Chocolate Mousse is one of my son’s favorite recipes and I was very glad to draw this one. Unfortunately, he doesn’t get home from college for a few days, so we won’t have his opinion on the taste of this recipe until long after this is posted. The good news is that Marcella says that this will keep for a few days without much change which means he will be able to try it when he does get home. That will make a nice homecoming treat for him.
In the past I have tried many different mousse recipes and one thing that they all had in common was a thick base made from whipping cream. This recipe was different in that the cream is not whipped very long. It is just whisked until it stiffened. It is then folded into the mixture of melted semi sweet chocolate, espresso, dark rum, egg yolks and sugar. The lightness in this recipe comes from the egg whites which are whipped until the stiff peak stage and then folded into the mixture.
This mousse is so light and airy. I thought that given the strong flavors from the chocolate, coffee and rum that the mousse itself would be heavy, but by adding the whipping cream and egg whites, the final product is almost like tasting a cloud. This will be a wonderful finale to our dinner this evening.