3 ingredient chocolate mousse in 5 minutes

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This three-ingredient chocolate mousse is made in five minutes using a simple technique to turn melted chocolate into a fluffy mousse. It’s a recipe by Heston Blumenthal and is pretty genius. make sure you use the best chocolate you can here as this is the main ingredient. I have included an adaptation of this recipe which adds depth of flavour.

I have had this recipe at the back of my mind since first pinning it onto my ‘recipes I like‘ board on Pinterest a few months ago. It claims to be ‘the best chocolate mousse of your life in under 5 minutes so I immediately knew I would have to try it. Apart from water (which cannot be considered an ingredient), the original recipe has only sugar and chocolate in it.

To make something delicious out of only 2 ingredients is a pretty challenging feat.

With this, it’s all about the method, so last week I got my molecular gastronomy on and gave this recipe a whirl.

I followed it down to the exact ingredient, including the Valrhona Guanaja which I happened to both love and have on hand. At the end of the process, I added a good glug (about 30ml) of brandy because I felt it needed it, but you could leave this out.

*Verdict:

I thoroughly enjoyed the process of making this interesting recipe, and the flavour of the chocolate is lovely and intense. I did however miss the creamy mouth feel of a chocolate mousse made with cream, butter and eggs, so for me, this is not the best recipe ever. If I ever made it again, I would experiment with folding whipped cream into the mix as the chocolate starts to thicken and consider including chopped preserved oranges, orange zest or ginger to add flavour.

** I have made this mousse a few times and played around with improving the flavour and texture. This is my latest version and I love it. I have used Earl Grey Tea instead of water which brings in a little more depth and of course the subtle bergamot flavour. The whipped cream adds the necessary creamy mouthfeel which I think the original version lacks, and the liqueur adds that lovely boozy touch which can only improve a chocolate mousse. 

5-minute chocolate mousse with Earl Grey tea. 

  • 270g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids) – broken into pieces
  • 250ml (I cup) strongly brewed Earl Grey tea
  • 4 Tbsp sugar
  • 300ml whipped cream to serve 
  • 1/2 cup roughly chopped roasted hazelnuts to serve.
  • 1 – 2 Tbsp orange liqueur/brandy – optional

Brew just over a cup of Ear Grey tea and allow to steep for 5 minutes.

Place the tea, chocolate and sugar into a double boiler and gently heat until the sugar is dissolved.

Remove from the heat and place the bowl with the chocolate mixture directly on top of a bigger bowl of ice.

Using the whisk attachment of a hand handheld mixer, whisk the chocolate mixture on medium speed continuously until it starts to thicken. This will take between 3 – 5 minutes. As it starts thickening, fold through half the cream, ¾ of the nuts and liqueur. Scoop the mix into either individual serving dishes or one larger dish. Place in the fridge to further firm up.

Decorate with the remaining whipped cream and remaining nuts. 

Recipe by Herve This & Heston Blumenthal

3 ingredient chocolate mousse in 5 minutes

Heston Blumenthal 3 ingredient chocolate mousse recipe
Print Recipe
Prep Time:10 minutes
Cook Time:5 minutes
Total Time:15 minutes

Ingredients

  • 265 g 9.35 ounces bittersweet 70% chocolate, chopped
  • just less than 1 cup 240 ml of water
  • 4 Tbsp sugar
  • 2 Tbsp of brandy or any other liqueur of your choice optional

Instructions

  • Melt the chocolate, sugar and water together in a double boiler or a bowl placed over a pot of boiling water.
  • Fill a large bowl with ice cubes and then place another, smaller bowl on top of this and keep to one side.
  • When the chocolate has melted, empty this into the bowl standing on top of the ice (I simply placed the bowl I had melted the chocolate in directly onto the ice).
  • Using an electric hand-held mixer, start beating the mixture until it thickens. As it cools it starts to thicken. This takes about 3 - 5 minutes, so be patient.
  • Once it starts to thicken it very quickly goes very hard, so I suggest spooning it into your serving dishes while it is still fairly soft. If you find the chocolate is grainy, you can heat it over the double bowler again and repeat the process until it is the texture that you like.
  • I added the brandy towards the end of the mixing.
  • It can be served immediately.

