Classic Chocolate Mousse
If you love chocolate this recipe is to die for. You can stand a spoon up in it and it will give you a chocolate high like you can’t imagine. It is also as close to the rules of this book as chocolate can get as it is a fat meal in essence. Eat it at the end of a ‘fat’ dinner party and enjoy!
You will need:
8oz chocolate with at least 70% cocoa content (85% cocoa content makes the dessert even richer),
60ml of a cup of coffee (decaffeinated ideally),
2 large eggs – very fresh,
4 tablespoons sugar,
1 teaspoon vanilla extract,
2 tablespoons of dark rum,
240ml double cream (OK for whisking),
An electric whisk,
What you do with all this:
Separate the egg yolks and whites. Put the yolks in one mixing bowl and the whites in another.
Using a hand held electric whisk beat the egg yolks until they are blended. Gradually add in 2 tablespoons of sugar, whilst blending all the time. Continue whisking for about 5 minutes or until the yolks turn pale yellow.
Whisk in the rum and vanilla. Leave to one side for a moment.
Break the chocolate bars into squares and put them into a saucepan with the liquid coffee. Stir together, over a low heat, until all the chocolate is melted.
Add the melted chocolate and coffee to the egg yolks, rum and vanilla mixture. Leave to one side.
Clean the whisk beaters thoroughly and then start to whisk the egg whites. Gradually add in the other 2 tablespoons of sugar to the egg whites and whisk the whole lot until stiff peaks form.
Stir the egg white mixture gently into the mixture of egg yolk, rum, vanilla, chocolate and coffee.
Using the empty egg white mixing bowl, whisk the cream until this is stiff and then add this to the other ingredients. Fold everything in together to mix it thoroughly and then pour and spoon the whole lot into a posh bowl ready for a dinner party.
Place in the fridge and leave for at least 2 hours (it can be made the night before and left for 24 hours).
Hiya Zoe, do you have any alternatives to the dark rum for the religion prohibiting non alcoholics? Thanks
Hi Ross – you can just leave it out and you just lose the slight kick and one extra flavour – it makes hardly any difference. I used to make it without rum all the time when the boys were younger – they could detect the taste and didn’t like it. They like it now though!
Hope this helps! Best wishes – Zoe
Many thanks Zoe, you are a star!
Can I have this in phase 1? how much is recommended?
Shereen – sadly not! It is close to the rules for Phase 2 (as a fat meal) but the recipe book lists this firmly as a Phase 3 dessert.
Hope this helps – Zoe
Can you use a natural sweetener such as agarve nectar or fos instead of sugar?
Hi Bee – if this question is specifically related to the choccie mousse – I don’t know! I’m the maker of the mousse in our house (some in the fridge now!) and I’ve never tried it. The only reason we need any sugar is to stiffen the egg whites – you could try FOS and see if that works. I now adapt the recipe to not put sugar in the egg yolks (that halves it), I only use 85% chocolate (not 70%) and I then only need the sugar for the egg white bit. If you try it and it works, do let me know!
For sweeteners generally – agave nectar is on the ingredients page and sweeteners are on the FAQ page.
Hope this helps – Zoe
Looks a great recipe. I will have to wait to try this one as i am only just on phase 2.
I have signed on to join the club and it says that you will email me but it hasn’t happened. Am i now part of the club? i would very much like to recieve your weekly tips.
Really enjoyed your book but maybe i was the only one who put on 1/2 lb over the first 5 days. i have been on it for a total of 4 weeks now and have lost just 5 lb. It seems to be something to do with not drinking enough. To put it bluntly and i hope i won’t offend you, i know that if i don’t wee much over a day and night i will lose no weight. If i drink and i have to drink a lot i seem to loose it, but i am spending all my time looking for the next loo if i am out. Could something i am eating like oats for example be the problem.
Hi Kathy – you’re definitely on the club listing – the first email tips will come within the first week of joining (we have you down as a 17 Nov joiner) and then they come each week after that. There are monthly updates too – you can see back issues of the monthly newsletters on this page .
Don’t worry about trying to drink too much. Aim for 6-8 glasses/medium mugs of drink a day (water, decaf tea/coffee, herbal teas all count) – we get lots of water in food. Even meat is c. 75% water!
Best wishes – Zoe
Hi Zoe,
First thanks for the diet. I am in phase 2 and have lost a good stone in 3 weeks. I am thrilled.
The chocolate mousse I have made for years. it originated in belguim and I learnt it from my Belgian mother. I never use sugar in it. I dont sweeten the yolks nor the whites (just beat them up then fold in)and it is fine. The only difference is I put brandy in instead of rum.
I have another question. Are soya beans a free veg. I buy green frozen ones and I love them. Have just eaten a good portion with a piece of fish for a fat meal. Also can you substitute dessicated coconut instead of creamed coconut as I have some delicious curry receipes I learnt in India that would qualify for phase 2. (I love the butternut squash curry by the way)I understand dried things are not recommended..but is it ok otherwise. Thanks maddy
Hi Madeleine – huge well done on your weight loss and many thanks for the mousse tips – I do the same with the sugar so we may change that in a future re-print.
All beans other than French green beans are carbs – see the fat/carb table and what can be eaten with either under rule 2, Phase 2. See the questions in the book on mixing – fish with beans is not as bad as lamb with beans…etc
Desiccated coconut is effectively dried coconut – so treat as if dried fruit – small quantities occasionally will be fine but don’t have it as a staple ingredient regularly
Best wishes – Zoe
hi, is it possible to have whey protein made with water in either phase 1 or two.
Thanks Andrea
Hi looking to make this recipe, however I don’t like coffee, can you taste it in it? Also I will be leaving out the rum. How many portions does the recipe make?
Thanks
Lynsey.
Hi, sorry to seem a bit thick, but could i just clairify that YOU DON’T HAVE TO use sugar in this recipe, as the thought of the sugar worries me enormousley!! Many Thanks…(just started your diet today!)
Hi Tracy – a couple of clarifications may help: 1) this is a Phase 3 recipe – so it’s for when you move on to ‘cheating’ but we still want people as close to real ingredients as possible when they cheat. 2) You will need a table spoon of sugar to stiffen the egg whites but you don’t need to add any sugar to the egg yolks (I also only put 85% cocoa chocolate bars in when I make it). I am very anti-sugar, but Phase 3 is trying to show people that you can have a seriously impressive dinner party dessert with each person ending up with little more than a pinch of sugar .
Hope this helps!
Best wishes – Zoe