Chocolate Mousse with Raspberry Whipped Cream

 As an opera singer, I receive endless feedback from other musicians. As my coach said to me recently, "Being a singer is like constantly wearing a sign that says, 'Criticize Me!'" It's very easy to get wrapped up in desperate thoughts: They don't like my voice! But my voice is a part of me - that means they don't like who I am! I should just give up and go to medical school instead!
While it's important to simply ignore all this every now and then, it's also essential to recognize that everybody listens for different traits in a voice. One musician may be looking for a high, light soprano, while another may want a dark, dramatic mezzo; and this doesn't make either person wrong. 

 I'm quickly learning that no matter how intently I listen to recordings or how often I practice, there's simply no way to make everyone happy.
 With dessert, however, it's another story. Chocolate mousse is about as crowd-pleasing as you can get; it's rich, creamy, and chocolatey enough to satisfy that craving you've been having all week. Whipped cream is the perfect partner in crime; add in a swirl of puréed raspberries, and you've got a Valentine's Day dessert anyone will fall in love with.
Enjoy!

 Chocolate Mousse

(from David Lebovitz)

  

6 ounces (170g) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped

6 ounces (170g) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1/4 cup (60ml) dark-brewed coffee

4 large eggs, separated

2/3 cup (170g), plus 1 tablespoon sugar

2 tablespoons (30ml) dark rum

1 tablespoon (15ml) water

pinch of salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Heat a saucepan one-third full with hot water, and in a bowl set on top, melt together the chocolate, butter and coffee, stirring over the barely simmering water, until smooth. Remove from heat.
Fill a large bowl with ice water and set aside.
In a bowl large enough to nest securely on the saucepan of simmering water, whisk the yolks of the eggs with the 2/3 cup of sugar, rum, and water for about 3 minutes until the mixture is thick, like runny mayonnaise. (You can also use a handheld electric mixer.) This took me closer to 10 minutes.
Remove from heat and place the bowl of whipped egg yolks within the bowl of ice water and beat until cool and thick. Then fold the chocolate mixture into the egg yolks.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites with the salt until frothy. Continue to beat until they start to hold their shape. Whip in the tablespoon of sugar and continue to beat until thick and shiny, but not completely stiff, then the vanilla.
Fold one-third of the beaten egg whites into the chocolate mixture, then fold in the remainder of the whites just until incorporated, but don’t overdo it or the mousse will lose volume.
Transfer the mousse to a serving bowl or divide into serving dishes, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, until firm.

 Raspberry Whipped Cream

(from Martha Stewart)

1/2 pint (about 1 cup) fresh raspberries, plus more for garnish 

1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar, plus more to sweeten  

1 cup heavy cream 

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Place raspberries in the bowl of a food processor; process until smooth. Pass through a fine strainer; discard seeds. Sweeten with sugar, if desired.
Combine cream, 1 tablespoon sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl; whisk together until soft peaks form. Gently fold in raspberry puree to form swirls.

Top servings of mousse with dollops of whipped cream; garnish as desired.

Ultimate Nutella Mousse

 If you hadn't already realized it, I have a bit of a thing for Nutella. It basically takes the greatest food ever (chocolate) and mixes it with hazelnuts to make the creamiest, sweetest, most indulgent topping for just about anything. 

After a while, slathering the chocolatey goodness on various forms of carbohydrates gets a little old. I love finding ways to incorporate my favorite foods into desserts, and this mousse does just that. 

It has (theoretically) two ingredients. Two ingredients! Mousse!! Okay, so it may be a bit of a faux mousse, but it plays the part pretty amazingly. It's fluffy and creamy and kind of makes you want to eat the whole bowl. Top it with homemade dark-chocolate-covered strawberries, and this 5-minute dessert just got classy. 

Enjoy! 

Ultimate Nutella Mousse

(adapted from Bakers Royale)

9 oz. Nutella

2 cups heavy cream

1/2 teaspoon espresso powder

2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar

1/4 cup hazelnuts, roughly chopped

about 6 strawberries

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips 

1/4 cup white chocolate chips

Place Nutella and espresso powder in microwave safe bowl. Heat on low for 10 second intervals until mixture is thinned a bit. Stir to incorporate the espresso powder. Set aside and cool to room temperature.
Whip 1 1/2 cups cream until soft peaks form (be careful not to let it reach stiff peaks). Gently fold whipped cream into Nutella mixture. The mousse will be soft. Fill a bowl (roughly 1-quart capacity) and cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.
Once the mousse is chilled, whip the remaining 1/2 cup cream with the sugar until soft peaks form. Spread over the mousse, and top with chopped hazelnuts.
In the microwave or over a double boiler, heat the two chocolates separately. Dip the strawberries in the dark chocolate and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet; drizzle with white chocolate (I used a piping bag). 
Refrigerate strawberries for 1 hour, or until set; use as topping for mousse. 

