Hervé This' Chocolate Mousse
Your whole setup: Saucepan with chocolate, check. Water, check. Bowl over ice bath with whisk, check and check.
So wrong, but so right. You could chop your chocolate up beforehand for a faster melt. Or you could not dirty a knife and cutting board, and just break it up like so.
A couple minutes of simmering and stirring, and your chocolate is melted. (No need for a double boiler -- the water will keep it from burning.)
A smooth emulsion. Water and chocolate are better friends than anyone ever expected.
Pour into your chilled bowl set over ice (or just plunk the saucepan into the ice -- but it will take longer to get chilled).
Then get whisking!
In an aluminum bowl, the mixture chills and thickens very quickly. In thick ceramic, not so much. You may want to resort to a hand mixer if you're using a thicker, more insulated vessel.
When you get to this point, you should probably quit. Pour or spoon it into ramekins and watch as it finishes setting up.
Mmm, moussey.
That's the ticket.
Now you're just getting crazy.
Let's quit while we're ahead.
Author Notes: It took a brilliant, adventurous chemist to discover the simplest way to make chocolate mousse at home. Hervé This, the father of molecular gastronomy, discovered how to make a flawless, creamy chocolate mousse out of just chocolate and water.
This all happens fast as the mixture cools, so chances are you'll go too far on your first try. Don't worry — just return it to the pan, melt it, and start over (see step 3). Once you have the rhythm down, you can flavor it as you wish with liqueurs or coffee or spices, sweeten it to your liking, or just keep it dark and intense. In all of these scenarios, a little whipped cream up top is never a bad idea. Adapted from Molecular Gastronomy: Exploring the Science of Flavor (Columbia University Press, 2008) —Genius Recipes
Serves 4
- 3/4 cup (6 ounces) water
- 8 ounces chocolate (we used 70% bittersweet — choose a high quality chocolate you love)
- ice cubes
- whipped cream for topping (optional)
- Simply pour water into a saucepan (which will be improved from the gastronomic point of view if it is flavored with orange juice, for example, or cassis puree). Then, over medium-low heat, whisk in the chocolate. The result is a homogenous sauce.
- Put the saucepan in a bowl partly filled with ice cubes (or pour into another bowl over the ice -- it will chill faster), then whisk the chocolate sauce, either manually with a whisk or with an electric mixer (if using an electric mixer, watch closely -- it will thicken faster). Whisking creates large air bubbles in the sauce, which steadily thickens. After a while strands of chocolate form inside the loops of the whisk. Pour or spoon immediately into ramekins, small bowls or jars and let set.
- Note: Three things can go wrong. Here's how to fix them. If your chocolate doesn't contain enough fat, melt the mixture again, add some chocolate, and then whisk it again. If the mousse is not light enough, melt the mixture again, add some water, and whisk it once more. If you whisk it too much, so that it becomes grainy, this means that the foam has turned into an emulsion. In that case simply melt the mixture and whisk it again, adding nothing.
- Serve immediately, or refrigerate. Top with whipped cream if desired.
- This recipe is a Community Pick!
More Great Recipes: Desserts|Chocolate
Topics: Hanukkah
3 months ago dchu
Not entirely sold on this as is--it doesn't have as creamy a mouthfeel as mousse made with, well, cream--but mix a generous spoonful or two into a mug of hot milk and you get an INCREDIBLE hot chocolate. The whipped texture melts into a frothy, barista-worthy concoction.
25 days ago cocolat
The reason for this is because of the fat present in the cream traditionally used to make mousse. I personally think that this application lets the pure flavour of the chocolate to shine through! To each their own :)
5 months ago Yas
wich brand of chocolate did you use? thank you
25 days ago cocolat
You can use any brand as long as it has a high enough cocoa content, around 60% or higher. I've tried with a few and they've all turned out well!
7 months ago JoanB
Made this twice and love it, but when I put it in the refrigerator for 1hour+ it is hard and loses its mousse consistency. How long after making this can you leave it at room temperature ?
8 months ago Theresa Owens
I'm excited to try this & want to assign this to a couple for an upcoming cooking club dinner we're hosting (each couple makes a recipe no one has tried). To clarify, is the water hot before the melted chocolate is whisked in? It's implied but want to make sure our friends are successful.
