After making a no-bake cheesecake with mascarpone and strawberry mascarpone pie, I started dreaming up ways to pair mascarpone with chocolate. This recipe for mascarpone chocolate mousse is especially handy if you want to make mousse but don’t want to deal with raw eggs or gelatin. While traditional chocolate mousse may contain egg white or yolks, this one does not but recreates mousse’s soft texture. Using only four ingredients, these chocolate treats come together in less than an hour. Whether you’re planning a romantic dinner for Valentine’s Day or satisfying your sweet tooth on a regular weeknight, this decadent dessert is a chocolate lover’s dream.
Ingredients for this Easy Chocolate Mousse
With just four ingredients, the list of items you need to make this chocolate mousse recipe is short and easy to find.
- Mascarpone cream cheese– This Italian cream cheese is high-fat, with a smooth, creamy texture. Although it’s somewhat similar to American cream cheese, it’s noticeably softer and less tangy. While it’s a key ingredient in this sweet recipe, mascarpone can play a role in savory dishes, too. It’s perhaps best known for being the creamy indulgence you find in classic tiramisu recipes.
- Dark chocolate – Because it’s your main ingredient, buy a high-quality bar of baking chocolate or bittersweet chocolate. You’ll find it in the baking aisle of your grocery store. I often use Ghirardelli or Baker’s Chocolate. Look for a bar that has about 60% cacao to maintain a rich, deep chocolate flavor.
- Heavy whipping cream – Combining this cream with the chocolate and mascarpone results in super creamy chocolate desserts.
- Pinch of salt – Among other roles, salt can help reduce the perception of bitterness. We add it here to counterbalance some of the inherent bitterness of chocolate and also bring out its natural sweetness.
Tip for Working with Mascarpone
Mascarpone has a tendency to split when mixed with other ingredients that are different temperature. If your mascarpone is very cold and heavy cream is room temperature, or vice versa, your mixture could split.
I opted to use room temperature mascarpone and heavy cream here. They combined well.
I did test this recipe with cold mascarpone and cold heavy whipping cream. It worked fine. However, cold ingredients made the mascarpone slightly stiff and harder to scoop into my serving containers.
Easy Steps for Homemade Mousse
Bring mascarpone from refrigerator and set onto counter so it can warm to room temperature.
Make a double boiler over a stove top burner using a pot filled with a few cups of water and a heatproof bowl that can sit within the pot. Add chopped dark chocolate and heavy whipping cream to the small bowl in your pot. Once water is gently boiling in the pot, whisk the chocolate and heavy cream every minute or so until it’s smooth and all pieces of chocolate have melted into the mixture, 3-4 minutes.
Turn off burner and carefully remove bowl from pot – it will be hot.
Cover bowl and let it cool in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes.
Using an electric mixer and bowl or a stand mixer’s bowl and whisk attachment, place room temperature mascarpone cheese and cooled melted chocolate into a bowl.
Note that the melted chocolate mixture should be close to room temperature now. You want it and the mascarpone to be similar in temperature so they combine without the mascarpone curdling.
Add salt and mix on low speed for a minute. If you like a sweeter chocolate, add a few drops of vanilla extract to your bowl here. I left that out so that the dark chocolate flavor could come through.
Scrape down the mixing bowl to ensure all ingredients are properly mixing together. Whip again for 30 seconds and then swipe your spatula around your bowl a few times to fully incorporate everything.
Divide mascarpone into separate small cups, jars, glasses – whatever you plan to use for serving them.
If desired, top mousse cups with whipped cream, shaved chocolate, fresh berries, or a dusting of espresso powder! The possibilities and ways you can dress this up or endless.
Troubleshooting and FAQ for this Mascarpone Mousse Recipe
Lumps may result from melting your chocolate too quickly. Do this process slowly and carefully over a double boiler without raising the heat suddenly. You can use the microwave to warm the chocolate in short bursts, but it’s easier to overheat or burn it this way.
You also can’t have good chocolate mousse without using quality chocolate. Make sure you’re buying chocolate that has high cocoa and fat content. This results in lots of flavor and the best creamy texture.
Lastly, work with ingredients that are close to the same temperature. Room temperature ingredients combine more easily than cold ones do.
While you can melt chocolate chips, use a chopped bar of chocolate instead. That will melt much more easily. Chips container emulsifiers that help them retain their shape, so melting them will be a longer process.
Mascarpone can become grainy or split when mixed with other ingredients that are different temperatures.
Over-whipping these two ingredients can also cause your mousse to become grainy. Once you’ve formed soft peaks, stop whipping.
How to Store and Serve Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse
Because this dessert is dairy-based, keep it in your refrigerator until serving time for best results.
And while it will still taste good if frozen, I personally prefer its soft texture when chilled in the refrigerator.
For serving, it tastes best and softer when it’s been out of the refrigerator for 15 or so minutes before eating it.
Use a Scale to Bake Like a Pro
If you’re not already, use a kitchen scale for accuracy in baking. Weighing your ingredients and writing or following a recipe using a standard metric like grams ensures consistency. You may use a set of measuring cups, but the problem is that yours and mine could be quite different. That can result in noticeable discrepancies in the end product between what each of us is baking.
I highly recommend investing $30 or less in a kitchen scale.
More Dessert Recipes
If you’re looking for more recipes like this creamy chocolate mousse, you’ve got to try my mango mousse cake. It also doesn’t require any egg whites, yolk, or gelatin.
Still craving a chocolate treat? Then I bet you’ll love these big batch chocolate chip cookies. Or check out this small batch chocolate chip muffin recipe for your next weekend brunch.
PrintMascarpone Chocolate Mousse
Make this chocolate mascarpone mousse in less than an hour with four simple ingredients. It’s soft, creamy, and easy to dress up with some mixed berries, chocolate shavings, whipped cream, or all of the above!
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Refrigerator Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Dessert
Ingredients
- 140 grams/5 oz of chopped dark chocolate, between 50 and 60% cacao
- 8 oz (225 grams) mascarpone cheese, room temperature
- 3/4 cup (185 grams) heavy whipping cream
- Pinch of kosher salt
Instructions
- Bring mascarpone from refrigerator and set onto counter so it can warm to room temperature.
- Make a double boiler over a stovetop burner using a small pot filled with a few cups of water and a heatproof bowl that can sit within the pot. Add the chopped chocolate and heavy whipping cream to the bowl in your pot. Once water is gently boiling in the pot, whisk the chocolate and heavy cream every minute or so until it’s smooth and all pieces of chocolate have melted into the mixture, 3-4 minutes.
- Turn off burner and carefully remove bowl from pot – it will be hot.
- Cover bowl and let it cool in the refrigerator for about half an hour.
- Place room temperature mascarpone cheese and cooled melted chocolate into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Add salt and mix on low speed for a minute. Scrape down the bowl to ensure all ingredients are properly mixing together. Whip again for 30 seconds and then swipe your spatula around your bowl a few times to fully incorporate everything.
- Divide mascarpone into separate small cups, jars, glasses – whatever you plan for serving them. Let them firm up a bit in refrigerator – about 30 minutes. If desired, top with whipped cream and shaved chocolate!
Notes
Please note that the nutritional information is an estimate and based on one serving of this recipe, which would yield approximately 4 servings.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1
- Calories: 575
Keywords: mascarpone mousse, chocolate mousse, chocolate dessert, no-bake recipe
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