“I invented it — but it was so easy, I’m embarrassed!”
Hervé This
Dark Chocolate Mousse. Sweet comfort. Chocolat! This turned out to be the simplest mousse ever. One with fewest ingredients too. Just two. OK three four since I added some sugar & a dash of Kirsch. This was something I had longed to make but just didn’t get there. The past few days have been a little busy, a little heartache, too much running around and no energy to bake. At 46C, baking feels a little HOT!
I craved chocolate. Bittersweet chocolate. The bookmarked folder threatens to burst with a collection that spans a few years. When I need to immerse myself in food, get away from the real world, I know I can dive into the folder. It’s a great place to get lost in.
So much inspiration, so much food for thought. Chocolate recipes are aplenty. This particular Heston Blumenthal mousse recipe inspired by Hervé This has always seemed challenging and unreal. Somewhere deep down I didn’t believe that chocolate mousse can be created with just chocolate and water. Nah!! Impossible!!
Monsieur Hervé This, a French physical chemist with a PHD in molecular gastronomy, invented the recipe for Chocolate Chantilly, or this simple chocolate mousse. His main area of scientific research is molecular gastronomy, that is the science of culinary phenomena. Some of his discoveries include the perfect temperature for cooking an egg, and the use of an electrical field to improve the smoking of salmon. He also found that beating an egg white after adding a small amount of cold water considerably increases the amount of foam produced.
This is the simplest chocolate mousse. Since it uses just two ingredients, chocolate and water, use the best quality chocolate you can lay your hands on. The trick is to whip it just until it begins to thicken and hold soft peaks. Over whipping results in a grainy mousse. If it does get grainy, you can heat the mixture and begin whipping again! So forgiving!! {You can see Heston Blumenthal making this mousse here.}
This is the chemistry they didn’t teach us in school! Who would have thought that chemistry would enter by way of molecular gastronomy into our lives to make it so delicious? The dark chocolate mousse is fab on its own. Sensuous, smooth, satisfying, intense … everything good quality dark chocolate promises to be.
It’s very unlike me to leave well enough alone. Cherries are in season. While the mousse was chilling, I simmered some cherries with balsamic and sugar. This is a great way to preserve cherries. Makes for a fabulous dessert topping. Chocolate and cherries are a match made in heaven. Oh and BTW, a balsamic cherry sauce pairs beautifully with meat too.
I use the combination every summer. Some of my favourites are Dark Chocolate Cherry Mousse Cake, Bittersweet Chocolate Marquise with Crème Chantilly & Balsamic Cherry Sauce, Nutella & Cherry Chocolate Tart, Mini Quark Vanilla Cheesecakes with Balsamic Cherry Sauce and another Dark Chocolate Mousse with Balsamic Cherry Sauce.
I thought I’d drizzle some low-fat cream over the mousse and top it with the balsamic cherry sauce. Low fat cream NEVER whips up to stiff peaks, especially during the 46C days of the Indian summer. Murphy’s law kicked in. Within seconds of whipping the low-fat cream, it thickened up like no ones business.
When you least expect it, you can see the mountain move!! For the first time in my culinary life, I needed soft flowing cream… and I got stiff peaks! Strange!! So I rearranged the layers in my head. Topped the mousse with balsamic cherries, piped some cream over it, topped the cream with dark cocoa nibs…
Recipe: Simplest & Best Dark Chocolate Mousse 
Summary: The dark chocolate mousse is fab on its own. Sensuous, smooth, satisfying, intense … everything that good quality dark chocolate promises to be. Top it with balsamic fresh cherries and take it to even more delicious levels. Mousse recipe minimally adapted from Heston Blumenthal, inspired by Hervé This.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Ingredients:
- Dark chocolate mousse
- 265 grams bittersweet (%70 cocoa solids) chocolate, chopped
- 225g water
- 15g Kirsch
- 2 tbsp sugar, optional
- Balsamic Cherry Sauce
- 400g sweet fresh cherries, pitted
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 tbsp Kirsch
- Whipped cream
- 200ml cream
- 2 tbsp sugar
- few drops almond extract
- cocoa nibs
Method:
- Dark chocolate mousse
- Place a large mixing bowl on top of another slightly smaller one, filled with ice and cold water (the bottom of the large bowl should touch the ice). Set aside.
- Put chocolate and water (also sugar and/or liquor if you’re using) in a medium-sized pan and melt the chocolate over medium heat, stirring occasionally.
- Pour the melted chocolate into the mixing bowl sitting on top of ice and water, and start whisking with a wire whisk (or an electrical hand-held mixer) until thick. Watch the texture as you whip and make sure not to over-whip as it will make the mousse grainy. If the mousse becomes grainy (which is possible at your first try), transfer it back into the pan, reheat until half of it is melted, pour it back to the mixing bowl and whisk again briefly.
- Divide into serving cups and chill until set.
- Top with balsamic cherry sauce. Pipe whipped cream over. Sprinkle over dark cocoa nibs if desired.
- Balsamic Cherry Sauce
- Place the cherries with a splash of water in a non reactive sauce pan. Simmer for 4-5 minutes until the cherries begin to get soft. Add the remaining ingredients other that the Kirsch.
- Stir for 2-3 minutes over low heat until the sugar dissolves. Strain the cherries out and reserve in a bowl. Return the syrup back to the pan and reduce until thick.
- Take off heat, stir in the Kirsch and pour back over cherries. Cool and then chill.
- Whipped cream
- Place cream, sugar and almond extract in a large bowl. Whip until firm peaks. Place in a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle.
- Note: You can make this mousse without the liqueur. Just substitute the amount of liqueur with water, i.e. use 240ml water.
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This year the crops been better. Sweeter too. Deep, red and SWEET, pitting means a blood red splattered kitchen. Coloured hands, dripping juice and the temptation to gobble up mouthfuls mark this beautiful season.
The same rings true with being a mother too. Agony and ecstasy? I constantly turn to one of my favourite authors Erma Brombeck for comic relief. Be it for mothers or otherwise, she always has something uncannily true, something that hits a home run each time.
Very artistic! It would look great on a picnic table with a vibrant punch, ice tea, cooler, or sangria. A true masterpiece of Italian make, this belly pitcher from Luigi Bormiolo is a chic addition to any serving set or barware. 
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