*Note: This is really more of a concept than a rigid recipe; feel free to adapt it as you like!

"Falling in Love" Chocolate Mousse Pie (with Coconut Crust!)

   Several years ago, I saw the movie Waitress. It was part of what made me get into baking so much - I mean, how could you not want to bake pies after sitting through two hours of watching others do it? On the way out of the movie theater, I was handed a little "swag bag" - it was the movie's opening weekend, so the theater was giving away goodie bags. Inside, among nail polishes and perfume samples, were a few recipes from the movie.

my cousin was very excited about this pie!

   In the movie, the pie baker names her pies after whatever is going on in her life - this one was her "Falling in Love Chocolate Mousse Pie." I decided to make it for New Year's (it has only been on my to-bake list for five years!!). I found a great recipe for a "crust" that is really like a giant coconut macaroon - just coconut and a little butter. It's surprisingly delicious - I liked it more than a graham cracker or classic pastry crust. This pie is naturally gluten-free, and, if you use shortening instead of butter in the crust, the crust is vegan. More importantly, this is one of the best desserts I have ever made - it disappeared within minutes of being placed on the table!
   Enjoy!

Falling In Love Chocolate Mousse Pie with Coconut Crust

(mousse filling recipe from Waitress, coconut crust recipe adapted from Martha Stewart)

for the coconut crust

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
11 ounces (about 6 cups) sweetened shredded coconut

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9-inch pie plate.
In a food processor, process butter and one-third of coconut until mixture is fairly smooth, 1-2 minutes. Transfer to a medium bowl. Sprinkle remaining two-thirds coconut over mixture and combine with your fingers.
Place a 9-inch pie plate on a baking sheet. Press coconut mixture into bottom and up sides of pan to form crust, leaving top edges loose and fluffy. Place a foil ring over edge to prevent burning. Bake until center begins to brown, about 10 minutes; remove foil and bake until edges are browned, about 15 minutes more (the baking time will depend on what kind of pie plate you are using). Let cool completely. 

for the chocolate mousse filling

                                                  1 14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk
                                                                       2/3 cup water
                                    1 (4 serving) package chocolate pudding mix (not instant)
                                                     1 1-oz. square unsweetened chocolate
                                           2 cups (1 pint) whipping cream, stiffly whipped

In large saucepan, combine condensed milk, water and pudding mix; mix well. Add chocolate. Over medium heat, cook and stir rapidly until chocolate melts and mixture thickens. 
Remove from heat; beat until smooth. Cool. Chill thoroughly; stir. 
Fold in whipped cream. Pour into prepared pie shell. Chill until serving, at least 4 hours.

Airy Bittersweet Chocolate Mousse

 Family recipes are the greatest. Especially the old ones: although they are sometimes hard to understand or make with the ingredients you can find at your grocery store (I'm thinking grandma's handwritten recipes saying "bake in hot oven until ready"- true story), they have stood the test of time. Perfected over the years by generations, I love getting my hands on a new one and finding out why so many people in my family make this specific recipe so often.

My mom and I just came home from Brazil this morning, and I am oh-so-sad to be away from so much family again. This mousse was part of one of our last few sweet nights having dinner with friends. It is an old family recipe, perfected by a great-aunt, and made (this time) by me and my cousin. It doesn't take too long to put together, and though it uses lots of eggs, the ingredients are all probably ones you have on hand. We probably made it in half an hour, and then let it sit in the fridge for about nine - although around four hours is probably enough. It is so airy, with lots of bubbles; it makes you feel like you are eating a light dessert, even though it is actually filled with butter and chocolate. Its classic deep chocolate flavor makes it the perfect dessert for a dinner with friends and family. 

Enjoy!

Airy Bittersweet Chocolate Mousse

250 grams bittersweet chocolate

250 grams butter

9 egg yolks

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

6 egg whites

Chop the bittersweet chocolate and cut the butter into several pieces. Place in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave in one-minute intervals until melted, or melt in a heat-proof bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water.

