Chef John's Dark Chocolate Mousse

Outstanding, simply outstanding! This recipe is the reason that Chef John is the first person I've added to my "chefs I follow". I've made it 4 times now in less than 3 weeks. I'm not a dessert person, but I like mousse, trifles, pudding etc. I received a couple good quality chocolate bars (Lindt) for xmas. The first time I made this I used the dark chocolate one. I did use less chili because I'm sensitive to hot spice, but it didn't bother me. It was killer good. The second time I used the milk chocolate bar because it was all I had. Equally good in a different way... softer, fluffier, more subtle. I used the full amount of chili powder. 2 more times with the dark chocolate. Every time is excellent. I'm now going to look for good quality sugar free chocolate so I can experiment with a diabetic friendly version for my husband. This recipe rivals chocolate mousse that I have eaten in any high quality restaurant. Thank you Chef John!

Delicious! And OH, SO EASY! Very elegant and romantic dessert. I'd make it again. Used a dark chocolate candy bar with 77 Percent Cocoa. Also, added a couple of teaspoons of powdered sugar to stabilize the whipped cream and to balance the bitterness of the chocolate. Very happy with the results. Another great recipe from Chef John!

I looked and looked at recipes because I wanted to make something for National Chocolate Mousse Day (April 3) and decided on this one and WOW, it did not disappoint. I added the pepper but only had cayenne and I added strong coffee to the chocolate instead of water. It made for a hint of coffee that did not overpower the chocolate. This recipe is a winner!

This recipe is super easy!! Since I did not have whipped cream, I saved the egg whites and whipped those. But I doubled the portion of egg whites. Ex: I used 2 egg yolks for the chocolate mixture and whipped 4 egg whites. This recipe is superb for a Valentines day treat!

This is the best recipe for chocolate Mousse I have found! It so rich, and simple to make. I did not add as much pepper as it said though. Would rate it ten stars if I could! :) Thumbs up for Chef John!

Love it! I'm a huge fan of dark chocolate and this recipe is fantastic. This was my first attempt at making mousse and I found the video and instructions easy to follow. The mousse held up well to me piping it into individual dessert cups. My fiancé found it to not be sweet enough so maybe next time I'll add sugar to my heavy cream before whipping it. I on the other hand thought it was just right. I used Lindt 70% cocoa, smooth dark chocolate.

Made this for my chocoholic daughter's birthday. I used a warm brownie cup, put in the frozen good ice cream with mousse on the top, then covered with meringue, in broiler for a minute and it was to die for.

Very good and pretty easy to make. I did think the amount/portions were a bit off. I doubled it and if I did really want to serve 8 people, I don't think there would have been quite enough mousse. You definitely don't need a big portion of this though.

Doubled recipe, used 2, 3.5oz Lindy Chili chocolate bars. Was very smooth and not too sweet. Piped it into mini-chocolate shells, and topped w/ raspberry.

I will make it again. The 6 oz dishes really only make enough for 3. So-fill them less !! I also would use coffee in the first addition of water and that might make it a little more interesting Otherwise, really did like !

Best chocolate mousse ever!

My first shot at it and it turned out perfect. And I'm a guy!

Absolutely perfect! Not only the best recipe for chocolate mousse I have made, it's also the simplest. Thanks for sharing the recipe, Chef!

Made this for my mom for Mother's Day. She is a chocolate mousse connoisseur (or so she thinks). She loved it! We both did! Thank you!

It's OK to me but my family deffinately didn't like it. I don't think they like spicy chocolate.

I needed to add at least a quarter cup more water to get it to smooth out. I also added two more tablespoons of sugar and one more tablespoon of butter. It took that much more stuff before it looked like it did in the video. The flavor was excellent.

It was amazing! So much easier to make than I had thought. The chile pepper really adds to the chocolate flavour and the texture is perfect! Great recipe - a keeper :)

Wonderful, very rich but light and airy... will definitely make it again!

I made this exactly as prescribed. HUGE hit! This was the best dessert I've ever had. Chef John is amazing!

I made this with no alteration or substitution and it was excellent. Light and fluffy, rich chocolaty taste. This was a hit!

