Milk Chocolate Mousse Recipe

Rich, creamy, smooth and oh-so-chocolatey, there's nothing quite like milk chocolate mousse. It's simplistic but so luxurious and satisfying.

This Milk Chocolate Mousse offers so much to delight the senses in all the right ways, spoonful after wonderful spoonful.

💕 Why you’ll love this recipe

• Simple ingredients create a decadent yet easy dessert
• Adding coffee enhances and deepens the rich flavor 
• Top with whipped cream and chocolate shavings 
• Customize this classic chocolate mousse with flavored liqueur or extracts
• Serve it in small bowls, cups, juice glasses or even martini glasses

🧾 Ingredients & substitutions

• Milk chocolate: gives the mousse a sweeter taste than dark chocolate. Use your favorite brand
• Butter: I like to use unsalted butter so I can control the amount of salt in the recipe
• Coffee: you only need 2 tablespoons, so reserve some from your morning cup
• Eggs: separate the whites from the yolks before using 
• Granulated sugar
• Heavy whipping cream: makes a thick, silky and rich mousse. Use an extra dollop on top once it’s finished
• Kosher salt
• Vanilla extract: it’s important to use high-quality vanilla instead of imitation vanilla, as it will affect the flavor 
• Chocolate shavings: optional, for garnish. Let a milk chocolate bar soften at room temperature. Then use a vegetable peeler to shave the edge of the bar to create curls. Or run the bar along a cheese grater to make smaller pieces

🍫 How to achieve a rich and creamy texture for chocolate mousse

When indulging in chocolate mousse, we are expecting a strong chocolate flavor, a richness from the cream and eggs, yet a balanced lightness to create the perfect mouthfeel.

To achieve all of this, I started by using milk chocolate in this mousse recipe. The milk chocolate has a sweet taste but a full chocolate flavor that's enhanced and complemented by the strong coffee in the recipe.

I found that using bittersweet or dark chocolate made the chocolate mousse a bit too bitter than what I was going for here. I wanted a recipe that was as kid-friendly as it is adult-friendly, so milk chocolate was the right choice for this chocolate mousse.

Later I was able to achieve the dark chocolate flavor I wanted for mousse so now you can make my 5-Ingredient Mousse with Cocoa Powder when you need another decadent treat.

A full cup of heavy cream is used in this mousse recipe which helps develop a richness and creaminess that's unmatched. By folding it in gently to the chocolate, the whipped cream helps create a smoothness that's idyllic in chocolate mousse.

Folding in the cream also helps maintain a lightness to the mousse. One additional tip I learned from Cooks Illustrated that I incorporated here was not to beat the egg yolks before adding them in.

Beating the egg yolks creates too much air in this recipe, which can dilute the chocolate flavor. Definitely not what we are going for here.

🥄 How to make milk chocolate mousse

Step 1

Start by coarsely chopping the chocolate. Next, temper it over low heat. To temper chocolate, set a saucepan with a small amount of water (about 1-2 inches deep) over low heat and place a heatproof bowl over the top of the pan.

Place the chocolate in the bowl and stir occasionally. The steam from the simmering water will gently melt the chocolate.

Step 2

Add the butter one tablespoon at a time until melted. Stir in the vanilla, hot coffee and salt. Remove the bowl from the pan of water.

Step 3

Add the egg whites to a clean bowl set over the pan of simmering water. Stir them constantly so they don't scramble, just until they're warm. Remove the bowl from the pan.

Step 4

Use a hand mixer or stand mixer to whip the egg whites while gradually adding the sugar. Continue whipping until they form soft peaks. (See below for a how-to.) Gently fold the eggs into the chocolate mixture.

Step 5

Finally, beat the heavy cream in a large bowl until it forms soft peaks. Fold it into the chocolate mixture. Spoon the chocolate mousse into 6 to 8 ramekins or small dishes and set in the fridge, covered, for at least 2 hours.

Step 6

Add a dollop of the remaining whipped cream and some chocolate shavings just before serving.

🥚 How to whip egg whites and heavy cream to soft peaks

This recipe calls for whipping the egg whites and the heavy cream (separately) to soft peaks. This means when you lift the whisk away from the eggs or cream, the peaks are just starting to hold their shape, yet stay soft and melt back into themselves after a second. 

When you're whipping, watch what's going on in the bowl for visual cues that the egg whites or cream are starting to come together. Stop whipping every once in a while, lift the whisk out of the bowl and see how they're progressing.

🥣 How to fold in egg whites and whipped cream

Once you have whipped the egg whites and cream to soft peaks, the recipe calls for folding these into the chocolate mixture. We want to do this to maintain a light texture for the chocolate mousse.

To fold, use a scoop and fold motion. Use a rubber spatula with a wide and flexible blade for this. A wide spatula helps scoop more of the mixture at once and makes the task go more quickly.

A flexible blade helps you scrape along the curve of the bowl and scoop up every last bit of the liquid batter. Use a big bowl, as this will give you the space you need to get under the batter and scoop and fold properly. Here's a great step-by-step resource for folding in egg whites or heavy cream.

👩‍🍳 Pro Tips 

• Plan to make this chocolate mousse at least 2 hours, preferably more, before you plan to serve it. The flavors need time to blend while chilling in the fridge. And the mousse needs time to firm up. Serve the chocolate mousse within 24 hours after preparing it. If you wait longer, the flavor and texture will begin to deteriorate
• After you chop the milk chocolate, save the little shavings and small pieces left on your cutting board for garnishing the mousse when you are serving it. This makes for a nice touch and you won't have to take an extra step to shave more chocolate for garnishing
• For more flavor variations, try substituting equal amounts of your favorite flavored liquor or rum for the coffee

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