Beat the egg yolks and sugar in an electric mixer until the mixture becomes a very pale cream. Stir in the hot chocolate mixture and the vanilla.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until they hold stiff peaks. Fold into the egg yolk and chocolate mixture. 

Pour it all into a big bowl or serving dish and refrigerate until serving, at least 4 hours.

                                                  

Devil's Food Cupcakes with Chocolate Mousse Buttercream

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine and I were hanging out at my house. Our plan was to bake something, but we simply couldn't decide what. I pulled out one of my favorite baking books, Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey, and we decided that the recipe had to come from it. (FIY, no, this is not a paid or even sponsored book review, I just think the book is beautiful and has delicious recipes.) When my friend flipped to the page with a glossy picture of a sky-high chocolate mousse cake, we knew that was it.
My friend had never baked before in her life. I mean, never. Not even a chocolate chip cookie. So I figured that a cake that large probably wasn't the greatest first recipe. We decided to make it into cupcakes instead. Little did I know, this recipe would take us several hours! The actual cupcake batter didn't take too long, but we had some issues with the frosting. It never totally emulsified like the recipe says it will - it was delicious, but had tiny bits of butter spread out through it. I think our problem was that we didn't soften the butter enough when we pounded it, so the butter was never beaten as much as it needed to be.
That said, the cake part of the cupcakes was so delicious, the buttery bits in the frosting didn't matter. The cake was super moist, rich, and dark, and nobody minded that the recipe made a huge batch of about 3 dozen cupcakes! Looking back, maybe this wasn't the best first recipe for a new teenage baker, but hey, she won't be easily intimidated by recipes in the future, right? We agreed that these cupcakes are delicious and so worth the time that goes into them.
Enjoy! <3

Devil's Food Cupcakes with Chocolate Mousse Buttercream
(slightly adapted from Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey)

Devil's Food Cupcakes
1/3 cup dutch-processed cocoa powder, sifted
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup boiling water
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 F. Lightly grease 36 cupcake cups, or line with paper liners.
In a large bowl, combine the cocoa powder, espresso powder, and chocolate. Pour in the boiling water and stir until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. Stir in the vanilla. Let the mixture cool, then stir in the buttermilk.
In another bowl, using an electric mixer set at medium speed, beat the butter and oil together until light and fluffy. Add the sugars and beat until creamy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add one third of the flour mixture to the batter and beat at low speed for a few seconds, just until combined. Beat in half of the chocolate-buttermilk mixture, again beating for just a few seconds, just until combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Beat in another one third of the remaining flour mixture for no more than a few seconds, just until combined. Add the remaining chocolate-buttermilk mixture, beating just for a few seconds until combined. Finally, fold in the remaining one third of the flour mixture by hand, using a large balloon whisk or rubber spatula, just until no streaks of flour remain.
Divide the batter between the prepared cupcake tins. Bake until a wooden skewer inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean, about 20-25 minutes (start checking at 15). Transfer to wire racks and let cool completely.

Chocolate Mousse Buttercream
6 large eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 pounds (6 sticks) cold unsalted butter
8 to 12 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted

Whisk together the eggs, sugar, and cocoa powder in the metal bowl of a stand mixer.
Fill a large sauté pan or skillet with water and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Place the mixing bowl in the simmering water and whisk the egg mixture constantly until the sugar is completely dissolved and the mixture is thick and fluffy and very hot, 3 to 4 minutes. Use an instant-read thermometer to check the temperature of the mixture; it should be anywhere between 120 and 140 F.
Remove the bowl from the simmering water and, using the whisk attachment, beat the eggs at medium-high speed until they are tripled in volume and form soft peaks and the bottom of the bowl is completely cool to the touch, about 10 minutes. Beat in the vanilla and salt.
While the eggs are mixing, unwrap the individual sticks of butter and rewrap them loosely in plastic wrap. Pound the butter 5 or 6 times with a rolling pin, or until the butter is soft and malleable but still cool.
With the mixer speed still on medium-high, add the butter, approximately 2 tablespoons at a time, to the egg mixture, beating in each addition until it is incorporated. Don't start to panic if the buttercream seems too liquidy or looks curdled as you beat in the butter. It will magically emulsify into a smooth, creamy frosting by the time the last bit of butter is mixed in. Hold your breath and keep going!
When the buttercream is smooth and glossy with a subtle brown tint from the cocoa powder, turn off the mixer and, using a rubber spatula, carefully fold in about two thirds of the melted chocolate. Taste the buttercream. You can add as much of the remaining melted chocolate as you like for an evern richer, denser buttercream.

