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This chocolate mousse recipe is rich and deeply chocolate, swirled with an easy cherry sauce. So smooth and light that it melts in your mouth, and it’s made in 30 minutes with just 4 ingredients! An unsweetened whipped cream tops it off for the perfect finish!
This full-bodied dark chocolate mousse complete with a luxurious kirsch-infused cherry sauce and delicate unsweetened whipped cream brings all the chocolate flavor without sacrificing an ounce of airy, smooth texture! This easy mousse is one of our powerhouse easy chocolate desserts. If you want to live in decadence, try this chocolate ice cream recipe, my easy chocolate pie, and a classic chocolate pudding recipe!
Why you will love this easy chocolate mousse recipe:
- Complex chocolate flavor. The luscious depth of silky chocolate flavor has all the sweetness you’re looking for, with just a hint of bitterness from the dark chocolate and kirsch.
- Easier than you think. Mousse doesn’t have to be complicated. I’ll walk you through some of the most common pit-falls! Before you know it, you will be whipping up mousse for a casual Tuesday night dinner.
- Make any occasion special. This dessert is perfect for Valentine’s Day, dinner parties, and date nights. You can also pipe it into shot glasses or miniature glasses for a passed dessert or easy addition to a buffet. Just don’t forget the mini spoons!
Professional Tips for the best chocolate mousses:
- Keep an eye on your timing. You want to make sure your heavy cream is whipped and ready to go before starting your mousse.
- Temperature control is key. You are adding warm chocolate into cold whipped cream, and when chocolate gets cold, it sets. You have to find that line between so hot it will turn your whipped cream into soup, and not warm enough. Not warm enough is almost worse here because you won’t be able to incorporate the chocolate in. Just above body temperature is where you should be. If the chocolate feels warm to the touch, you’re good!
- Don’t forget to sacrifice. In pastry, sacrificing is when you take a bit of your meringue or whipped cream and add it to the other ingredients to thin it out a bit. You are sacrificing some of the aeration from the whipped cream in order to thin out the chocolate egg mixture. This allows for an easier final combination! As a result, you will fold less and maintain better aeration.
Ingredients
- Frozen cherries: For this recipe, I prefer to use thawed frozen black cherries for their lightly floral taste, but you could use tart cherries!
- Citric Acid: Citric acid also tempers the sweetness and adds a neutral acidity. You can omit it if you don’t have it or can’t find it. You can also opt to use lemon or lime juice as an alternative.
- Almond extract
- Kirsch
- Egg Yolk: Just like my favorite version of French Hot Chocolate, the fat from egg yolks are what makes a thick, rich mousse without the added moisture from the egg whites.
- Granulated Sugar: Sugar is here for sweetness but also to add a little leavening when beaten with the yolks. Be sure to adjust the sugar amount in your sauce based on the tartness of your cherries.
- Semi-sweet chocolate
- Heavy Cream: Use full fat heavy cream, sometimes called heavy whipping cream. Light whipping cream will not whip the same. It will over whip easily and not be as smooth.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
Substitutions for raw eggs & other variations
- Raw Eggs: Technically the egg yolks aren’t cooked in this mousse. If that concerns you, just buy the pasteurized yolks that come in a carton, or pasteurized eggs.
- Extracts: You could replace the almond extract with ⅛ teaspoon vanilla extract. You could also replace the kirsch with some cherry extract, or even rum! I’m personally partial to brandy’s contribution to this flavor combination. This Cherry Almond Pound Cake is a perfect example of that possibility!
- Chocolate: You could use a mix of semi-sweet and bittersweet chocolate, like I do in my cream cheese chocolate chip cookies! Just be sure to adjust for more or less sweetness to keep the elements balanced. You could even use white chocolate, like I do in my White Chocolate Raspberry Mousse.
How to Make Chocolate Mousse
Further details and measurements can be found in the recipe card below.
Make the black cherry sauce, if desired:
Step 1: Make the black cherry sauce by combining cherries (and their juices), sugar, citric acid and almond extract in a small saucepan. Cook on medium until the sauce holds a line on a spatula.
Step 2: Pour into a bowl and cool completely. If it isn’t cool when you put it in the mousse, it will deflate it.
You could put your sauce in an ice bath (a bowl filled with ice water) for quicker chilling.
