Chocolate Mousse (Eggless)

A mousse is a light and airy dessert. Its a great dessert for parties – it can be made in advance, everyone gets their own serving and it looks so pretty! There are lot of flavor combinations – chocolate, fruit, caramel. You can layer mousse with biscuit layer, or a fruit compote or a decadent caramel sauce. Options are endless!

There are multiple recipes available for a chocolate mousse. You can simply make a mousse with chocolate and whipped cream, you can make a chocolate pudding and fold in whipped cream, or use eggs (even raw in some recipes!), use stabilizers like gelatin or agar agar. There’s a recipe that uses marshmallows as well.

I am trying the recipe which mixes chocolate pudding with whipped cream. I’ve used vegetarian gelatin/ agar agar as setting agent, I was not aiming for hard set. For serving in the glass, I’ve put a layer of crushed Oreo biscuits at bottom, homemade caramel sauce, chocolate mousse topped with whipped cream and chocolate shavings. Result is a yum dessert 🙂

Ingredients –

For Whipped cream –
1 cup whipping cream
2-3 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence

For chocolate pudding –
1 tbsp Agar Agar Powder / Gelatin Powder / China Grass
¼ cup Water
½ tbsp Cornstarch (cornflour)
2 tbsp Cocoa Powder
½ cup Dark Chocolate Chips (about 90 grams) (I’ve used a mixture of 50% dark chocolate and milk chocolate, cut in small pieces for easy melting)
1 cup Milk
1 cup Cream
⅓ cup Sugar

For Decoration –
Homemade caramel sauce (Will upload the recipe shortly)
Chocolate shavings

Procedure –

1. Chill a bowl and the beaters (I am using hand mixer), use cold cream for whipping for best results.
2. Put the cream in the bowl, add sugar and vanilla. Whip the cream till you reach soft peaks. Keep refrigerated till use.

3. Mix cornflour, cocoa powder in ¼ cup milk and keep aside.
4. Melt the chocolate in microwave safe bowl in 30 seconds intervals and mixing in between each interval.
5. In a small pan, mix agar agar/vegetarian gelatin in water. Heat the mixture till its dissolved.
6. In a large pan, add milk, cream, sugar and put on medium heat. Mix continuously till it starts to boil.
7. Lower the heat, add the cornflour-cocoa mix, melted chocolate and keep stirring till the pudding mixture thickens. (It will coat the back of a wooden spoon)
8. Switch off the flame. Add the dissolved agar agar and mix well. Strain the mixture into a fresh bowl. Let it cool.
9. Gently fold the whipped cream with the pudding mixture.
10. Prepare the glasses for serving – crush the Oreo biscuits and put a layer at bottom of glass. Pour a spoonful of the caramel sauce (I used homemade, you can use store-bought). Divide the mousse across glasses.
 
11. Chill the glasses for 4-8 hours. Decorate with a dollop of whipped cream, chocolate shavings. Serve with love 🙂