These Chocolate Orange Mousse Cups have a deliciously light and airy texture with a deep chocolate flavour and bright pop of orange. It is a perfect make-ahead dessert to prepare for a fancy dinner party or special occasion.
Why we love this recipe
If you love the flavour combination of dark chocolate and orange, you are in for a treat! This French Chocolate Orange Mousse is a delightful dessert that combines the rich, fluffy goodness of a classic chocolate mousse with the zesty brightness of fresh oranges.
The dessert is made from 5 basic ingredients only and follow the traditional French method to make a mousse. It uses whipped Egg Whites to create the classic soft, airy and light texture of a mousse.
More chocolate and orange desserts to try:
- Chocolate Orange Cheesecake
- Orange Brownies
- Chocolate Orange Tartlets
What is a mousse
A mousse is a sweet or savoury preparation known for its airy and light texture. The name "mousse" comes from the French word for "foam," which perfectly describes the characteristic fluffiness of this dish.
The texture of a mousse is created with folding a whipped element - usually either whipped cream or whipped egg whites - into a flavoured base.
Ingredients
Scroll down to recipe card below for all quantities
- Chocolate: I used a 70% cocoa dark chocolate for an rich chocolate flavour. You can use a slightly less intense dark chocolate if you prefer your desserts to be a bit sweeter. Make sure to use a good quality cooking chocolate here - not eating chocolate or chocolate chips that will not melt properly.
- Butter: unsalted butter, at room temperature. You could also use salted butter for an extra touch of salt.
- Orange: we are using both the fresh orange juice and orange zest to add as much citrus flavour as possible.
- Eggs: large eggs, at room temperature - with egg yolks and egg whites separated. Because the eggs are not cooked, it is highly recommended to use pasteurised egg for this recipe.
- Sugar: caster sugar or superfine granulated sugar.
Optional Addition
- Whipped Cream topping: I finished the dessert with a simple dollop of whipped cream, made from thickened / heavy cream and icing sugar. To garnish, I topped the cream with some shaved chocolate and orange zest.
You could also add a drop of Grand Marnier, Triple Sec or Orange Liqueur to your mousse for a boost of flavour.
How to make Orange Chocolate Mousse step-by-step
- To start, finely chop the chocolate into very small chunks. This will allow for the chocolate to melt more quickly and reduce the risk of burning it. If you are using couverture chocolate that comes in the form of callets or pistoles, you can skip this step.
- Prepare a double-boiler ("bain-marie") to melt the chocolate: place the chopped chocolate in a heat-proof bowl that is slightly larger than a medium size saucepan. Fill the bottom of the saucepan with a little bit of water and place the bowl with the chocolate on top of it, making sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water.
- Photo 1: Turn on medium heat and bring the water to a simmer. Let the chocolate slowly melt, occasionally stirring with a heat-proof rubber spatula, until the chocolate is completely smooth.
Alternatively, you can melt the chocolate in the microwave in 30 seconds increments if preferred.
- Photo 2: Remove from the stove and optionally transfer the melted chocolate into a large clean bowl. Slowly add the cubed butter a few at a time and stir well until the butter has completely melted.
By melting the butter into the warm chocolate, we actively reduce the temperature of the chocolate. This will insure that the chocolate isn't too hot when we add the egg yolks to avoid over-cooking them.
- Photo 3: Add the orange juice and orange zest.
- Photo 4: Gently mix until completely combined. You should get a smooth, shiny mixture.
- Photo 5: separate the large egg yolks from the egg whites. Place the egg yolks in the chocolate mixture and the egg whites in a large clean bowl or bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.
- Photo 6: stir the egg yolks into the chocolate mixture until fully combined. The mixture might look like splitting at first but should come together unto a shiny and smooth mixture. Set aside.
Make sure the eggs are at room temperature. If you were to add very cold egg yolks to the chocolate, it could make it seize and split.
- Start whipping the egg whites and a pinch of salt on medium speed, either with the stand mixer or with an electric mixer.
- Photo 7: Once you reach soft peaks (the eggs will have turn white, almost doubled in volume and reach the consistency of shaving cream), start adding the sugar about one or two tablespoons at a time while whisking.
- Photo 8: Continue to whisk on medium speed until all the sugar has been incorporated, then increase to high speed. Keep on whipping the egg whites until you reach stiff peaks.
The meringue should have tripled in volume, be white and glossy and hold its shape on the whisk.
- Photo 9: Add about a quarter of the whipped egg whites into the chocolate mixture.
- Photo 10: Using a whisk, very gently mix it in until you can't see any white.
This step allows to lighten the chocolate mixture and will make it easier to incorporate the rest of the whipped egg whites without breaking them.
- Photo 11: switch to a spatula and continue to very gently fold in the rest whipped egg whites in three or four times.
- Photo 12: stop folding as soon as all the egg whites have been incorporated and you cannot see any streaks of white anymore. You don't want to over-mix the mousse and deflate the meringue.
- Carefully pour the orange chocolate mousse into dessert cups. Gently shake the filled cups to evenly distribute the mousse, then place in the fridge to chill for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.
If you wanted to serve the mousse in a large bowl and spoon it into individual portions at the table, keep the dessert in the bowl covered with plastic wrap.
- Optionally, prepare the toppings by whipping some cream with icing sugar / powdered sugar until you reach stiff peaks. Scoop it or pipe it over the set chocolate orange mousse cups before serving. Top with some chocolate shavings and orange zest or orange peel.
Recipe FAQs
Raw eggs are safe to eat if pasteurised. Pasteurised eggs are gently heated to kill any bacteria, making them safe to eat raw.