I liked it, had other people eating it tell me it was good, but needed to be a little sweeter (used an organic dark chocolate chocolate bar). I had some difficulties with the chocolate cooling down too much in the ice and getting some almost fudge like chocolate in the mousse. I might sweeten the whipping cream before adding it to the chocolate mixture, other than that I really enjoyed it.

Made this for a potluck dinner--I quadrupled the recipe and served it in a large casserole dish. The dish was practically licked clean by the end of the evening. It was easy to make, and everyone loved it. Even the gluten free folks could enjoy it.

I made this for the family and they loved it, the best there is, i never eaten it before, but it was great.

Perfect. No need to make changes.

This was my first time making mousse, i never though it was that easy! I liked this recipe so much, i have made it twice this week. The hardest part is waiting for the mousse to set in the refrigerator ! Topped it with whipped cream and fresh berries! So good!

I made it with Andes mints. Making this was more time consuming than I was used to but the results were fantastic. Jack and Marie loved it! It really does only make 4 dessert cups, though.

i went a little heavier on the chipotle

The chocolate tasted a little to dark. (for me) but other than that it was awesome!

I’m not a fan of chipotle pepper so I left that out. As just a chocolate mousse on its own, it is scrumptious. I topped mine with whipped cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar. Easy to follow recipe. Great results.

Delicious!

My husband loves this.

The chocolate Mousse was to rich but melted in your mouth at every bite. My family and I loved the dessert and will fix it again. The only thing that was weird was i didn't whip the cream to a peak, because it was taking to much time but it turned out very well anyway.

This is a very good dessert. I had to omit the peppers as we here have heartburn and digestive issues, but I still tasted the chocolate. Very well done and thanks for sharing xx

I used Bakers Chocolate and it didn't turn out creamy like the video showed but I added some straight cream to thin out the final product and that seems to worked out. I am wondering if I should have used a 3/12 ounces of chocolate chips or a regular chocolate bar meant for consumption rather than the Bakers. I went a little light on the pepper. I may try it again.

This was a bit of work but not too bad. The key is to read the recipe a few times before starting and have everything ready to go so you can work quickly. Mine wound up with some chunks in it. I didn't want to over fold and knock all the air out and so I ended up not really combining things well enough. But still yummy.

Servings are small but that's ok -- this is RICH!

Only substituted Cayenne pepper and it came it out great.

I followed the recipe exactly, which is rare for me. It was scrumptious. It takes a little bit of skill to make, but it's not hard and it doesn't take a lot of time. Everyone in my family loved it! My son-in-law said he'll be requesting this for his birthday every year.

I followed the directions exactly and it was perfect! The video was very helpful! My family was worried, at first, that they wouldn't have enough dessert, but the mousse is so rich, everyone was very satisfied with the amount. We topped ours with whipping cream with a couple of tablespoons of powdered sugar mixed in. We will definitely have this again.

I am a big fan of chocolate mousse and did not like this. I followed this recipe exactly and used Lindt 70% Cocoa bar. I did not find it sweet enough. Also, I was not a fan of the chipotle pepper.

This was a lot easier to make than I had assumed. I also found that if I set the fully mixed mousse in the same ice bath I had whipped the cream and cooled the chocolate mix, it set up much more quickly than 4 hours.

I didn’t add the chipotle. It made two small portions. So I beat the egg whites with some sugar. Folded it in. I made coffee whip cream to top it. I will put my chocolate covered strawberries on top later today. Think I might use a different recipe next time

I have made this one before also, but this time I used a dark magic coffee instead of the water. Turned out great.

It was so amazing, it was so dense with chocolate,but I ended up with a lot of dirty dishes

Went by recipe exactly and loved it. Not too sweet. Will definitely continue he making it.

My hubby was travelling home after 3 weeks and I wanted to make something romantic and special. I had seen how to make chocolate edible cups, wanted a great M recipe for filling, When I saw one from chef John.. I looked no further. I got great reviews from my worst critic chocoholic friend. Waiting for hubby to land tonight and will enjoy dessert together. I have tried many of your recipes in past. Every recipe of your's is fool proof. Thank you

I never change recipes I find but I was looking for a basic mousse recipe and I have never gone wrong with Chef John. I need enough mousse to fill an Oreo Pie Crust to celebrate my son’s birthday. He requested Chocolate Mousse.

