- Hey Guys, today I'm going to show you
how to make a real
showstopper of a dessert,
a chocolate mousse cake.
This is the the type of dessert
that is as elegant as it is delicious,
and always wows a crowd.
It does take a little bit of time,
I will be honest, but none of it's hard,
and I'm going to take
you through every step,
so that you can pull this off like a pro.
Alright, let me show you how to make one
of the world's most delicious desserts,
a chocolate mousse cake.
So, the first thing we're going to do
is prepare our crust.
So, in a food processor, we're going
to add nine ounces of chocolate wafers.
Now, if you didn't have a food processor,
you could also take these
and put them in a Ziploc bag,
and give them a whack with a rolling pin.
That would also create a crumb,
but for a dessert like
this that's really elegant,
I do take the extra step to
put it in a food processor
because you do end up
getting a finer crumb.
So, if you have one, it's
worth dragging it out,
and you're going to add five tablespoons
of melted butter, give that a pulse.
That's all you have to do.
So then, we are going to
take this crumb mixture,
and we are going to put
it in a springform pan,
a nine inch springform pan,
something that you would use
typically for cheesecakes.
And then you want to go
ahead and just pat it down,
and then move that crumb up the sides,
making like a nice crust
all the way around the perimeter.
At this stage, it doesn't
need to be perfect.
You just kind of want it well distributed,
and then the other thing that I like to do
is take a measuring cup,
and start to push it
into the sides of the tin
because what that will do is
get those corners really tight,
and make sure that all of that crumb
is actually moving up the side of the pan.
Now, if you really want
to be a perfectionist,
you could go in there and just flatten
out all of the edges on the crust,
but typically I like to
keep it a little bit jagged
because I love when this cake looks
really sort of rustic and architectural.
It does add to the beauty,
so don't drive yourself nuts,
trying to flatten out all the crust.
You're going to put it in a
375 degree Fahrenheit oven
for just about eight minutes,
and then once it's done, you can take it
out of the oven and allow it to cool,
and then we're going
to work on the mousse.
So, in a microwave safe
bowl, we're going to add
ten ounces of bittersweet chocolate
and two tablespoons of unsalted butter.
You're just going to pop
that in the microwave
for 30 second increments
until it's nice and melted,
and then to that we're going to add
two tablespoons of sugar,
two teaspoons of vanilla,
and two egg yolks.
Go ahead and just whisk that all up,
until your mixture is nice and smooth.
You can set your chocolate mixture aside,
and then we are going
to beat our egg whites.
So, we're going to take four egg whites,
and to that we're going to add
three quarters teaspoon
of cream of tartar.
Now cream of tartar is essentially
a stabilizing agent that's going
to allow our egg whites
to become nice and stiff,
and not fall when we go and fold them
into our chocolate mixture.
If you can't find it, you could actually
substitute it with half a teaspoon
of plain white vinegar.
So we're going to beat those egg white up
just until they're nice and stiff.
and at that point, we are
going to take those egg whites
and start to add slowly in thirds
to our chocolate mixture.
So, you'll see that
first scoop of egg white,
When you put it in that chocolate mixture,
it's really just to lighten
the chocolate mixture
because it's so much
heavier than our egg whites,
so we want to lighten it up.
And then the next step is,
we're going to take
one cup of heavy cream,
or whipping cream would also work,
and we're going to beat that up
until we get nice stiff peaks.
and then we're going to
add the whipping cream
to our chocolate mixture.
just lightening the mixture even further.
And then you'll see,
you'll have a big, beautiful, voluminous
chocolaty mixture on your hands.
And we're going to take
this beautiful mixture,
and we are going to pour
it into our cake pan.
And then go ahead and just
smooth it out with a spatula,
And the next step is we're going
to create some sweetened whipped cream
that's going to be used as a garnish
on top of our chocolate mousse.
So back into the mixture we go,
and we're going to add
a cup of heavy cream,
a tablespoon of powdered sugar,
half a teaspoon of vanilla,
and go ahead and beat that up
until soft peaks form,
and at this point, we don't want
to take it all the way to stiff peaks.
We're just looking for soft peaks
because we want to create a really nice,
sort of elegant topping.
Now, for the final
step, we want to garnish
this chocolate mousse cake
with some chocolate
shavings in the center.
You can either take some bittersweet
or even semi-sweet chocolate,
and start to make little
curls with a potato peeler.
That would be really easy and pretty,
or if you want to kick it up a notch,
and you really want to
make this a showstopper,
then you're going to make
some chocolate shards,
or some chocolate curls,
and this is an easy thing to do.
You're just going to take a baking sheet,
pop it in the freezer
for about five minutes,
get it nice and cold.
You're going to take four
ounces of bittersweet chocolate
and melt it in the microwave,
30 second increments.
Once it's nice and melted, you're going
to pour it over your frozen baking pan,
and just thin it out with a spatula,
so it's a very thin layer.
Now, depending on how cold your pan is
and how thin your layer is,
You really want that chocolate
to become matte and harden up.
If it's not doing that right away,
you can pop it back in the freezer,
and that will do the trick.
And then you can take a bench scrape
or you could use also kind
of like a metal spatula,
and you're just going to push it
on that chocolate layer, and you'll see,
you'll start to create some
really beautiful shards,
and if you're really skilled,
those shards will start to
turn into curls as well,
and that's also really pretty,
but I find it's easier to do the shards,
and it looks really
gorgeous and architectural
when you put it on top of that cake.
Okay, so now our chocolate
mousse cake is done.
We are going to take it just like that,
and put it in the refrigerator.
Now, minimum four hours,
but really overnight is best,
and the reason you really
want to go overnight
is that's going to allow
you to get nice, clean cuts
when you cut into it.
It will still be delicious
after four hours,
but it might be a little messy.
So if you're a perfectionist,
and you want nice clean
cuts, go overnight.
I love this dessert idea because it is
so beautiful and stunning,
and so delicious.
When you bite into that chocolate mousse,
you will see how light and
airy and decadent it is.
Mixed with that cookie crumb underneath,
and those chocolate shards,
and that whipped cream,
it is a killer dessert
that will wow a crowd.
All be made the day before too,
so you're kitchen will
not be a total disaster
when you have guests coming
over the very same day.
I hope you guys flex
those culinary muscles,
and give this one a try.
It's certainly an impressive dessert
that is worth all the effort.
You can do it.
Just bring me into the kitchen with you,
either on your iPad or cell phone,
and I will take you through
all the steps in real-time.
Alright you guys, I'll see
you back here next time
for another delicious and easy recipe.
Until then, bye.
(upbeat french music)
