Luscious, creamy and oh-so-good, this easy eggless chocolate mousse is the only recipe you’ll ever need.
Perfect for an elegant dinner party dessert or a weekend treat for the family, it’s incredibly easy to make, indulgent and ridiculously yum. It has the perfect smooth, light and airy texture and tastes divine. You could spoil that special someone on Valentine’s day or mum on Mother’s day.
I use a slight adaptation of this mousse in my chocolate mousse tart which is wonderful if you feel like a nice crunchy crust with this dessert. Also, used in my chocolate mousse cake, you can see how versatile it is.
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Ingredients
There’s just 4 ingredients in my eggless chocolate mousse and as you can tell from the title eggs are not one of them.
Detailed quantities and instructions in the recipe card below.
- Chocolate – I use (50% cocoa) dark chocolate for this or semi-sweet chocolate will work. This strength will give the perfect creamy but rich chocolate flavor. It’s important to use good quality chocolate since the flavour will be very obvious so use a good eating chocolate, or quality baking chocolate. Steer away from chocolate chips – they often have additives that make them designed to keep their shape meaning they take a lot more heat to melt and that can affect it’s ability to set again.
- Icing (powdered) sugar – this adds a touch of sweetness and balances the flavours best. I urge you not to skip it as it does make a difference to the flavour and it’s only a little. You can absolutely swap it for something like monkfruit sweetener though.
- Butter – Not often used in chocolate mousse, the butter has two roles to play here. It doesn’t affect the flavour much but it adds to the creaminess and also assists the way it sets.
- Cream – Full fat cream (35%) so that it whips up nice and fluffy
Easy chocolate mousse vs classic French mousse
This easy chocolate mousse is different from authentic French chocolate mousse in one way – there are no raw eggs.
A classic chocolate mousse uses eggs that are separated, with the yolks being mixed into the chocolate mixture and the whites whipped to soft peaks before being folded in. The egg whites are what give traditional mousse it’s light and airy texture.
In this eggless chocolate mousse, eggs are replaced with whipped cream to create that same light, fluffy texture without the need for raw eggs.
- Texture-wise classic mousse is ever so slightly lighter and more delicate.
- Flavour-wise this easy version is creamier, richer and just as indulgent.
If you prefer not to use raw eggs, this version gives you the elegance of a traditional mousse with a little extra creaminess.
If you’re looking for another make ahead dessert perfect for entertaining – try these chocolate fondants.
How to make it – step by step
Making this easy chocolate mousse recipe is a 2 part process – the ganache and adding in the cream.
Detailed quantities and instructions in the recipe card below.
1. Melt the chocolate mixture
The chocolate ganache base couldn’t be easier. Melt chocolate, heavy cream, butter and sugar together in a saucepan over the lowest of low heat. You can also do this in the microwave: Make sure to use a microwave safe bowl and just heat it in 30 second increments stirring well between each one. Pour it into a bowl to cool.
2. Whip the cream
Once the ganache is cool, whip up some cold heavy whipping cream to stiff peaks, just (don’t overwhip -see tips below). You can use a stand-mixer with a whisk attachment or just a handheld electric mixer for this.
3. Fold them together
Mix a dollop of the whipped cream into the ganache to lighten it a little. Add half the remaining whipped cream and use a folding action to fold the ganache and cream together until there are just a few streaks left. Then repeat with the remaining cream until there are no streaks left.
Be gentle when folding in cream. The more air you can keep in the chocolate mousse, the fluffier and lighter the end result
4. Set
Pipe or spoon your eggless chocolate mousse into glasses or ramekins, then chill until set.
Tips and Tricks
- Don’t add hot ganache to the cream or it will melt and return to a liquid. Be patient and wait the 45 minutes or so for it to cool to room temperature, then fold in the cream.
- You must use cold cream for it to whip properly.
- Be careful not to overwhip the cream. Beat it until it just hits firm peak stage. If you take it too far, it will have a grainy texture, or worse, start separating.
- Make sure to fold in the cream. Folding means gently scooping from the bottom of the bowl, lifting and folding it over the top of itself. This method of mixing ensures that the air you’ve lovingly whipped into the cream doesn’t all get knocked out.
- Chill for 3-4 hours (or overnight) to get the perfect texture.
You can watch the method of folding in cream in both my raspberry mousse and chocolate mousse cake videos and you can see this mousse being made in the latter.