Excellent dessert . Easy to prepare. Big hit after a seafood or steak dinner.

love, love, love this chocolate mousse recipe! I've made it twice now exactly per recipe. My family loves it, and recently, I served for a small gathering of 5 friends, and they were absolutely in awe!! It goes down real smooth; not too rich, and just so heavenly. I would say it's easy for seasoned bakers, but not so easy for beginner bakers. My one tip, when whipping the cream, use an electric beater. I did see a few reviews saying whipping the cream took forever to reach right consistency. With electric beater, takes about 3 minutes - fast and easy. I used Guittard extra dark chocolate chips 68% cacao; and cayenne pepper powder. Thank you, Chef John, love the tip on the chile pepper (secret ingredient) and LOVE this recipe. Will make it time and time, again!

I made no changes and it was delicious!!

This recipe is delicious and very easy. My husband loves mint so I used half dark chocolate and half mint dark chocolate. Turned out really nice. Will certainly do this one again.

I made this for Valentine's day exactly as stated and it was delicious. It was very easy to make which is even better. I did make it again and whipped up 3/4 cup whipping cream instead of what was called for. It made the dessert just a tad bit lighter and we liked it even better. Only thing I found was that, like others, I wouldn't say this would serve 4 people - they would be very small servings. I got 3 decent size servings from it.

I've made this a few times now and it is delicious!!! I even subbed dark mint chocolate for half the chocolate and that was great too! I will be making this more in the future.

This recipe was awesome. It was every easy to make and several of my my guests thought it was "the best mousse I've ever had." I simply loved it... It was rich, smooth and that touch of Cayenne gave it that perfect pinch of heat. Thank you!!

Absolutely great! And not difficult at all.

While this was delicious, the making of it was over my experience level. About wore my arm off with the whipping and took longer than the time I had allotted for.

Fast and easy to make. The chili sparks it up making it unique and special. I’ve made it several times and always get rave reviews. Thank you, Chef John!

I want to marry Chef John, love his recipes! Do not skip the chipotle chili powder, I was afraid but got over it and I’m glad that I was brave. The chipotle adds an extra dimension of flavor that if you didn’t know what it was you could not put your finger on. It also adds an ever so slight heat on your palate that’s so undetectable that you think you may think that you’ve imagined it. Nice and surprising sensation. I followed another reviewer and added two tbls of coffee instead of water to chocolate, it was delicious and brought out the flavor of the chocolate. Word of warning is that if you do this be sure to add a tbls or 2 of sugar to the chocolate, I added 2 and it was perfect.

This recipe is delicious and very easy. My husband loves mint so I used half dark chocolate and half mint dark chocolate. Turned out really nice. Will certainly do this one again.

Made it exactly as written. Delicious.

Made it just as the recipe said, except I doubled the servings. Very rich. Nobody even tasted the chipotle pepper. I would make again for a special occasion.

I added a dash of pure vanilla extract to the whipped cream topping, amazing result! I will definitely be making this again. Not overly sweet, just perfect!

My family asks me to make this at least once a month. The video was super helpful and the dessert itself is to die for. I bookmarked this page:)

I will definitely make this again. Delicious.

Made this recipe today - I did not have Chipotle pepper/spice but even without it, the mousse tastes divine! Any substitute for egg yolk in this recipe would be a great help as my parents are pure vegetarian and I really want them to have this recipe. :-)

Very rich. Smaller portion than I expected. Chipotle was only okay, may omit next time. Easier recipe than it initially seemed like it would be.

Amazing! I've made this several times and it always turns out perfectly!

Wonderful!

I followed the recipe and very much enjoyed it. However, I did not add any pepper to my mousse. I also added a tablespoon of powder sugar, as per the recommendation of some commenters. This caused the consistency of the cream to become dry and stiff, so I had to add more heavy cream. However, ended up tasting great!

OMG . . . this stuff is GOOD! The only adjustment that I made was to use a bit of espresso in place of the water. I had some espresso chocolate chips that I melted and piped into shapes of hearts, the word "Love" and "XOXO" to place on top of the whipped cream to give it a Valentine's Day theme. They turned out so elegant, and the flavor is pure decadence! Perfect for a special occasion.