Notes

To make give this mousse a delicious mouthfeel, stir through some whipped cream at the end before it gets too firm/
Author: Sam Linsell

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* This recipe was featured on the Huffington Post – Dark chocolate recipes

27 Comments

  1. Oh my God! This dessert is so simple and delicious that I can only eat everything.
    Gina

  2. Wow how lovely does this Dessert look. And so so easy.

  3. One of my favourite things to do is take a chocolate mousse bowl, pour some whiskey or brandy and mix it all with a spoon and immediately eat it. Scrumptuous.

  4. Oh Alex you and I sound the same, I feel brandy or whiskey is essential in the mix 🙂

  5. Mmmm…interesting recipe. I can imagine it won’t really qualify as chocolate mousse as it is missing the eggs and cream. Pinterest has some great concepts when it comes to recipes but when you filter out the ones that are made with the USA’s vast array of box mixes you are left with very little really. Thanks for sharing. I appreciate that you posted it even though it didn’t satisfy and added some very useful tips 😉 xx

  6. Oh, this looks absolutely my kind of dessert.

  7. Hi Tami, this is very much a mousse but I found I was missing the creamy mouth feel of the cream and eggs (and butter). but it is very chocolaty an certainly an interesting method. I’m glad I tried it as Hestons”s dry ice cream (with no eggs) is the best I’ve ever eaten. Sometimes the method can deliver a better product.

  8. This sounds divine thanks, and a Mousse for Veggies, perfect… Maybe replace the brandy with an Orange liqueur? Nummies

  9. Hi Flee, yes orange liqueur would be delish.

  10. Would it still work the same if you replace the water with cream? or even half water half cream…. or add the cream in while whipping it on the ice? Im very interested to know id love to try this or take it to a family gathering and share it!

  11. Hi Steph, I’m really not sure about adding cream at the beginning or to replace water as I have not tried it. I suspect the fat content would interfere with this. My thinking would be to stir some in towards the end of the whipping, or granish with a good dollop on top. Please let me know if you try it as part of the mix.
    Sam

  12. The pics and styling is beautiful, as always, Sam!!

  13. It didn’t harden and I beat for like 10 minutes 🙁

  14. Hi Kaitlin, I’m really not sure why that happened. Did you have it on ice? I followed the source recipe to a T and it worked out.

  15. I made this a few times over the past week and it got rave reviews each time. One person even offered to pay me to make it for her for her dinner party 🙂 Thanks for the recipe!

  16. All that glisters says:

    These look delicious! So easy too, I absolutely love dark chocolate!
    From Emily x
    Ps. I really like your blog but I was just wondering if you have bloglovin? I just joined https://www.bloglovin.com/blog/6066941

  17. ChocolateLover says:

    When in the ingredients, it says T for something, does that mean teaspoons or tablespoons?

  18. Hi Yes – T = table spoon and t = teaspoon. Sorry for the confusion. Sam

  19. I added marshmallow to the melting mix as Nigella Lawson has a great instant recipe for this. No eggs, but fold whipped cream into the cooling mix and it’s amazing.

  20. Hi Ros, wow I love the marshmallow idea and think it definitely needs some cream to give mouthfeel. Ive made it again and used orange zest, halzelnuts and Grand Marnier – which gave it a lovely lift.

  21. Wendy Johnstone says:

    I made this recipe and when it was thickening I added a cup of whipped cream and it was delicious.

  22. Thats so nice Wendy, Ive been meaning ot update this post as I too have made a few modifications. I really feel it needs the cream fcor mouthfeel. I also add a dollop of Cointreau to add an lovely orange flavour and istead owa water I use earl great tea. Thanms for your comment, I good reminder to me. s x

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