How do you thicken mousse?

Answer 1

Chocolate mousse made properly has quite a few chemical properties which make it thick.

The first is that there's a lot of air, beaten into the egg yolks, the whites and the cream. Generally, you also add sugar to the yolks and whites as you beat them, and the chemical reaction between the sugar and the egg parts will make the beaten products "thick."

If you just added sugar to egg yolks without mixing them together, you'll notice that the yolks seem to get these hardened lumps in them. When you beat them, the entire mixture thickens slightly, but in a very appealing and smooth way.

When you add sugar to the egg whites (Warm the egg whites up first, by using warm water on the outside of the bowl, and using your hand to blend it together until the egg whites are warm and start to get foamy just from that (make sure your hands are clean!) Warm egg whites will give you more volume, and will make the mousse have a lighter texture.

All the air in those three components when blended properly will help to give the mousse the silky texture you want.

Finally, chocolate hardens when it comes in contact with water, and when you melt the chocolate with the butter (over a double boiler or in the microwave, carefully checking and stirring as you go, to ensure that the chocolate does not overheat (113f for most chocolate is as high as you want to go)) it comes in contact with the water in the butter (and also in the vanilla/rum/brandy) you add in), but not quite enough to complete seize it.

When you then add in the sugared and whipped yolks to the chocolate/butter/vanilla you lighten it up a little bit.

Next, fold about 1/3 of the chocolate mixture into to the whipped cream, then add the entire light chocolate cream gently into the chocolate.

Next, fold about 1/3 of the chocolate into the egg whites, then add that gently into the chocolate mixture again.

Next, set it in the freezer. The combination of the cold air on that beautifully lightened chocolate/protein (from the eggs) mixture will set it up so gorgeously that it will appear almost ice cream like.

It will be firm enough to use as a layer between cakes, or to eat like ice cream. You can also let it soften, but it will mostly still hold the wonderful firm shape you put it in.

I don't have a specific recipe I use, but here's an approximate one:

1lb chocolate, chopped finely

3 oz butter

4 oz meyers dark rum (use less vanilla, 1T) or whatever alcohol you prefer

2 C whipping cream

4 egg yolks

1/4 c sugar

4 egg whites (warmed)

1/4 c sugar