Make the mousse & assemble:
Step 3: Either by hand or in the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, whip heavy cream to medium peaks and place in the refrigerator.
If you are good with a kitchen scale, you can whip both the cream for the mousse and the topping together and then divide it afterwards by weight.
Step 4: Melt chocolate either in a bain-marie (in a bowl over simmering water) or in the microwave in 30 second intervals. Once melted, allow to cool to just above body temperature. It should feel warm to the touch.
Step 5: In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat yolks and sugar until tripled in volume and pale yellow. Add chocolate and beat well. This will thicken considerably. Move quickly to ensure it doesn’t continue to thicken. Scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula to allow for uniform blending.
Step 6: Sacrifice some whipped cream by adding a small amount of whipped cream to the chocolate mixture. Fold aggressively to incorporate. Quickly fold the chocolate into the rest of the whipped cream. Spoon immediately into containers.
You can also pipe the mousse into coupes or serving dishes. Just be aware that the resulting mousse will be a bit more dense.
Step 7: Dollop a bit of the cherry sauce into the center of the mousse. You could also stir the cold cherry sauce into the mousse. Spread a bit of the unsweetened whipped cream on top. Refrigerate before serving.
The longer the mousse is out at room temperature, the more dense it will be.
Chef Lindsey’s Recipe Tip
I like to allow my mousse to chill in the refrigerator for at least two hours or overnight. With this extra time to set, not only does its flavor improve but it maintains its cloud-like texture!
Popular questions about this dish
Store chocolate mousse in the refrigerator covered with plastic wrap for up to a week, or 2 months frozen. If freezing, I would suggest adding the whipped cream topping just before serving.
In the most basic sense a mousse is a base folded into whipped cream. This base could be made of just chocolate for the most basic mousse, or could be a custard like vanilla crème anglaise with gelatin added. A traditional mousse contains egg yolks whipped with sugar for extra volume, but modern versions often omit this step. The base also needs to include something that will “set” the mousse when chilled like chocolate or gelatin.
A mousse may be soupy because its structure was not built, or was destroyed. This can happen due to adding the chocolate while it is still too hot, or not whipping the cream to fully medium peaks. It’s important to be sure the chocolate is only slightly warm to the touch. Your mousse will set well if the chocolate is properly incorporated. Chocolate is the ingredient that will solidify as it cools, which provides structure.
If you tried this recipe and loved it please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it goes in the comments below. I love hearing from you; your comments make my day!
Chocolate Mousse
Ingredients
- 6 oz frozen black cherries thawed
- 3 ½ tablespoon sugar
- ⅛ teaspoon citric acid
- ⅛ teaspoon almond extract
- ½ tablespoon kirsch or other liquor
- 4 egg yolks
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1 ¼ cups semi-sweet chocolate chopped
- 1 ½ cups heavy cream
- ½ cup heavy Cream for topping
Instructions
Make the black cherry sauce, if desired:
- Make the black cherry sauce by combining cherries (and their juices), sugar, citric acid and almond extract in a small saucepan. Cook on medium until the sauce holds a line on a spatula.
- Pour into a bowl and cool completely. If it isn’t cool when you put it in the mousse, it will deflate it.
Make the mousse & assemble:
- Either by hand or in the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, whip heavy cream to medium peaks and place in the refrigerator.
- Melt chocolate either in a bain-marie (in a bowl over simmering water) or in the microwave in 30 second intervals. Once melted, allow to cool to just above body temperature. It should feel warm to the touch.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat yolks and sugar until tripled in volume and pale yellow. Add chocolate and beat well. This will thicken considerably. Move quickly to ensure it doesn’t continue to thicken. Scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula to allow for uniform blending.
- Sacrifice some whipped cream by adding a small amount of whipped cream to the chocolate mixture. Fold aggressively to incorporate. Quickly fold the chocolate into the rest of the whipped cream. Spoon immediately into containers.
- Dollop a bit of the cherry sauce into the center of the mousse. You could also stir the cold cherry sauce into the mousse. Spread a bit of the unsweetened whipped cream on top. Refrigerate before serving.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Before You Go
I hope you enjoyed this professional chef tested recipe. Check out our other delicious, chef-developed chocolate dessert recipes. Or, head straight to some Brown Butter Brownies next!