Variations
- Add a little vanilla extract to add warmth to the mousse.
- A little instant coffee makes the chocolate even more chocolatey or add more for a mocha mousse.
- Add a little peppermint extract to taste for a choc mint variation.
How to fix overwhipped cream
Ok, it happens. Sometimes you’ve whipped the cream trying to get big fluffy, voluminous peaks only to end up with it starting to look grainy. As long as you stop at this point, you can save it. Add a dash more cream to the overwhipped cream and mix it in gently with a wire whisk. It should come back to the firm peaks you’re after.
Do you know what happens if you keep on whipping that overwhipped cream? First, it will start separating and looking awful but eventually it’ll turn into …… butter! Yep, that’s right. If you’ve ever wanted to make butter from scratch, beat some cream until it magically appears.
Storage
One of the great things about this easy chocolate mousse – aside from being delicious and quick to make – is that you can make it ahead of time. Store it in the fridge for 2-3 days covered with plastic wrap.
It shouldn’t be frozen unless you plan to eat it as ice cream. Cream will often split on thawing.
FAQs
The cream was overwhipped or you added the cream to the chocolate mixture too quickly. Take care to whip the cream only until firm picks are achieved. If you add the cold cream to the chocolate mixture too quickly, you are essentially shocking it into setting immediately. Add it gradually to temper the chocolate bit by bit.
Not unless you plan to eat it frozen. On thawing, the cream will often separate.
Yes! You can make your mousse 2-3 days ahead of serving. After that time, the cream can begin to turn.
It may not have been cold enough or you used a low-fat version. You must use a cream with at least 36% milk solids for cream to whip.
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Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups whipping cream (divided ½ cup & 2 cups)
- 200 g dark chocolate (50% cocoa solids) (7oz)
- 57 g unsalted butter (2oz / ½ stick / ¼ cup)
- 2 tablespoons icing sugar (powdered sugar) (notes 1)
For best results, always weigh ingredients where a weight is provided
Equipment
Instructions
- Pour ½ cup cream into a small saucepan and the remaining cream into a glass bowl and place in the fridge.
- Heat the ½ cup of cream, chocolate, butter and sugar over very low heat and stir until it's all about 90% melted. Remove from heat and keep stirring until it's a smooth ganache.
- Pour it straight into a large bowl and let it cool to room temperature.
- Once the ganache has cooled, beat the remaining 2 cups cream to firm peaks. .
- Using a spatula, stir about ½ cup of the whipped cream straight through the ganache to lighten it.
- Now gently fold in half of the remaining whipped cream until there are just a few streaks left. Follow that with the remaining whipped cream, just carefully folding until it's all mixed in.
- Spoon or pipe the mousse into glasses or ramekins, before chilling in the fridge for 4 hours or overnight.
- Please take a moment to leave a comment & rating. It's appreciated and so helpful.
Notes
- Tablespoons: I use a standard Australian 20ml tablespoon (equal to 4 teaspoons). Check yours before measuring.
- Make sure to use very low heat to melt everything together and stop when it’s 90% done so you don’t burn or overheat the chocolate.
- Make sure to fold so you don’t knock the air out of the whipped cream.
- Can be made a couple of days ahead and should be stored in the fridge covered with plastic wrap. Will last 2-3 days.
- Nutrition details are approximate only – scroll below the recipe to find the full nutritional information.
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10 Comments on “Easy Eggless Chocolate Mousse”
really easy to follow and tastes delicious, great recipe 🙂
So happy you love it, Sophia. Truly appreciate you dropping back to review.
Excellent!!!! Restaurant Quality!
I’m so happy you love it, Marquee. Thanks so much for dropping back to leave a review.
Love this recipe. Easy to follow and delicious turn out. I used it on top of a brownie base in a spring form and topped with stabilized whipped cream. I decided the mousse was the best part!
I’m so happy you love it, Amy. Truly appreciate you dropping back to leave a review.
Looks great! Could I sub in a good quality white chocolate instead of dark?
Hi Sam. Dark chocolate has a firmer setting texture than white chocolate so it wouldn’t set as firmly. It’s also less sweet. I’d leave out the sugar entirely and serve in individual glasses like this post so you don’t need to worry about it holding such a firm shape.
Have made this recipe multiple times and it is always a winner. The mousse is by far the nicest mousse I have ever made.
So happy you love it as much as we do, Amanda.