Common chocolate mousse mistakes are overmixing, which leads to butteriness and graininess, adding ingredients at the wrong temperature, like hot chocolate added to cold eggs and cream, causing scrambling and seizing, under chilling, which prevents proper setting or even over whipping the cream and egg whites, which makes them stiff and grainy instead of being light, which all results in a dense, grainy or curdled texture instead of smooth and airy texture.
To make your own chocolate mousse gather the ingredients which include.
7 oz (200g) bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped
3 large eggs, separated
2 tbsp sugar, divided
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream, whipped to soft peaks (optional, for a richer mousse)
1 tbsp unsalted butter (optional).
Then gently melt the chocolate and butter if using butter, in a double boiler or a microwave in 30 second bursts, while also stirring until smooth.
Then set aside the melted chocolate to cook to just warm or lukewarm, if it's too hot, it will cook the gg yolks and if it's too cool, it may seize.
In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks with half of the sugar until they are thick and pale or lemon colored.
Then combine the chocolate and yolks and stir in the cooled, melted chocolate into the egg yolk, mixture until it's fully combined.
Then in a large and clean bowl, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form and gradually add the remaining sugar and continue beating until stiff, glossy peaks, form.
And ensure that the bowl and beaters are completely free of any fat or yolk, or the whites will not whip properly.
And then gently fold about one third of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture to lighten it and then carefully fold in the remaining egg whites using a spatula, taking care as to not deflate the air bubbles.
And if using whipped cream, fold it in at this stage as well.
Then spoon the mousse into individual serving dishes and chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours to 4 hours or until it's set.
A mousse is folded with whipped cream or beaten egg whites "an aerator" and the texture of a mousse is light, airy and foamy, and is uncooked and relies on chilling to set and is best for air treats that melt in the mouth.
The best chocolate mousse recipe has simply egg yolks, sugar, whipping cream, and semisweet baking chocolate.
Plus a little patience.
It's important to take your time and add the ingredients gradually to achieve an unforgettably smooth texture when making a great chocolate mousse.
Making a chocolate mousse takes around 30 minutes to make.
To make a chocolate mousse, separate the eggs, add the yolks to the cream with the sugar, and whisk to combine.
Add a pinch of sea salt to the whites and, with a clean whisk, beat until super-stiff.
Fold the cooled chocolate into the cream, then very gently fold that through the egg whites with a spatula.