Chocolate Orange Mousse
Light, Smooth, and Chocolaty Delicious
Chocolate Orange Mousse | Dara O’Brien
By Dara O’Brien
Creative Director, Lake Isle Press
I invited a friend to dinner a few nights ago and made chocolate mousse for our dessert. It was my first time making a mousse; the result was light, smooth, and chocolaty-delicious. As in the classic French version my recipe for Chocolate Orange Mousse (from “Glorious Liqueurs,” an early Lake Isle Press book written by Ceri Hadda) uses separated eggs — yolks for creaminess and whites to give it air. The yolks are heated. The whites are not.
It was so good to eat, so fun to make, that it didn’t register with me that we were consuming raw eggs, along with a minute risk of contamination, until the next morning. At this time when eggs are at a premium, we’re on heightened alerts for food safety, and bird flu is having its day, I picked a fine time to make chocolate mousse.
The egg whites in question are mixed on high speed with a pinch of salt and some sugar to make a meringue, which gets folded into the other ingredients. If you are concerned about raw eggs, use the freshest eggs you can find. You can also pasteurize eggs using low heat (a tricky business, I hear) or buy pasteurized egg whites, which will serve but take longer to foam and won’t become quite as airy.
This wasn’t just my first mousse, it was also my first meringue, and it was a hoot. I loved how the egg whites took just a few minutes to change from a clear liquid into pillowy white foam. I wasn’t sure I’d know when the meringue was done, but once it transformed into delicate peaks of snowy white I didn’t have any doubts.
Before starting the other steps, I used my hand mixer to whip the cream in a cold stainless steel bowl. I figured that it would keep if I made it ahead and would help streamline the rest of the process. I used a vintage Pyrex double boiler for the chocolate (I’ve had it for ten years and finally got to use it!), a small enamel pot for the yolks, and my stand mixer for the meringue. Everything came together without a hitch.
The texture was truly wonderful, as was the taste. Ghirardelli Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips melted easily and delivered rich chocolate flavor, while the orange juice and Grand Marnier lent a bare hint of orange. I didn’t use orange zest and didn’t miss it. I chose not to cut the recipe in half, but I suspect it would be fine if I had.
I doubt that the joy I get from trying a new recipe, particularly one in which I get to try some new culinary skills, will ever get old. That’s the thing about cooking and baking — you can always find something new to experience: a new technique, ingredient, flavor combination, piece of equipment, or type of cuisine. It feeds your soul as well as your body. Even with eggs at ten dollars a dozen.
Chocolate Orange Mousse
Unlike many chocolate mousse recipes, this one involves cooking the egg yolks until they are frothy and doubled in volume. This technique imparts an especially smooth, light texture to the mousse.
Click here for printable recipe.
INGREDIENTS
½ pound bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
6 extra-large eggs, separated
¼ cup freshly squeezed orange juice
6 tablespoons sugar, divided
¼ cup Grand Marnier or other orange liqueur
Pinch salt
2 cups heavy cream
1 teaspoon grated orange zest (optional)
Whipped cream, orange zest slivers, and shaved chocolate, for serving (optional)
Makes 12 servings
PREPARATION
Place the chopped chocolate in the top of a double boiler set over very hot, not boiling, water. Cover, place the double boiler over moderate heat, and melt the chocolate, stirring occasionally.
Meanwhile, combine the egg yolks with the orange juice and 2 tablespoons of the sugar in a medium heavy saucepan. Cook over low heat, beating vigorously with a wire whisk, until the yolks begin to thicken. Slowly pour in the liqueur. Continue cooking and beating the mixture until it is very thick. Remove from the heat.
Pour the egg-yolk mixture into a large mixing bowl; fold in the melted chocolate.
In a medium or large bowl with an electric mixer on high speed, beat the egg whites with the pinch of salt until they are foamy. Gradually beat in the remaining 4 tablespoons of sugar, a little at a time. Continue beating until the egg whites form stiff, not dry peaks.
In a medium bowl with the mixer on high speed, beat the cream with the optional orange zest until it forms stiff peaks.
Fold the whipped cream, then the egg whites, into the chocolate mixture. Spoon the mousse into a decorative serving bowl. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or until serving time.
If desired, decorate the outer edge of the mousse with rosettes or dollops of whipped cream, orange zest curls, and shaved chocolate.
Recipe from “Glorious Liqueurs: 150 Recipes for Spirited Desserts, Drinks, and Gifts of Food” by Ceri Hadda, Lake Isle Press, 1999
Chocolate Orange Mousse Recipe
from “Glorious Liqueurs: 150 Recipes for
Spirited Desserts, Drinks, and Gifts of Food”
by Ceri Hadda, Edited by Mary Aurea Morris, Lake Isle Press, 1999
Recipes that blend the flavors of Kahlúa, Grand Marnier, Amaretto, and 50 other favorite liqueurs into indulgent drinks, spirited desserts, and enticing candies, sauces and preserves. Recipes include dessert coffees, luscious cakes, cookies and pies — including Chocolate Kahlúa Cake and Bailey’s Irish Cream Brownie Pie — sophisticated souffles, and dessert sauces that can be made with just a splash or two of a favorite liqueur.