Chocolate Mousse

I decided to share the chocolate mousse recipe I make the most often. It is adapted from a recipe in Nigella Lawson’s How to Be a Domestic Goddess. It’s very rich and dense, so I suggest using ramekins rather than bowls to serve it (I ended up filling eight ramekins and then one bowl, which the Engineer and I shared). I make this mousse dairy-free, but it does contain raw eggs. It is really delicious, though, and satisfies my chocolate mousse cravings. (Truth be told, I did have another recipe before that one, but for the life of me, I can’t find it anywhere anymore. Then again, I think that one had orange zest and maybe whipped cream, too, so it’s not the plain dairy-free mousse I want at this point in my life. Nigella’s fits the bill perfectly.)

350 g (12 oz) best dark chocolate
¾ cup (6 oz) margarine or butter
8 large eggs, separated
1 cup sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
a pinch of salt



Melt the chocolate and margarine in a double boiler and let it cool.



In another bowl, beat the egg yolks and sugar until very thick and pale, as creamy as mayonnaise: the mixture should form and fall in ribbons when you lift up the whisk. Stir in the vanilla and salt, and then the cooled chocolate mixture.




In a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form, then lighten the chocolate mixture with a briskly beaten-in dollop of whites before gently folding the rest of them into it.




Pour the mixture unto ramekins (or bowls) and place them in the fridge for a few hours. Serve cold.