Triple Chocolate Mousse
This elegant and chic dessert, is perfect for a small dinner soir©e. It features a trio of chocolate mousses – dark chocolate, mocha (milk chocolate), and a white chocolate mousse which interplay harmoniously with each other. Surprisingly for a mousse dessert it slices beautifully, allowing for thin slices to be placed on your nicest dessert plates.
The base of this dessert is Chocolate Velvet Mousse, which has its culinary roots in the Chocolate Velvet, created by legendary Swiss pastry chef Albert Kumin for New York’s Four Seasons restaurant. Maida Heatter, used the same mousse for her first book’s Black Velvet. Philadelphia’s The Commissary offered the Black Velvet under the name Chocolate Mousse Cake. Chocolate Velvet Mousse owes its dessert longevity to its deep chocolate flavor, richness, and the fact that it slices like a dream.
The white chocolate and mocha mousse recipes are care of Cocolat, the 1990 classic by Alice Medrich. Both mousses are extremely easy to prepare; the chocolate and a small amount of water are melted, cooled slightly, then softly whipped cream is folded in. The original Mocha Mousse calls for a bit of coffee powder, but we found it overpowered the delicate taste of the milk chocolate. With no coffee, it technically shouldn’t be called Mocha, but I like the name.
On my first attempt to decorate the top I used melted dark and milk chocolate piped out in a small parchment paper cone. Easy enough. However, the chocolate lines, when chilled, became brittle and broke apart when cut. A “help†call went out to a pastry chef friend who came up with the solution – make dark and milk chocolate ganache to pipe out over the cake. The ganache lines firm up, but don’t break apart.
Like many complex desserts, Triple Chocolate Mousse can be assembled, and frozen in stages. With no cake, it is Gluten Free. Each mousse is wonderful on its own and can be served in small ramekins.
Triple Chocolate Mousse
| Yield: One 6-inch mousse | Number of servings: 6 to 8 |
Special equipment required for each of the three mousses and the assembly:
- For each mousse preparation – stand mixer with whip attachment, hand-held mixer, or whisk and medium bowl
- 6†by 2†stainless steel cake ring
- Parchment paper sheet
- Small offset spatula
- Small butane kitchen torch
Pre-recipe preparations for each of the three mouses:
- Place machine bowl and whip attachment in the refrigerator prior to proceeding with the recipe.
Chocolate Velvet Mousse:
Ingredients:
¼ cup (2 fl oz) heavy cream
6 oz chocolate, 55% to 64%, wafers or broken up.
¼ cup (2 fl oz) water
1 large egg yolk
2 egg whites (2 fl oz)
Pinch of salt
¼ tsp cream of tartar
4 tsp ( ½ oz / 14 g) sugar
Directions:
- In chilled bowl, whip the cream just until soft peaks. Set aside in the refrigerator.
- Melt chocolate and water. Let cool for 2 minutes.
- Whisk in egg yolk, set aside.
- Beat whites with salt, cream of tartar, and sugar until just stiff peaks. Do not overwhip.
- Stir in ¼ of the beaten whites to the chocolate mixture to lighten. Fold in remainder until mostly combined. It is okay if there are still a few streaks of white.
- Fold in cream until incorporated and the mousse is smooth and homogenous.
Mocha Mousse
Ingredients:
4 ½ oz milk chocolate, (Guittard recommended) wafers or broken up
2 ½ tbl (1.25 fl oz) water
¾ cup (6 fl oz) heavy cream
Directions:
- Melt chocolate and water. Let cool to ~ 85 °F
- Stir some of the cream into chocolate to lighten, fold in remainder.
- Use immediately.
White Chocolate Mousse
Ingredients:
4.5 oz premium quality white chocolate, such as Valrhona Ivoire, wafers or broken up
2.5 tbl (1.25 fl oz) water
¾ cup (6 fl oz) heavy cream
Directions:
- Melt chocolate and water. Let cool to ~ 85 °F
- Stir some of the cream into chocolate to lighten, fold in remainder.
- Use immediately.
Triple Chocolate Mousse Assembly:
3 oz chocolate, 55% to 64%, wafers or broken up
Special equipment needed:
Assembly directions:
- Place the parchment paper on a baking pan and trace a 6†circle. Turn paper upside down.
- Melt the chocolate, pour onto the parchment paper, and using the offset spatula spread it evenly fill the 6-inch circle. Place in the refrigerator to set and chill for about 20 minutes until the chocolate is firm and set.
- Place the cake ring over the chocolate circle. Trim off any excess chocolate.
- Make the Chocolate Velvet Mousse.
- Pour the Chocolate Velvet Mousse into the bottom third of the cake ring, being careful to keep the top two-third edges clean. Pour any extra mousse into small bowls or souffl© cups. Place a kitchen towel on the counter and gently drop the baking pan to level out the mousse.
- Refrigerate until totally chilled and set, about 3 hours.
- Using a damp paper towel, clean off any Chocolate Velvet Mousse that got onto the inner edge of the top two-thirds of the ring
- Make the Mocha Mousse. Pour over the Chocolate Velvet Mousse to fill another one-third of the care ring. At this point, the ring should be two-thirds filled. Place a kitchen towel on the counter and gently drop the baking pan to level out the mousse.
- Refrigerate until totally chilled and set, about 3 hours, or overnight.
- Using a damp paper towel, clean off any Mocha Mousse that got onto the inner edge of the top third of the ring.
- Make the White Chocolate Mousse. Pour over the Mocha Mousse. Place a kitchen towel on the counter and gently drop the baking pan to level out the mousse.
- Draw a long metal spatula over the white mousse to level it to the cake ring. Don’t manipulate the mousse too much or it will get grainy.
- Refrigerate overnight.
Finishing:
optional dark and milk chocolate ganache ingredients:
2 oz chocolate, 55% to 64%, wafers or broken up
¼ cup (2 fl oz) heavy cream
2 oz milk chocolate, wafers or broken up
¼ cup (2 fl oz) heavy cream
Finishing Directions:
- If drizzling the top with dark and milk chocolate drizzles, make dark and milk chocolate ganache by bringing the heavy cream to the boil and pouring over the chocolate. Let stand for a minute, whisk until smooth, and fill in two small parchment cones.
- Remove the filled cake ring from the refrigerator. Slide the flat metal bottom of a removable bottom tart pan under the mousse’s chocolate circle and slide onto a serving plate.
- If using the ganache d©cor, drizzle the top of the mousse with each color in a free-form pattern.
- Using the kitchen torch, gently warm the outside of the ring. Remove the ring.
- Slice into thin slices. Store in the refrigerator.
Sources:
- 6†by 2†stainless cake ring by the Fat Daddio company is available through Amazon
- Premium quality white chocolates, including Valrhona’s Ivoire, are available at L’Epicerie.com
- Guittard Milk Chocolate baking wafers are available in many stores.