The Ultimate Keto Chocolate Mousse Recipe

As described in The Oxford Companion to Food, “Mousse is a French term meaning foam, and it’s applied to dishes with foamy texture, usually cold and often sweet…” This might be a definition of mousse, but nothing compares to the chill running down your back and the flavor explosion in your mouth when you have the first spoonful of foamy chocolate mousse. The French classic is larger than life!

The chocolate mousse might just be the best way to enjoy the bitter-sweet cacao bean. And if you add that, that chocolate mousse is not only easy to make but incredibly rewarding, you’ve got yourself a winner.

Here’s all you need to know about chocolate mousse, including tips to make the perfect mousse and a tried and tested recipe for the best keto chocolate mousse ever. Read on and enjoy the ride!

History of the Chocolate Mousse

Before we get started, let’s pay homage to the pillowy and lusciously silky chocolate mousse because despite being relatively easy to make, it’s undoubtedly amongst the most cherished desserts on the planet!

French chefs once called the dessert mayonnaise de chocolat, which sounds awful, but by 1894, the word mousse came to be, and the dessert was described as something between souffles and ice cream. That’s quite accurate if you think about it!

The tasty dessert lost some of its reputation with the arrival of the ugly instant chocolate pudding mixes sold in the early 20th century, but now the chocolate mousse has regained its glory, and it’s often made from scratch with quality ingredients and featured in the nicest restaurants! The best part? You can make yours, too. 

 What’s the next step in chocolate mousse’s evolution? The keto chocolate mousse, of course.

When to Make the Chocolate Mousse?

Chocolate mousse is a noble dessert. It’s easy to make, and you need not bake or cook it; just whip everything together and chill it in the fridge. Still, chocolate mousse is incredibly versatile; it’s a perfect weeknight dessert and a sweet treat you can just grab from the fridge as a midnight crave quencher.

The chocolatey dessert is also refined and elegant, suitable for the most memorable occasions. Garnished nicely, you can even serve chocolate mousse to your parents-in-law when coming for a visit. There’s more. This sexy dessert will become an ace up your sleeve for date night! It gets you in the mood for romance. 

Ingredients Needed

To make the perfect keto chocolate mousse, you only need four ingredients. The most important one is undoubtedly chocolate. You need a sugar-free bar to skip all those extra calories, but we’re talking about chocolate in a minute.

You’ll also need a 2 large egg whites, which we’ll whip to form the base of the mousse. We’ll also need regular unsweetened heavy whipping cream to give some texture to the fluffy dessert.

Here’s where the zero-cal sweetener comes in. Use Stevia, Splenda, erythritol, allulose or monk fruit extract. Since this is a no-bake dessert, we need not worry about the type of sweetener too much. Just remember to use a sweetener conversion chart  to make sure you get the mousse nice and sweet but not cloying.

How to Choose the Right Chocolate?

When it comes to chocolate, there’s one to satisfy every palate, and sugar-free chocolate brands are more sophisticated than ever. If you think about it, sugar in chocolate is just there to balance cacao’s delicious bitter-sweet flavor, and milk plays a supporting role. Cacao is the star of the show! And that means any sweetener will do, from allulose to monk fruit extract, and chocolatiers are really making the most out of these alternative sweeteners to craft exciting sugar-free chocolate everywhere around the world.

The recipe below calls for a unsweetened dark chocolate bar, Of course, if you’re craving a more sweeter and milky mousse, go for semi-sweet chocolate instead. There’s no right or wrong answer here; just follow your heart!

Equipment Needed

To make a silky and decadently sweet keto chocolate mousse, you just need a few pieces of equipment, and most of them you already have in hand.

We’re beating an egg white, whipping some cream and folding everything with melted chocolate, so you’ll need three medium-sized mixing bowls. And unless you’re planning to melt the chocolate the old-fashioned way with the double-broiler method, make sure one of your bowls is microwave safe.

You’ll also need an electric hand mixer, although a stand mixer will work, too. The recipe below is pretty easy, but you still need to mix the ingredients thoroughly and trust me, you don’t want to do it by hand.

Talking about whipping by hand, you also need a classic hand mixer to incorporate the mousse in the end, which requires a gentler touch. Other than that, have some fancy dessert bowls, martini glasses or ramekins to serve the mousse as attractively as possible – the looks matter, too!

Chocolate Mousse Nutritional Value

Chocolate mousse is silky and airy, yes, but also nutritious, and if you use a zero-calorie sweetener, the dessert is compatible with many low-carb diets.

A single serving of this luscious chocolate mousse adds just over 300 calories to your diet with 30% of the saturated fat you need for the day and 3.3 grams of protein. It’s rich in vitamin D, iron, calcium and magnesium as well!

Nutritious and tasty are two words seldom seen together, but this chocolate mousse is certainly both. Treat yourself without breaking your diet! This is how all desserts should be, am I right?

Substitutions and Variations for Chocolate Mousse

There are many ways of making a keto chocolate mousse your own. Here are the most common substitutions and variations.

1. Use dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate to give your mousse a more grown-up feel. Also, who’s up for some white chocolate mousse? Visit your favorite bakery supplier and see what they have available. You can also order sugar-free chocolate online — it’s addictive! 

 

2. For an egg-free chocolate mousse, substitute the egg white with a few tablespoons of aquafaba, the liquid that comes with canned chickpeas. Don’t worry; your mousse won’t taste like chickpeas at all.

 

3. Add a teaspoon of freeze-dried, instant espresso to your chocolate mousse mixture for a mocha-flavored delight! Chocolate and coffee are beautifully compatible.

 Tips for the Creamiest Chocolate Mousse

• To raise the egg white to soft peaks, make sure you bring it to room temperature before you whip it. You’ll have a hard time fluffing it if straight from the fridge.

 

• When whipping heavy cream, the opposite applies; make sure it’s at fridge temperature. The colder it is, the more it will increase in volume, which means a spongier mousse!

 

• When melting chocolate in the microwave, chop it in manageable chunks and melt it gradually, in 30-second pulses. Stir the chocolate between each pulse.

How to Serve and Garnish Chocolate Mousse

Garnishing chocolate mousse is easy. The dessert is already pretty, and you can definitely serve it as-is. Still, drizzling it with some melted chocolate, topping it with shaved chocolate, or gently decorating it with half a strawberry can take it to the next level.

When garnishing chocolate mousse, think of color, too. A mint sprig will contrast nicely with the mousse’s milky brown color, and you can use peppermint or basil leaves as well.

Talking about fun garnishes for chocolate mousse, here’s a quick bonus recipe for vanilla-flavored, homemade whipping cream. The perfect garnish for a smooth chocolate mousse.

Bonus: Keto Whipped Cream Recipe

Topping chocolate mousse with a dollop of sweetened whipped cream is a glamorous way of garnishing the silken dessert. And since we’re already using heavy whipping cream for the mousse, why not make a batch of the sweet stuff too?

In a separate mixing bowl, add 1/2 cup of heavy cream and whip it with an electric hand mixer for 1-2 minutes until soft peaks form. Add 1 tablespoon of your sweetener of choice and a few drops of vanilla extract. Whisk for a few more minutes until stiff peaks form and garnish the chocolate mousse with a hefty dollop of vanilla-scented whipped cream!