I highly recommend using a good quality cooking chocolate rather than chocolate chips, chocolate melts or eating chocolate that will not melt properly and could create a slightly grainy texture.
Make sure to use chocolate made will cocoa butter, not oil (like in compound chocolate) as cocoa butter will help the mousse set in the right texture.
I used a 70% dark chocolate for a rich chocolate flavor but you could use any of your preferred dark chocolate. Note that this recipe was created specifically for dark chocolate, not milk chocolate, white chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate.
In this recipe, the texture is mostly created by gently folding in whipped egg whites into the chocolate and orange mixture. When you whip the egg whites, you basically create a large amount of tiny airy bubbles that will give your mousse its typical foamy texture.
A mousse is a preparation that has a light and fluffy texture created by the addition of a whipped element such as egg whites or whipped cream.
A pudding is typically made by cooking a preparation until it thickens, using either (or a combination of) a starch like cornstarch or flour and eggs. Puddings have a creamier and heavier texture than a mousse.
Tips & Troubleshooting
- The mousse seems runny: the mousse will be slightly runny just after the egg whites are folded in. It requires a few hours in the fridge to properly set so that is completely normal!
- Why is my mousse not fluffy? If after spending a few hours in the fridge, the chocolate orange mousse seems dense rather than fluffy, it is usually an indication that the whipped egg whites where folded in too roughly. Make sure to very gently fold in the egg whites to keep most of the tiny air bubbles in the mixture.
- Do I need to add gelatine? No, no gelatine is required here. The combination of the stabilised whipped egg whites (thanks to the sugar), the butter and the cocoa butter contained in the chocolate will allow for the mousse to set perfectly without needing a gelling agent.
Storing & Freezing
The chocolate orange mousse is best eaten within 2 days as it contains raw eggs. The dessert needs to be kept refrigerated until ready to serve.
Because it needs to set in the fridge for a few hours, it is a great dessert to prepare in advance and leave in the fridge overnight. Simply add the toppings before serving.
It is not recommended to freeze a mousse as the dessert will loose its fluffy texture and turn watery once thawed.
More Mousse Recipes
- Strawberry Mousse
- Raspberry Mousse
- Lemon Mousse with Lemon Curd
- Passion Fruit Mousse
- Coffee Mousse
- Eggless Mango Mousse
- Vanilla Mousse
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Recipe
Chocolate Orange Mousse
Ingredients
Chocolate Orange Mousse
- 180 gr Dark Cooking Chocolate 70% cocoa solids
- 60 gr Unsalted Butter cubed, at room temperature
- 60 ml Orange Juice
- 2 teaspoon Orange Zest about 2 large oranges
- 5 large Eggs pasteurised, at room temperature
- 1/3 teaspoon Fine Table Salt
- 80 gr Caster Sugar
Whipped Cream Topping (optional)
- 120 ml Thickened / Heavy Cream 30% fat content min.
- 20 gr Icing Sugar
- 1 teaspoon Orange Zest to garnish
- Chocolate Shavings, to taste to garnish
Instructions
Chocolate Orange Mousse
- Finely chop the chocolate and place in a large heatproof bowl. Melt until completely smooth, either over a double-boiler (see note 1) or in the microwave in 30 seconds increments.
- Add the cubed butter a few pieces at a time, gently stirring until completely melted. The temperature of the chocolate should have dropped.
- Mix in the orange juice and orange zest. Stir until completely combined.
- Separate the large egg yolks from the egg whites. Place the egg yolks in the chocolate mixture and the egg whites in a large clean bowl (if using a hand mixer) or bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.
- Stir the egg yolks into the chocolate mixture until fully combined (see note 2) Set aside.
- Add the salt to the egg whites and start whipping on medium speed. Once you reach soft peaks (the eggs will have turn white, almost doubled in volume and reach the consistency of shaving cream), start adding the sugar about one or two tablespoons at a time while continuously whisking.
- When all the sugar has been incorporated, increase the speed to high. Keep on whipping the egg whites until you reach stiff peaks. The meringue should have tripled in volume, be white and glossy and hold its shape on the whisk.
- Add about a quarter of the whipped egg whites into the chocolate mixture. Using a whisk, very gently mix it in until you can't see any white (see note 3).
- Switch to a spatula and continue to very gently fold in the rest whipped egg whites in three or four times. Stop folding as soon as all the egg whites have been incorporated and you cannot see any streaks of white anymore.
- Carefully pour the orange chocolate mousse into dessert cups. Gently shake the filled cups to evenly distribute the mousse, then place in the fridge to chill for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.
Whipped Cream (optional)
- Before serving, optionally prepare the toppings.Place the cold cream in a large bowl (or bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment) and sift in the icing sugar. Whisk on medium speed until the cream starts to thicken, then slowly increase to high speed until you reach stiff peaks.
- Place a large dollop of whipped cream (or pipe over the cream using a piping bag fitted with a star shaped or round nozzle) over the set chocolate orange mousse.
- Top with some fresh orange zest and shaved chocolate before serving.
Notes
- To make a double-boiler: place the chopped chocolate in a heat-proof bowl that is slightly larger than a medium size saucepan. Fill the bottom of the saucepan with a little bit of water and place the bowl with the chocolate on top of it, making sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water. Turn on medium heat to bring the water to a simmer. Leave the chocolate to melt, occasionally stirring, until completely smooth.
- The mixture might look like splitting at first but should come together unto a shiny and smooth mixture. Make sure the eggs are at room temperature. If you were to add very cold egg yolks to the chocolate, it could make it seize and split.
- This step allows to lighten the chocolate mixture and will make it easier to incorporate the rest of the whipped egg whites without breaking them.
