Ludovic (“Ludo”) Van Rompu is the 2018 winner of the very popular TV show in France Le Meilleur Pâtissier, the country’s equivalent to Britain’s hugely popular The Great British Baking Show (seasons for both shows are available on Netflix).
Since his win, Ludo has had a very successful YouTube channel, website, and blog, and he also has an e-book of his recipes. I love watching his channel and seeing all of his amazing recipes and techniques and translating and adapting them to share with a wider audience.
This is his 70% cacao dark chocolate mousse—intense, light, and creamy—and so easy to make. His approach to incorporating the egg yolks is uncommon so perhaps this will be a new technique for you, too. Give it a try!
Note: Be sure to plan ahead, as chocolate mousse needs several hours in the refrigerator to fully set before serving.
Makes about 4 cups / 950 ml (six 5-ounce servings)
4½ ounces (130 g) premium 70% cacao dark chocolate, such as Valrhona Guanaja or Lindt
½ cup plus 1 tablespoon (130 g) heavy whipping cream (36% milk fat)
4 large eggs, separated (80 g yolks/120 g whites)
½ teaspoon cream of tartar (optional, but recommended)
2 tablespoons plus 1½ teaspoons (30 g) sugar
Special equipment
1 (24-inch) disposable pastry bag (optional)
Make the ganache. If needed, chop the chocolate into even pieces. Place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl. In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, heat the cream to scalding (the cream will just begin to boil; do not let it reach a full boil). Pour the hot cream over the chocolate. Shake the bowl gently to settle all the chocolate into the hot liquid, then let it sit for about 10 seconds without stirring. Using a whisk or silicone spatula, begin vigorously stirring in the center, starting with small tight circles and gradually expanding out in larger concentric circles to the edge of the bowl as the mixture blends. Continue stirring until the mixture is perfectly emulsified (smooth and creamy). Using a silicone spatula, scrape down the sides of the bowl and stir any chocolate clinging to the sides into the mixture. Set the bowl aside for the ganache to cool slightly. The ganache should feel slightly warm but not hot when the eggs are added.
Make the meringue. In the very clean bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk beater (or in a mixing bowl using a handheld electric mixer), add the egg whites and cream of tartar, if using. Begin beating the egg whites on medium-low speed. When the egg whites are foamy, sprinkle in half the sugar and continue beating. When the egg whites hold soft peaks, sprinkle in the remaining sugar. Continue beating until the egg whites hold stiff peaks when the beater is raised.
Incorporate the egg yolks. Add the egg yolks all at once into the meringue. Beat on medium-low speed just until the yolks are incorporated. If needed, remove the whisk beater and use it by hand to finish incorporating the yolks to avoid overbeating the meringue while ensuring the yolks are fully incorporated.
Finish the mousse. Check the temperature of the ganache by dipping the tip of your finger into it and touching the ganache to the center spot just below the rim of your bottom lip. The ganache should feel close to body temperature (If it feels cold, gently warm it to body temperature using a water bath or in 5-second increments in the microwave. Stir the chocolate and check its temperature again.)
Using a silicone spatula, carefully incorporate about one-fourth of the beaten eggs into the ganache, moving around the edge of the bowl and turning the bowl in the opposite direction of the spatula as you fold the eggs up, over, and through the ganache. Do not overfold it; a few streaks of the eggs will remain. Scrape the remainder of the beaten eggs into the mixture all at once and carefully incorporate them in the same manner. Stop folding as soon as the mixture looks uniform in color. Minimize the stirring and folding as much as possible to maintain the light and fluffy texture.
You can spoon the mousse into serving glasses, or, if using a pastry bag, place the bag into a very tall glass and fold the edges down over the edge of the glass to create a wide opening. Gently scrape the mousse into the bag. Lift up the edges of the bag and shake the bag up and down in three or four quick movements while holding it at the top so that the mousse moves down toward the tip. Tightly twist the top closed to prevent the mousse from escaping (use a clip or wrap any excess around your finger to help keep it closed). Pointing the tip up at a slight angle to prevent the mousse from escaping, cut off the tip of the bag to make an opening about 1¼ inches across. Gently pipe the mousse into serving glasses.
Refrigerate the mousse for at least 5 hours, ideally overnight, to ensure it is fully set. Just before serving, set the mousse out for about 10 minutes at room temperature. Using a microplane grater, shave chocolate over the top. Serve.
Chef Zach’s Notes:
The addition of the cream of tartar is mine. If you overbeat egg whites, they will break down and become unusable. Cream of tartar (an acid) prevents this from happening so that you can incorporate as much air as possible into the egg whites without worry. Although it is an optional ingredient, I highly recommend it. The calculation is 1/8 teaspoon of cream of tartar per 30 grams of egg whites, as typically contained in 1 large chicken egg.
Ludo addresses the use of raw eggs in the mousse, emphasizing that homemade mayonnaise also uses raw egg yolks, so the risk, he feels, is extremely minimal, and I agree. However, if you prefer to avoid raw eggs, you can use pasteurized eggs instead. See this blog post by Rose Levy Beranbaum on the proper use of cream of tartar with pasteurized eggs and their performance. You can also search more about raw egg safety on the American Egg Board website here.
Ludo states that incorporating the egg yolks into the meringue rather than into the ganache base—as is commonly done with these types of mousses—prevents the ganache from thickening too much and makes the eggs easier to incorporate into the ganache.
When piping mousse through a pastry bag, be sure to cut a wide hole in the tip (about 1¼” wide). If you make the hole too small, you will compress the mousse as you pipe it, causing it to lose much of the air you worked hard to maintain. A gentle squeeze through a large opening is best to help keep it as light and fluffy as possible.
Once fully set and chilled, I like to set my mousse out at room temperature for about 10 minutes before enjoying it so that the texture is a little creamier and the chocolate flavor is more pronounced.
For a sweet add-on, consider serving the mousse with a dollop of sweetened chantilly cream on top. Shave the chocolate on top of the chantilly cream. I think the mousse is also nice with some crushed caramelized nuts on top.