Dark Chocolate Raspberry Mousse

Warning: This dessert is not to be eaten by persons under 18 years of age.

This is a real recipe for Dark Chocolate Raspberry Mousse, the one to which I referred in my post The Lost Art Of Seduction. I first had this with Carmen in a restaurant in Denver, whereupon I promptly declared it to be my favorite dessert ever. I since searched for a suitable recipe, found one, and now present it here. I have prepared this recipe a number of times – hey, I'm single and sometimes even I just need to get laid – and it is simply irresistible (fade to song).

So why include it as a blog entry? I guess it is because it's too good not to include it here (I say that a lot and it's always true). Also, I have to justify the byline “sardonic postmodern humor and dessert recipes” at some point.

You sometimes read of a dessert, usually chocolate, being “sinful.” This dessert is what Satan himself has at formal dinners in Hell.

Just a note on the raspberries: please do use fresh ones. In fact, you should use only raspberries that, for each individual raspberry, if you were a berry you would like to immediately have masterful sex with that raspberry or be horribly jealous of the berry with it.

Gentlemen: as far as seduction is concerned, please use this power only for good. And be a little discriminating, for chrissake. Don't serve it to your family, because any woman you serve this to is going to leap out of her clothes and into your bed, and that's not someplace you want to see your grandmother. Hopefully.

This recipe was adapted from the Chocolatier Vol. 1 No. 7, 1985. MasterCook and MealMaster and everyone else swiped it from there.

Voilà¹:

Dark Chocolate Raspberry Mousse

Bittersweet Chocolate, 10 ounces, coarsely chopped

Chambord Liqueur, 2 Tablespoons (or Framboise Liqueur)

Eggs, 3 each, jumbo, separated, at room temperature

Heavy Whipping Cream, 3/4 cups, chlled (for garnish)

Heavy Whipping Cream, 1 cup, chilled

Fresh Raspberries, 1/2 pint (for garnish)

Fresh Raspberries , 1 1/2 cups

Sweet Butter, 4 Tablespoons

White Granulated Sugar, 1/4 cup

Instructions

1. In a small bowl, crush the raspberries roughly but sensuously with a fork. Stir in the sugar and the Chambord. Let the mixture stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.

2. In a double boiler, melt the chocolate and the butter.

3. While the chocolate is melting, whip the cream. Stir the egg yolks into the crushed raspberry mixture. Whisk the egg whites.

4. Remove the bowl of melted chocolate from the double boiler and place it on a work surface. All at once, stir in the raspberry mixture, stir in the whipped cream, and fold in the egg whites.

5. Turn the mousse into a serving bowl or individual dishes. Chill until firm, about 2 hours for individual portions, five hours for a large bowl of mousse.

6. Garnish each serving with a dollop of softly whipped cream and one or two fresh raspberries.

-- Hulles

1I look up foreign words with accent marks to get the correct spelling because I hate trying to remember what key combination makes an 'e acute', e.g. In doing so with this word, I misspelled it as “viola” and serendipitously discovered that there is a web site devoted to viola jokes. As they say on the site, “these jokes have enjoyed wide publicity....” Apparently we hang out in different circles. Anyway, there's about a gazillion of them, and if you scroll all the way to the bottom of the page you find out it's page one of three! Dang. I never knew the viola was such a funny instrument. Accordion, sure, but viola?