The three of us love chocolate and I really cannot think of a better way to celebrate anything, food wise, than with chocolate. August is a month of celebrations in our home and Akshaya’s birthday in July starts off the festive season for us. From the 15th of August onwards, it’s the beginning of the end of the monsoons and time to celebrate traditional festivals, one after the other, and a couple of personal anniversaries too.
It was our wedding anniversary four days back. Wednesday was in the middle of the week and with my husband busy at work and daughter in the middle of reviews/ tests at school it wasn’t the best time for any kind of celebration. We shall celebrate it quietly, in our usual manner sometime this month. But I wasn’t going to let the day slip by without making an extra special dessert and the obvious choice was something “chocolate”. As a Scott Adams’ Dilbert says, “Life is unsure, eat dessert first”! We did have a good lunch first, though.
Most mousse recipes use eggs, or gelatin or agar. I wanted to avoid eggs, gelatin was out of question, and I didn’t have agar at home. So I came up with a recipe for a mousse without any of these. The mousse was absolutely delicious and creamy. The combination of a dense and very chocolatey mousse topped with a lighter orange mousse was really good. And the slight bitterness of the dark chocolate was balanced out by the sweetness of the orange mousse.
Egg Free Dark Chocolate and Orange Mousse (GF)
Ingredients
For the dark chocolate mousse:
- 1 1/2 cups chocolate chopped dark semi-sweet
- 2 tbsps cocoa unsweetened powder
- 2 tbsps butter
- 2 tbsps sugar powdered
- 5 tbsps water
- 200 ml cream (I used 25% fat)
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
For the orange mousse:
- 1 1/2 cups chocolate chopped white
- 2 tbsps butter
- 1 tbsp sugar powdered
- 5 tbsps orange juice
- 200 ml cream
- 1 orange zest / rind from
- xbd tsp orange dark chocolate essenceFor the mousse :
Instructions
- For the dark chocolate mousse: Pour the cream into a bowl and beat with an electric beater till the cream fluffs up and forms soft peaks. Keep aside.
- Put the chocolate pieces, butter and cocoa powder in a bowl and melt the chocolate over hot water. Once the chocolate has melted, whisk (by hand) the mixture so it is blended. Add the 5 tbsp water and continue whisking till the chocolate mixture is smooth. Take off the heat.
- Adding water to the chocolate here will not cause it to seize. The butter added to the chocolate will ensure this. Normally, unsalted butter is used in most desserts. It is difficult for me to find this here. I also find that the salt in the butter balances out the extra sweetness in most desserts.
- Now add the beaten cream and the vanilla essence and slowly fold in the cream into the chocolate mixture till well blended, trying to keep as much of the fluffiness in it as possible. Pour into 6 glasses and chill in the fridge.
- Make the white chocolate mousse similarly, adding orange juice and orange zest. White chocolate is usually sweeter, but the tang of the orange juice reduces the sweetness, so I added 1 tbsp of sugar here to adjust for that. You may choose to leave out the sugar.
- Add the orange essence to the cream and make the mousse as above. Pour the orange mousse over the chocolate mousse in the glasses. Chill for at least 5 to 6 hours. Decorate as desired and serve.
jayasree says
Belated anniversary wishes. Great looking mousse. Perfect for the celebration.
Rachel says
Anniversary Wishes..Mine was last week too :)Great looking dessert ….
PG says
What beautiful pictures! And the dessert is just the right thing for me, as I don’t like using either raw eggs or gelatine. Hearty congratulations on your aniversary. With a child of my own, I can totally understand you now, with the belated celebration. And this was such a good way to celebrate anyways. And Dilbert is damn right! I’m trying out something for your Event , let me see if it works out. Wish me luck! 🙂
sra says
Hi, belated happy anniversary! Just seeing that makes me feel full 🙂
Suma Rajesh says
hai aparna, belated happy anniversay…dark choco and organce mousse looks delicious and yummy..hope u had a nice time…let me know did u get my entry for fruit event plzz?..if not will send u again..
Sig says
Belated anniversary wishes to you and the other half Aparna! That is one sinfully delicious looking mousse!
bakinghistory says
Aparna, thank you for sharing this recipe! I also never use gelatin and raw eggs in cooking so I have saved this and will make it soon. It sounds delicious.
Bharti says
Congrats on the celebrations! This is one yummy dessert girl and that too minus eggs, gelatin and agar! Right up my alley..I’m bookmarking it for the next time we feel like indulging. Thanks much for sharing.
Redchillies says
Belated Anniversary wishes Aparna.Unlike you we are not a chocolate family, apart from eating some occasional chocolates. But loved the recipe and beautiful picture too.
A_and_N says
That is awesome! No eggs, gelatin or agar toooooooooo! Am SO going to try this, Aparna 🙂 Thanks a ton. And ya, many happy returns of the day!
Lubna Karim says
Wow looks awesome. Something new iam gonna try this soon.
Usha says
happy belated anniversary…indeed a yummy dessert to celebrate…. and a recipe to bookmark to try it very soon…
Priti S says
Happy Anniversary (Belated ) …perfect way to celebrate..mousse looking so yummy …picture is awesome..have fun gal
Miri says
Looks yummy – mousse at the best of times is a bit difficult to achieve the right consistency and an eggless version is even more difficult – you seemed to have cracked the code! 🙂
Anamika:The Sugarcrafter says
Hi aparnaFirst of all, a happy belated wedding anniversary.The visual appeal of the egless dark chocolate and orange mousse is so good. The recipe is great and i will try it, too !
Pearlsofeast says
Hello Aparna, happy belated anniversary.The eggless version looks delectable.Drooling !!!!!!!!
Laavanya says
That looks so decadent.. can’t wait to make this sometime soon.
Nags says
if i had to pair choc with any fruit it will have to be orange, anything else is a compromise 🙂 lovely mousse and congrats!
Meeta K says
Aparna, you are right! This is perfect for the mingle. Orange and Choc are a great combo! Thanks for joining!
Mishmash ! says
Belated Aniversary wishes, Aparna 🙂 dont postpone celebrations :)) i love creamy desserts….looks lovely 🙂
farida says
Happy belated anniversary, Aparna!Lovely looking dessert you’ve posted. Yum!
Hima says
oh! my god! Those cups are looking divine.
Aparna says
Thank you for all those wishes. We enjoyed ourselves, chocolate and all. 😀
Purnima says
Yummmmmmmmmmmyyyyy Aparna, eggless at it too! They sure tempt me a great deal..fab combination!
Kitti says
oh YUM!! Another wonderful eggless recipe. Now I have finally decided on what to make my sweetheart for valentines day, Thank you 😀 <3