The Chocolate Mousse Experiment

It's getting near that time when we start looking for those little treats to put together over the Xmas period. No doubt there are those go to favorites and then there are those experiments that might need trying out before Xmas. I was thinking about chocolate mousse and whilst looking at various recipes found that of course a myriad of different ways to put together that perfect mousse. 

I decided to give 2 methods a shot so that i could compare the 2 and see what I preferred and what my taste testers preferred. 

One would be a baileys flavored chocolate mousse and one a orange flavored chocolate mousse. The difference apart from the obvious was that the baileys mousse would not have any cream in it and the orange would. 

My ingredients for the baileys mousse were

1 Egg 1 Tablespoon of Golden caster Sugar 12g of Butter 50g Baileys Liquor 100g Dark Chocolate Handful of Hazelnuts

The orange mousse has the addition of cream 

1 Egg 1 Tablespoon of Golden caster Sugar 12g of Butter Juice and rind of 1 Orange 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract 100g Dark Chocolate Handful of Hazelnuts (optional)

The baileys mousse was prepared by firstly melting the chocolate and butter over a bowl of simmering water. Don't stir it, let it relax and melt on its own! There is no rush today! 

The better the chocolate the better the result! However any plain chocolate will work for this recipe however the flavor profile will change depending on the amount of cocoa in the chocolate. I'm using a chocolate that has 70% cocoa solids today.  

Split the egg white and the yolk, and beat the egg whites into soft peaks, slowly add the sugar as this is happening so that all of the sugar is incorporated into the egg whites. 

We want this to make the mousse as light as possible so we want lots of air in the egg whites. 






Once the chocolate has melted take it off the heat and add the egg yolk, beat this into the yummy warm chocolate and then add the Baileys liquor. I found that before adding the Baileys the chocolate mixture started to thicken, the Baileys released this slightly. 

Now pour the chocolate mixture into a glass bowl and add the egg whites. Fold the egg whites into the chocolate without mixing too much. Mixing will beat the air out of the egg whites and give you a very dense mousse. 


Once this is done pour the mixture into your choice of serving dish and place in the fridge to set. I went for glass bowls. 

As an extra touch roast the hazelnuts for 5-10 minutes in the oven and remove the outer shell. Blitz the nuts in a food processor and add to the top of the mousse. 

For the orange mousse melt the chocolate as described but add the orange juice and grated rind into the chocolate. 

Once the egg whites have been beaten transfer to a bowl and then beat the cream with the vanilla extract until it too has soft peaks. Add the cream to the egg whites and the chocolate orange mixture and fold in. 

Transfer the mixture to serving bowls and once set in the fridge add a segment of orange on the top! 

I ended up with 2 mousses! 
What did I learn? 

1. The Baileys mousse was a bit too dense but very tasty
2. The Orange mousse had a touch too much orange juice and sugar making it very sweet
3. The orange mousse with the cream gave a much lighter more inviting mousse

Next time I want a mousse I will use the cream version, substituting different flavours other than orange could create some wonderful mousse! Next time I will try adding mint for a choc mint alternative. 

Do you have a favorite mousse recipe to share? Let us know!