8 months ago Renée (RJ Flamingo) Joslyn
No. And the chocolate is not pre-melted. Pour the un-heated water (tap water, bottled water whatever) into the saucepan. Add the chocolate. Turn on the heat, and whisk together as the chocolate melts. Then, just continue with the recipe as written. It works!
8 months ago Theresa Owens
thank you!
8 months ago ariel a
Life changing.
about 1 year ago lauriw
That this works is magic. The trick is knowing when to stop whisking. I went from pudding to more mousse like in a flash. Next time I'll concentrate harder on the tip about strands of chocolate in the whisk, it was hard for me to see on this first pass.
about 1 year ago Sara
Question about the water: how long do I wait before whisking in the chocolate? How hot should the water be? Thanks.
25 days ago cocolat
The purpose of the first step is to melt the chocolate and water together. As long as your water is not piping hot, it will melt the chocolate without burning it :)
over 1 year ago ATG117
converted!
over 1 year ago Maxine belsky
I+could+not+get+it+to+thicken+enough.+What+could+I+have+done+wrong.
Mindi
over 1 year ago Ingrid Warneryd
I had terrible difficulty getting the consistency correct (even after trying the fixes described in the recipe). After three failed attempts with high quality chocolate, I will be returning to more complicated recipes that produce a more consistent result. Was really hoping that this would be a wonderful, easy mousse!
over 1 year ago Jane Latimer
Could you make this with coffee instead of water?
over 1 year ago Renée (RJ Flamingo) Joslyn
Jane, you can absolutely make this with coffee instead of water. Just make sure that it's room temp or colder (not hot!). I've made this with orange juice with excellent results, too.
over 1 year ago X
I've been making chocolate mousse this way for almost 20 years, except I use cream in place of the water which makes a ganache. When the ganache is whipped, it turns into mousse. Very handy for filling and frosting a layer cake. I divide it into 2 parts. Leave one part as is for frosting, and whip the other part for filling. It's also great piped into hollowed out orange halves or onto strawberry halves, made into sandwich cookies (which are good as is and even better when eaten frozen!), made into a pie, or just served in a little dish with whipped cream and maybe a few chocolate shavings.
I really like the idea of this recipe made with water because it contains a lot less fat without the cream, and I won't eat or serve anything that has raw eggs in it, as traditional mousse does. Can't wait to try this! I think I may make some fudgsicles out of it.
over 1 year ago Transcendancing
Inexplicably this just works! I'm in awe - and it was so easy! Great result too. Texture is very dense, a little like mudcake, but mousse instead. Flavour is intensely chocolatey - best chocolate flavour I've ever had in a mousse and it's delightfully not very sweet, so the chocolate flavour shines. Best of all, it's easy to make just before you need it without having planned ahead.
over 1 year ago Jackie Joyce
How hot should the water be when you put in the chocolate?
over 1 year ago roryrabbitfield
What would happen I used 85% dark chocolate?
over 1 year ago carlito
Que woww. Super easy. Used some gran marnier and plenty of sea salt. I kinda didn't think it would work, but genius recipes prove themselves again
over 1 year ago Roberta Rosenberg
I have not tried this yet, but am baffled as to why the chocolate doesn't break. Does it break only when you add water to chocolate rather than the reverse??
over 1 year ago X
It has to do with the quantity of water. If you were to add just a small amount, the chocolate would seize up and turn into a thick, sludgy mess. For some reason, adding a larger amount of water or (other liquid) prevents this and will actually mix with it.
over 1 year ago witloof
What a perfect vegan dessert! We had a lot of fun making this and it was delicious. My friend turned up with chocolate chips, though, and I turned up my nose and sent him back out for Scharffenberger.
almost 2 years ago Jacob
Not sure what i did wrong. Perhaps I didn't have enough fat or didn't whisk long enough. But after refrigerating ours turned out quite thick. My girlfriend described it as "fudgy". We still thought it was yummy and devoured them.
almost 2 years ago mensaque
More fat and more whisking would have made it even thicker.The one in picture looks quite thick to me...
almost 2 years ago arcane54
So easy! and it takes just a few moments of whisking for the chocolate to begin setting. I flavored it with a few drops of orange essential oil and will serve it with lightly sweetened whipped cream. My house was pretty warm today and the mousse began to "unsettle" after a few moments in the ramekins, so next time I'll prechill the containers and get them into the refrigerator more quickly. Pity the poor person who has to lick the bowl, the beaters, the spatula, her fingers...