Dark Chocolate Mousse | Baking Chez Moi

Cooking the sugar syrup in the style of the Italian meringue has always been a challenge for me. It’s no exception this time for one of the steps in making the dark chocolate mousse from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking Chez Moi. The number of bowls on the kitchen counter is very telling of the complexity of the recipe. After all, it’s a pro’s recipe that Dorie got from Pierre Hermé.

One stand-mixer bowl for whipping up the heavy cream (420 ml). A second stand-mixer bowl for beating the eggs (two) and egg yolks (four). Third: a heatproof bowl that fits over a saucepan of simmering water to melt the chocolate (283 grams). Fourth: a small heavy-gauge saucepan where you heat the sugar (100 grams) and water (3 tablespoons) over high heat.

More than the four bowls and pan in preparing the whipped cream, melting chocolate, mixing eggs and cooking sugar syrup, these processes are highly technical. Or say, fussy. The whipped cream for the intended use of making the chocolate mousse has to hold medium-firm peaks. The melted chocolate has to remain thick and shiny and must cool to 114°F. The sugar syrup has to cook for 5-8 minutes over high heat until it reaches 257°F on a instant-read thermometer. There are land mines along the way.

What tripped me was pouring the hot sugar syrup, in a thin stream, into the egg mixture while the whisk was whirring. The sugar spattered along the sides of the mixing bowl. Pouring a dangerously hot syrup into the heart of a whirling mixer is once again — my nemesis. The egg mixture did not double in volume after five minutes of whisking at high speed. Where’s the fluff? What I got instead were unincorporated globs of sugar lurking at the bottom of the mixing bowl.

I had no choice, but to do it again. The second time showed signs of improvement: egg mixture was fluffier, but collapsed when I got around to use it. Meanwhile, chunks of sugar still remained.

Well, what do you expect? It’s a chilly winter day and the kitchen temperature is cold. The hot sugar syrup hit the bottom of the mixing bowl and turns solid. I also half the recipe. Perhaps, there is not a lot of egg mixture with a big margin for error. Maybe another day or a fool-proof recipe!

I fold the whipped cream into the chocolate. Then fold that into the not-quite-whipped eggs. Chill the resulting mousse for an hour. The old new is: I manage to pipe the dark chocolate mousse in a decent flower shape in a small cup. Decorate with a slice of strawberry. No one can tell how much I sweat to get there.

Now I have time to think about how to make it better. One easy fix would be to combine the eggs, egg yolks and sugar in a bowl over simmering water, whisking until it reaches 138°F (a high enough temperature to achieve pasteurization). In other words, use a technique similar to the Swiss meringue, instead of the Italian meringue method in this case. Since we already have a simmering water bath to melt the chocolate, why not do the same to whip up the eggs and sugar mixture? When it comes to cleaning, no scrubbing of the syrup-crusted pots.