Frost cupcakes with the mousse buttercream. You will probably have some extra frosting depending on how much you use for the cupcakes, but I'm sure you can find something to do with it! If you feel like using it for some vanilla cupcakes, these are delicious.

Chocolate Mousse Stuffed Strawberries

Last night, my friend came over and we made these little bites of delicious. I knew she had made them before, so I asked her to show me the way to this paradise of fruity chocolate. These are strawberries that have had the centers removed and have been filled with chocolate mousse. Now, I'm slightly ashamed to say this, but as a food blogger of about 4 years, I had never made chocolate mousse until last night. I don't know why - it's not particularly hard. Yes, it's annoying to make; you melt chocolate and butter, then you cook egg yolks and sugar, then you beat cream, then you mix it all together and wait for it to chill. But it's so worth it.

What I had the hardest time with was the actual coring - my friend couldn't find her strawberry corer (I had no idea those even existed, but apparently they do) and we had to do it with a knife. You just have to be careful so as not to cut all the way through. We also tried with a melon baller, which didn't work but inspired us to go buy a cantaloupe and ball it... okay, that's a whole other story. These aren't the prettiest, and they can certainly be made prettier for something like a party if you have patience and use a star tip on the piping bag. We had quite a bit of mousse left over, so whatever we didn't eat right out of the piping bag (nobody is allowed to judge teenage girls left alone in a kitchen with bags of chocolate mousse, okay??) we put in to shot glasses with a little strawberry jam on top. Yummy! Enjoy! <3 class="separator" div="div" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> Chocolate Mousse Stuffed Strawberries
(from Mind Over Batter)

1 cup semi or bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 ounces (half a stick) of butter
3 large egg yolks
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons of kirsch or liqueur of choice (I left this out)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup (8oz) heavy cream
2 lbs. of strawberries, cored from the bottom leaving the stems

Place chocolate and butter in a medium bowl. Set the bowl over a pan of simmering water stirring occasionally until melted. Once melted, remove from heat and set aside to cool.
Combine the yolks, sugar, liqueur of choice and vanilla extract in the bowl of an electric mixer, or a medium sized bowl. Place the bowl over a pot of simmering water and whisk until very warm and thickened. Once thickened, remove from heat, place in electric mixer and whip until cold and very thick. If you don’t have an electric mixer, just bust out a whip and give it some arm action. Set aside.
In a bowl of an electric mixer or using a hand mixer or hand whip, beat 1 cup of heavy cream until it holds stiff peaks. Set aside.
Working quickly, add the melted chocolate to the thickened yolk mixture and fold thoroughly. Add the heavy cream to the yolk/chocolate mixture and fold quickly, but gently until no white streaks remain.
Place in the freezer to chill for 15-20 minutes.
Assembly:
Fill a pastry bag fitted with a star tip with chocolate mousse. Pipe chocolate mousse into each cored strawberry. Eat up!

*photo credit goes to my bestie - hey there if you're reading this!

Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Mousse Filling

Okay, so technically this was a birthday cake (if you're reading this, happy birthday Alicia!), but it would be PERFECT for Valentine's day. It was for my mom's friend's party, and she had asked me to make the cake. She said she liked raspberries, dark chocolate, and mocha. Figuring out how to combine ingredients like those is the fun part!
I started off with a simple chocolate cake recipe. I use it for all my chocolate cakes, because it's super simple and comes out moist and delicious every time. It's one of those "wacky cakes", which doesn't take any dairy or eggs but instead uses a chemical reaction with vinegar and baking soda. So yes, if you didn't smother it in cream and butter like I did, it would be vegan :) OK, so I'm going on about how easy this is, but I really messed it up. Like, dropped-a-cake-while-pulling-it-out-of-the-oven-and-had-to-start-all-over messed it up. Oh well, it just went from simple to time-consuming!!

The filling was the hardest thing for me to decide on. I knew from the start that raspberry mousse would be a good choice, but I couldn't find a recipe. Most of the recipes call for raw egg whites, but we knew there would be a little kid there, so that was out. (By the way, she asked me to make her a "rainbow ladybug cake" for her birthday. looking forward to trying to figure that one out...) I finally found one that used gelatin instead, which was another problem for my vegetarian-ness, but it was easily fixed by swapping in agar-agar (made from seaweed but works the same way).

