Ever wanted to know how to cook the real French chocolate mousse recipe? Get all the ingredients ready because you are going to cook it righ now!
A little history
The Mousse au chocolat (Chocolate mousse in English) is one of the most typical dessert in France. It is often found on restaurant menus, but French people also cook it at home. The French Chocolate Mousse recipe was invented by Charles Fazi, Louis XVI’s servant in the XVIIIth century. The first recipe was published in 1820 in the book “Le cuisinier royal” (“The royal chef” in English)by André Viard.
Read also this article: Typical French dinner
French Chocolate Mousse recipe
There can be many variations depending on the French chocolate mousse recipe you choose to cook. I chose Paul Bocuse’s recipe. Paul Bocuse was a famous French chef. At this stage we could even assert that he was a cooking superstar! Bocuse is considered as one of the greatest chefs of the XXth century. The restaurant he owned kept its three Michelin stars (to know more about the Guide Michelin, click here) for 53 years! Today, only 30 restaurants in France have three stars.
Let’s cook dessert!
Temps de préparation (preparation time): 15 mn
Temps de repos (resting time): 2 h
Ingrédients pour quatre personnes (ingredients for four people)
Chocolat pâtissier (dark chocolate): 125 grams (1 cup)
Sucre (sugar): 50 grams (1/4 cup)
Beurre (butter): 30 grams (2 tbsp)
Œufs (eggs): 4
TIP: In France, we use grams as the main cooking unit of measure. You can easily find a conversion table on the Internet to help you convert in your own measure depending on the one you are using in your country and thus realize every French recipe you want to!
Réalisation (directions)
1. Butter and eggs should be at room temperature (Take it off the fridge about one hour before cooking).
Prepare a double boiler: Heat water (in a half-filled saucepan), put the bowl in which you will prepare the mousse au chocolat in the boiled water.
In this bowl, put the butter and the chocolate (cut into small squares) and stir with a wooden spoon until melted. Then, add the sugar and stir again until smooth. Remove the bowl from the water bath and let the mixture slightly cool down, then add the egg yolks and stir with a wooden spoon.
2. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff enough. Mix the egg whites and the chocolate mixture you just made in 2 or 3 times, lifting it up and above. Be careful : The egg whites must not be broken so be gentle!
3. Put the mousse au chocolat in the fridge during at least 2 hours (I know you want to eat it up right now, but the more you wait, the better it will be I promise!)
TIPS: Prefer a dark chocaolate with 35% minimum fat and 70% cocoa content. The chocolate mousse can be kept for 24 hours in the refrigerator. Ideally, this dessert should be prepared the day before eating
Bon appétit!
If you want to see this recipe in its original version (in French 🙂), click here!
Here are other typical French desserts that you can cook at home: Crêpes (French pancakes), fondant au chocolat (chocolate cake), île flottante (floating island) or crème brûlée.