Lazy Chocolate Mousse
Ingredients
- 2-300g Gianduja
- 300ml cream
- 1tsp vanilla essence
Here’s a fail-safe dessert recipe for those of us who may be huge fans of fancy desserts (especially those featuring chocolate) but aren’t fans of fiddly cooking techniques, washing up lots of paraphernalia or have much time to spare. Here’s my take on chocolate mousse with only three ingredients.
Firstly, get yourself some Gianduja. The key to getting away with making such an easy dessert is to ensure that you have the best quality ingredients. Gianduja is the delicious, hazelnut-milk chocolate that any truffle maker or chocolatier worth-their-cocoa uses.
So, visit your gourmet deli or market or, like me, see Kirsten at and buy a brick of heaven for about a fifth of what you’d get it for when it’s merely melted and reset into a different shape.
Then, snap off a quarter (200 to 300 grams) and chop it into rough chunks and put into a microwave-proof bowl.
Put in the microwave for one minute on ‘high’ (but at 700 watts, not 1200 or it will burn). Take it out and give it a good stir through for about a minute, so that the blobs continue melting. Nuke for a further 20 or 30 seconds if blobs remain blobby.
In a separate bowl, add a teaspoon of vanilla essence and then pour in 300ml of cream. Use a whisk or egg-beaters to thrash the life out of the cream until it thickens to very soft peaks.
Then, as quickly as you can, add the cream to the melted chocolate and start whisking as though your life depended on it (this is so the chocolate and cream blend seamlessly rather than have the chocolate separate and go all grainy and dotty).
After a minute or so, it will look like this:
Don’t, whatever you do, be distracted by the self-pitying whines of the dog outside the kitchen window. Be strong; chocolate is poisonous for our furry friends and you have more work to do!
When the cream and chocolate is combined, spoon it gently into some serving glasses. I found some retro 1970s champagne saucers that cost me 10 cents each and are the right size for the mousse.
Pop some cling film over the mousse glasses (I put them on a tray and cover the tray) and put in the fridge for an hour or so. Before serving, add a small blob of cream on top and, if you’re really good, serve with a fresh fruit platter. Then get into licking the beaters, spoons and mixing bowls clean – you deserve it, after all.
Everyone – even Dark Side Devotees – will gobble it down and remark on how ‘divinely retro’ both the dessert and glasses are. Trust me.
If you insist on using dark chocolate, get 300g of Lindt Excellence 70% instead of the Gianduja and do everything else the same. Once again, you’ll be praised, worshipped and adored.
I don’t have a dog. Can I still make this?
Yes. And if one pops over to visit, don’t give it any!
Cover with the white chocolate mousse and studded it with the cherries. Cooking Recipe
This is the best recipe I’ve ever seen; &, trust me, that thought has nothing to do with the glass (or so) of sauvignon blanc I’ve had tonight…
Thanks so much for sharing, I can’t wait to try it!
Thanks Lisa, you have exquisite taste, whether affected by wine or not! 🙂
This looks like something even I could do…and delicious also!
Where could I buy some ‘Gianduja’ in the United Kingdom? I can only seem to find suppliers who supply individually wrapped chocolates, not slabs like your picture.
Improfane: You could try http://www.leonidasbelgianchocolates.co.uk/category_20_gianduja.html
– that’s not a personal recommendation, just the result of a quick Google search.
Thanks Dom 🙂
what would the quantity be for 50 people