The frosting was a simple chocolate buttercream. The cake was not hard to put together, especially because the layers aren't crumbly at all. I used some leftover mousse to write on top, but we still had TONS left. No worries, it was happily consumed with cake scraps. Enjoy!!
*Those silver balls? Put on with tweezers. One by one. Just saying.

Easy Chocolate Layer Cake (from Baking Bites)
(a.k.a. “Wacky Cake”)
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tbsp vinegar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 cups cold water
1 tbsp coffee powder

Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease two 9-inch round cake pans, line with circles of parchment paper, and grease again.
In a large mixing bowl, mix flour, sugar, cocoa, soda and salt. Make three wells in the flour mixture. In one put vanilla; in another the vinegar, and in the third the oil. Dissolve the coffee powder in the cold water (or just use cold coffee for a slightly more mocha taste) and pour the water over the mixture. Stir until smooth. Divide evenly into prepared pans.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Cool in pans on wire racks for 15 minutes. Turn cakes out of pans onto a plate (or another rack), remove parchment paper, and reinvert onto racks to cool completely before frosting.
If storing overnight before frosting (they can be made a day ahead), just wrap completely in plastic wrap and keep at room temperature.


Raspberry Mousse Filling (from Cook From The Hip)
10 oz bag frozen raspberries
1 cup sugar
1 envelope unflavored gelatin (I substituted an equal quantity of agar-agar)
1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Heat the raspberries and sugar in a small saucepan. Stir until all of the raspberries break down and are heated through. Run the raspberries through a strainer and into a new saucepan. Add the gelatin to the raspberries and heat until the gelatin is dissolved. Remove from the heat and set aside.
In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, whip the heavy cream until it form soft peaks. Fold the cooled raspberries into the whipped cream.


Chocolate Buttercream Frosting (from Savory Sweet Life)
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks or 1/2 pound), softened (but not melted!)
3 1/2 cups confectioners (powdered) sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract or 1 teaspoon almond extract
2-4 tablespoons milk or heavy cream

Cream butter for a few minutes in a mixer with the paddle attachment on medium speed. Turn off the mixer. Sift 3 cups powdered sugar and cocoa into the mixing bowl. Turn your mixer on the lowest speed (so the dry ingredients do not blow everywhere) until the sugar and cocoa are absorbed by the butter. Increase mixer speed to medium and add vanilla extract, salt, and milk/cream and beat for 3 minutes. If your frosting needs a more stiff consistency, add a little more sugar. If your frosting needs to be thinned out, add additional milk 1 tablespoon at a time.


<3

TWD Rewind: Peanut Butter Torte

This week's TWD recipe was Fluff-Filled Chocolate Madeleines. I really wanted to make these, but I didn't have time. BUT, we had two of my friends and their parents over for dinner, so I decided to make a rewind for dessert. I decided on the Peanut Butter Torte, which took forever to make but was so worth it. It starts off with an Oreo crust. Then comes a peanut butter mousse, which has chopped peanuts and chocolate chips stirred in to make it crunchy. Finally is a layer of chocolate ganache, with more chopped peanuts on top. All put together, it's really good. My only comment is that Dorie says this serves 6-8 people. Um, no. We cut 11 quite big servings and only ate about half of the torte (because it is so rich). We ended up calculating that the whole torte could feed 25! If you want to try the recipe for yourself (please do), you can find it in the book. Enjoy!

TWD: Cherry... uh... Currant... Fudge Brownie Torte

This week's Tuesdays With Dorie recipe was chosen by April of Short and Rose. She chose the cherry fudge brownie torte, which is composed of a dense, rich layer of cherry brownie (cherry jam, dried cherries, and kirsch), and a thinner layer of light and creamy mascarpone mousse. I was going to make the brownie layer when I realized the closest thing to kirsch we had was Cassis, which is a black-currant flavored liquor. I couldn't find dried cherries at the supermarket, either, so I decided to go all the way and use currant jam and dried currants. It worked out great!

This was quite a time-consuming recipe. For the brownie, you had to cook the currants with syrup, and melt the chocolate and butter over another saucepan, and use an electric mixer - basically make the kitchen look like a tornado went through. But, it was finished, and the mousse was quick and easy. Yum!

I probably won't make this again, simply because it took so long, and it was also a bit too rich. But, it was delicious, and I would recommend trying it. If you want the recipe, you can buy the book or find it here. Enjoy!