Recipe: Dark Choco-Rum Mousse with Dulce de Leche

Does anyone not like Dark chocolate? I am going to ignore any of you who are putting your hands up. A nice soft mousse, with a dense Dulce de Leche topped with whipped cream. That is what we are making today.
Dulce de Leche is a Caramel Milk sauce which seems to be the unofficial national food of Argentina. It is very very dense and sweet and may not be to everyones tastes. If you don't agree with it you can skip it and make just the mousse with whipped cream.


Ingredients:


Choco-Rum Mousse

250 grams Dark Cooking Chocolate.
200 grams of heavy cream. (I used fresh cream from a dairy).
4 eggs, separated.
150 grams confectioner's Sugar
1 tablespoon Coffee, (if you have espresso, nothing better).
1.5 tablespoons Dark Rum.
1 teaspoon of Vanilla Extract
75 grams of Butter.

Dulce de Leche

1 can of sweetened Condensed Milk.

Lets COOK!!!!!

Naturally, you start with the Dark Chocolate Slabs.

 

Chop them up fine. The finer you can chop them, the easier it will be to melt them later. I found it easier to grate it which gave me really fine slivers. 

Take your heavy cream and whip it till it forms soft peaks. It is very easy to separate heavy cream and turn it into butter. Shake it around too much and you can watch the fats separate from the liquids leaving you with a nice lump of butter. I even read somewhere that Butter was first discovered when someone carried a bucket of heavy cream from the dairy to the farmhouse. They swung the bucket too hard and by the time they got home, voila... butter!!!

The way to whip your cream would be to use an ice bath. Use a double bowl, fill the bottom bowl with ice and cold water and put the second bowl in it. Wait for the surface of the inner bowl to chill before adding your cream and whipping away.
Once your soft peaks are formed, you can put that away into a refrigerator.

Now you want to separate your egg whites and egg yolks into separate bowls and cover them. You might not have time to break, separate and fish out egg shells later whilst the chocolate is cooling. 

Heat the butter, chocolate and coffee using a double boiler. If you don't have one (and I dont either), just take a pot, fill it about a third of the way with water, and put a second pot in. Bring the water to simmer and throw in the butter.

Once the butter melts, you can add in the coffee and mix it around. Once those are mixed, add in the chocolate and stir it gently till it all melts and forms a smooth mixture.

 

Now you want to work quickly. You don't want your chocolate to cool down too much. It should just be warm. A good way of measuring it is to put a little bit on your lower lip. If it feels just a bit warm, its at the mixing temperature.

Beat your egg whites till they have soft peaks. Once you are there, start slowly adding sugar whilst constantly beating. You want a smooth glossy mixture.

 

Hopefully you have managed this without your chocolate cooling down too much. Otherwise, reheat the chocolate in the double boiler. Put it on the stove, do not microwave. If the chocolate is too cold when you are mixing it, it wont form a smooth mixture. You really don't want a lumpy mousse do you? 

While its cooling, beat your egg yolks, rum, and vanilla.

Let it cool to the right amount and mix in your egg yolk mixture.

You will need a lot of patience. Bring your whipped cream out of the fridge and fold in about a third of it. 

Be gentle and patient. This first bit of folding is the hardest because the chocolate is the most dense right now. Once this is done you can fold in your egg whites slowly and gently. The gentler you are, the more air you will retain in your mousse and the lighter it will be. 

Add the remaining whipped cream. Fold it together again. You should get this lovely creamy mix. 

 

It is recommended to do all this with a silicon spatula. I need to get one, its on my shopping list of things to buy. 

Set your mousse in your serving dish/bowl and put it in the fridge. It should take a good 4-5 hours in the fridge. My personal choice of utensil is a nice cocktail glass.

Whilst that is setting, you can make your Dulce de Leche. This is rather simple. Just take a can of condensed milk and poke a few holes in the top. Put it in a pot and fill the pot will boiling water till the level is up to about two-thirds of the height of the can. Boil it on medium heat for a good 1 to 1.5 hours. It ultimately depends on the final consistency you want.

Open the can and let it cool. Once its cooled, put it in the fridge till you are ready to serve the mousse. 

When the mousse has set, ladle the dulce de leche into the glass. Fill it as high or as thin as you prefer. I love the taste of chocolate with dulce de leche, so I prefer a nice thick coat.

For a final touch, I piped on some whipped cream, stuck in a chocolate stick, and sprinkled some grated dark chocolate just before serving. 

 

ENJOY!!!!!

For those of you who want a printable recipe:-

Choco-Rum Mousse


250 grams Dark Cooking Chocolate.
200 grams of heavy cream. (I used fresh cream from a dairy).
4 eggs, separated.
150 grams confectioner's Sugar
1 tablespoon Coffee, (if you have espresso, nothing better).
1.5 tablespoons Dark Rum.
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
75 grams of Butter.


Dulce de Leche


1 can of sweetened Condensed Milk.

Lets COOK!!!

To make the Choco-rum Mousse

1. Take your chocolate slabs and dice/grate them into fine shavings.
2. Prepare your ice bath and whip your cream in it till it forms soft peaks. Put the cream into the fridge for now.
3. Separate your eggs yolks and whites into two separate bowls and keep them covered and ready. You can beat and keep your egg yolks ready. To the egg yolks add your vanilla and your rum.
4. Take a double boiler and bring the water to a simmer. 
5. Add the butter and stir it till it melts.
6. Add the coffee to the butter and stir till it forms a smooth mixture.
7. Slowly add the chocolate whilst stirring constantly.
8. Melt and mix the ingredients till it forms a smooth consistent paste. 
9. Take your chocolate off the heat and let it cool.
10. Quickly whip your egg whites till they form soft peaks. Slowly add the sugar whilst constantly beating till it forms a smooth glossy mixture.
11. When your chocolate has cooled to a warm temperature, add in the egg yolks.
12. Add 1/3rd of your whipped cream and fold it into the chocolate mixture gently.
13. Fold in your whipped egg whites into the chocolate-cream mixture. Again be gentle.
14. Spoon in your rum on the surface and fold in your remaining whipped cream.
15. Put the mouse in the serving dishes and let it set in a fridge for 4-5 hours.

For your Dulce de Leche:-

1. Punch holes in the lid of a tin of condensed milk. You can also just open the lid slightly with a tin opener.
2. Put it in a boiling water bath for 1 - 1.5 hours. Remove when it has reached the consistency you desire.
3. Let it cool and enjoy!!.

Points to keep note off:-

1) When melting chocolate make sure all your utensils, bowls, spoons, everything is dry. Even a couple of drops of water can turn some nice chocolate sauce into a thickened mess.
If you do manage to do this, then your best bet is to add a little more water. If you go over the 1 tablespoon per ounce mark (approx) then the chocolate should melt again.

2) Do not over beat the eggs and the whipped cream. It will make it really difficult for you to fold them into the chocolate when you are making it. The whipped cream can be salvaged by just pressing into it with a spoon and releasing the air. This will make it go liquidy again.
The eggs, I dont know how to salvage. Your best bet would be to get new eggs and start again.