Jan’s Ruby Chocolate Mousse

For me Claudia’s Chocolate Mousse is the mousse by which all others are judged. It is however, not a health food. Jan has started to make it on anyone’s birthday. Jan spent years perfecting the techniques of making the mousse, but she got bored with making just “chocolate” mousse. She now make a different variation every time she make it.

She has done a cherry liqueur variation, a Baileys Irish Cream variation, and a low sugar  variation. Recently, a new kind of chocolate—ruby—has appeared. Jan decided that she had to turn this into a mousse for her birthday.

Note: Jan has come to realize that it is the temperature of the chocolate mixture that is key to getting the ingredients not to separate into two layers. If you do not let the chocolate cool completely before folding it into the egg whites and whip cream, the denser chocolate mixture will partially separate. Instead of a uniform creamy mousse, you will end up with a slightly dense pudding layer and a fluffy creamy layer.  This separation is not necessarily a bad thing, especially if you are serving the mousse in individual bowls, you get two chocolaty experiences for the price of one, but it is not the true mousse.

After Jan had finished making the mousse, she noticed that it was a rather unappealing color. She mixed in a few drops of red food coloring to brighten the color. If you object to commercial food dye, you could make and use beet dye.

Since it was mom’s birthday Miriam and Chris brought a special cake. A friend of theirs had given them a Guava Bolo de Rolo, that he had brought from Brazil. It paired very nicely with the delicate flavor of the ruby mousse.

After Dinner Note: The general consensus of the table was, “Interesting.” While there are no bad mousses, this tasted more like strawberries than chocolate.

Jan’s Ruby Chocolate Mousse

Ingredients

1 pkg. unflavored gelatin
⅓ cup white sugar, separate uses
⅛ tsp. salt

2 eggs, separated
1 cup milk

6 oz. Chocolove’s Ruby Cacao
1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup heavy whipping cream
3-5 drops red food coloring

Directions

1. Mix the gelatin, ½ of the sugar and the salt thoroughly in the top of a double boiler.

Tip: If you do not have a D.B., a metal mixing bowl over a pot of water works fine).

2. Beat together the egg yolks and milk and add them to the gelatin mixture.

3. Add the chocolate bits and cook over boiling water, stirring constantly until the chocolate is completely melted and well blended.

4. Remove the chocolate from the heat and chill for 30 minutes, until the sauce is thickened.

Tip: If the sauce is even a little too warm, it will separate into two layers as it chills.

5. In a clean dry bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff.

Tip: Be sure not to get any egg yolk or water in your egg whites or they will not form the meringue properly.

6. Beat the rest of the sugar into the egg whites and then fold them into the chocolate mix.

Note: Folding is not the same as stirring. To fold you take a spatula and gently scoop the mix from the bottom, bring it up and lay it in the top. Rotate the bowl a quarter turn and repeat until the mix is well blended.

7. Whip the cream and fold it into the mix.

Note: This is when Jan decided that the final color was unappealing and added a touch of red food coloring.

8. At this point you may spoon the mouse into individual serving cups or into a decorative serving bowl.

Tip: Do not disturb the mousse once it has started to set.

9. Chill until firm.

10. (Optional) We served our mousse with Bolo de Rolo.