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Dessert

Chocolate Mousse

Chocolate mousse made with gelatin, chocolate, eggs, cream, and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Chocolate Mousse

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Hydrate the gelatin in cold water.

  2. Mix sugar with ¼ cup water and cook until it forms a thread.

  3. Beat the eggs slightly in a bowl.

  4. Beat the cream until soft peaks form in another bowl.

Make the mousse

  1. Slowly pour the syrup mixture onto the eggs while beating continuously.

  2. Add the hydrated gelatin to the egg mixture.

  3. Melt the chocolate and stir it into the mixture.

  4. Beat the mixture until cool, then gently fold in the whipped cream.

Chill and serve

  1. Chill the mousse before serving.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Chocolate + creamtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Chocolate + sugartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Chocolate + eggtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,448 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptenal (green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Gelatine
Sets the mousse so it holds its shape when chilled.
Cream
Whipped into air bubbles that give the mousse a light, soft texture.
Eggs
Add richness and, when beaten, help build a light, airy structure.
Sugar
Sweetens the mousse and, cooked into syrup, adds body to the base.
Chocolate
Gives the mousse its main flavour and a rich, creamy body.

The step that matters

Pouring the hot syrup onto the eggs. Pour the syrup in a slow, thin stream while beating constantly. Hot syrup added too quickly can scramble the eggs, and constant beating spreads the heat so the eggs stay smooth and foamy.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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