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Dessert

Chocolate Mousse

A chilled chocolate mousse made with chocolate, powdered sugar, cream, gelatin, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Fannie Merritt Farmer · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Chocolate and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,020 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

Chocolate Mousse

Ingredients

Directions

Make the chocolate base

  1. Melt chocolate.

  2. Add powdered sugar.

  3. Gradually add one cup cream.

  4. Stir over fire until boiling point is reached.

  5. Add gelatin dissolved in boiling water, sugar, and vanilla.

  6. Strain mixture into a bowl.

Chill and thicken

  1. Set bowl in a pan of ice-water.

  2. Stir constantly until mixture thickens.

  3. Fold in the whipped remaining cream.

Mould and set

  1. Mould, pack in salt and ice, and let stand four hours.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

267Calories
2 gProtein
14 gFat
30 gCarbs

Counts 4 of 5 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Chocolate1 oz (28g) semisweet155
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Vanilla1 tsp extract (4ml)12
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Fannie Merritt Farmer. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. See the original page.

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. Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  2. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Chocolate
Provides the main flavour and firm body once the mousse chills.
Cream
Adds richness and a light, airy texture when whipped and folded in.
Gelatine
Sets the mousse so it holds its shape when unmoulded.
Sugar
Sweetens the mousse and balances the bitterness of the chocolate.

The step that matters

Stir constantly until mixture thickens. Cooling the custard-like base in ice-water while stirring keeps it smooth and lets it thicken evenly; if it sets unevenly, lumps form and the folded cream will deflate or streak.

“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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