One-Ingredient "Espresso" Chocolate Mousse

In this Instructable, I'll show you how to make a quick, cheap and delicious chocolate mousse. If you are curious about the name, I served it in small espresso cups, I made it rather speedily, and it was eaten quickly.

This recipe is a far cry from your typical quick and simple chocolate mousse recipes - no cream, butter, eggs, oil or even cocoa powder. The sole ingredient is good dark chocolate. This makes the recipe both healthy (I used a sugar-free bar) and accessible (no need to scour your local shop for bizarre ingredients during a global pandemic).

The finished mousse can be served in espresso cups, as seen in this instructable, or else in glass bowls. I would recommend topping with a garnish, such as fresh berries or chopped nuts.

Step 1: Utensils

To make the mousse, you will need:

• Long kitchen knife
• Silicon/wooden spoon
• Measuring cup
• Chopping board
• Large bowl made of an insulating material (e.g. plastic)
• Metal saucepan smaller than your bowl
• Electric whisk or a manula one if you prefer

To serve your mousse:

• 5 small espresso cups with saucers

or

• 5 small glass bowls

Step 2: The Ingredient

To make this mousse for 5 (not too ravenous) individuals, use:

• 150g (5.3 oz) good-quality dark chocolate

On the subject of chocolate, my local shop only had this bar that was definitely gluten-free (I have a coeliac in the family), and no dark cooking chocolate. For those of you with greater access to confectionery supplies, do try it with cooking chocolate and let me know how it turned out. I would try this mousse again with 60 or 70% chocolate, to get an even more intense flavour.

You will also need water, though at a few different temperatures:

• 110-120ml (3.9-4.2 fl. oz) boiling water from the kettle
• 500-750ml (17.6-26.4 fl. oz) chilled water from your fridge
• Icecubes - I used around 5 plastic trays

Make sure you freeze your icecubes the day before you intend to serve this dessert.

Step 3: Chop Your Chocolate

Empty all the chocolate onto your chopping board, break it into squares and then chop it into small chunks with the knife. It helps to pivot the point of the knife on the board and press the blade down with the flat of your palm.

Step 4: Make the Ice Bath

Deposit all the ice cubes fresh from your freezer into the large plastic bowl.

Add the chilled water on top of your ice. Make sure that you can fit your saucepan into the bowl without any water being displaced over the sides. I would recommend having a tea-towel nearby to rest your saucepan on when you are finished.

You can add salt to the ice bath to make the water even colder, but I feel there isn't much need - my ice-bath cooled the chocolate mix fairly quickly. Also, salt could be construed as a proper ingredient, thus ruining the title of this instructable!

Step 5: Melt the Chocolate

Measure around 110 ml boiling water straight from the kettle and add it to your saucepan.

Deposit all of the chopped chocolate into the boiling water.

Stir until all the chocolate is melted. You should eventually achieve a smooth, silky texture, similar to drinking chocolate.

I made the mistake of doing this step with the saucepan in the ice-bath (see pictures). Bad idea. I ended up melting it on the hob, which lends a very faint grittiness to the mousse. In future, do not melt the chocolate with the pan in the ice-bath.

Step 6: Whisk!

Place the sauecpan of melted, watered-down chocolate into the ice-bath and start whisking. I used an electric beater at its slowest setting, though if you do this step by hand, you will need to whisk quite vigourously.

In around 2-3 minutes, you will notice the mixture forming elegant ripples like whipped cream. If you continue beating, you will create a sticky, gritty, solid lump of congealed ickiness.

Don't worry! Add a dash of boiling water and continue whisking. You should return to the smooth, whipped cream consistency as before (last picture). The mousse mixture should stick to the beater, but not too solidly.

Step 7: Spoon Into Espresso Cups and Chill

Remove the saucepan from the ice-bath.

Using your silicon or wooden spoon to scrape the pot, carefully drop even servings of the mixture into the espresso cups, or whatever relevant container you are using. You don't need to be too neat.

Now chill. Yes, place the completed mousses into the fridge to set, but also relax yourself. You've just gotten through a few minutes of intense dessert-making!

Step 8: Serve

Take the mousse out of the fridge just as you finish your dinner.

Plate up the espresso cups with their saucers, some long teaspoons and a garnish of berries, nuts, slices of fruit, biscuits, or whatever you have at hand.

Step 9: Eat!

Fairly self-explanatory.

Hope you enjoyed this instructable - it's my first one.

Here's a quick recap of all the steps, so you can remember the recipe and then pull off a brilliant (and sophisticated) one-ingredient dessert tomorrow evening.

Today:

1. Freeze icecubes today.
2. Chill 500ml water in the fridge.
3. Buy your dark chocolate if you have none in the house.

Tomorrow:

1. Chop 150g chocolate.
2. Melt chocolate with 110ml boiling water.
3. Whisk for 2-3 mins. in ice-bath made of icecubes and chilled water.
4. Spoon into serving cups when mixture approaches stiff whipped cream consistency.
5. Chill and serve with garnish of fruit or nuts.