in a pot until boil then turn off fire. Place iron bowl containing shredded couverture chocolate over pot to melt gradually with its steam.
2. [Meringue Preparation] Beat 2 egg whites with hand mixer. Once it turns white, add fine granulated sugar in 3 steps. Beat until meringue reaches a stiff peak stage and has a glossy texture.
3. [Whipped Cream Preparation] Clean beaters before beating cream which is chilled in a bowl of ice water. Once it thickens, switch to low-speed to help avoid over-beating and continue beating until it reaches a soft peak stage. Remove bowl from ice.
4. [Combining Ingredients] Remove bowl of chocolate from steam. Add 2 egg yolks into bowl and mix using spatula. Add one third of meringue to chocolate and mix thoroughly. This softens the chocolate and help to keep foam for next meringue from breaking. Add another one third of meringue and mix carefully followed by the remaining meringue and mix well. Add in whipped cream and rum. Combine mixture evenly with minimal folding actions.
5. [Containment] Pour chocolate mouse into 6 ramekins. Flatten surface of each mousse with back of spoon. Let chocolate mousse to completely chilled and firm.
6. [Serving] Sprinkle cocoa powder, squeeze whipped cream and garnish with strawberrry for each mousse. Now it’s ready to serve!

Tips and Precautions

• Don’t over-heat the chocolate otherwise it will reduce its flavor and might cause separation.
• Beat white eggs first before whipping the cream. Do not reverse this order.
• Use high quality fresh eggs whose shells are intact (no cracks) to avoid salmonella bacteria since the eggs are raw and not cooked. Use clean eggs with an expiration date printed on the box, so you can see if they are fresh or not.
• If you do not like rum taste or its aroma, you can substitute it with vanilla, cinnamon or none of them.
• You can make this recipe with a few alterations if the raw egg bothers you. After you add egg yolk, return to the double boiler and whisk for 1-2 minutes. This will allow the egg mixture to cook with chocolate. Remove. Now put the egg white, 1/2 tsp of cream of tartar and the sugar over the double boiler and whip until it can hold a peak. This is called icing meringue. This meringue will be stable, but less fluffy than raw. Combine chocolate mixture and meringue as Chef shows. Now, since your meringue is less fluffy, whip the cream to stiff peak stage so there will be more air and fold into chocolate meringue mixture in 2 parts so you don’t lose too much air. Let it chill.
• Extra Fine Sugar = Baker’s Sugar (USA) or Caster Sugar (UK)

Video

[youtube url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iP-gHYdU22Y]