White Chocolate Mousse
To be honest, we only made this recipe primarily because 1. we were making dark chocolate mousse and I know someone in our house, who happens to be five and also my co-star, doesn't like dark chocolate; 2. because we happened to have like a pound of this fancy white chocolate hanging around; and 3. because I wanted to make pâte à bombe , which is pastry technique I haven't done since culinary school or maybe ever. Besides these reasons, if you really want to make chocolate mousse, unless you have some great predilection to white chocolate, just make the dark chocolate mousse recipe I have on this site and in the video and know that the French culinary gods will still be pleased with you. It just taste better! That said, this is still a pretty darn good recipe and pâte à bombe, the aforementioned fancy technique, is a good thing to have in your repertoire for making things like French buttercream frosting, amongst other things.
This recipe comes from a friend who was a pastry cook at the Four Seasons Hotel in New York where I also worked some time ago. The original recipe calls for sheet gelatin which is not something most home cooks have on hand (fyi sheet gelatin comes in different color coded types which offer a different level of setting capacity, called bloom strength.) I modified the recipe to use powdered gelatin and found it set a bit too firm (though guess who still loved it) so I further reduced the quantity needed to what you see here. I will include the original quantity for reference. My guess is that the original recipe called for silver sheet gelatin, which is the most popular and common type, but I'm not sure. You could also probably use the sabayon/whipped egg white technique found in the dark chocolate recipe or maybe even omit the gelatin entirely for a much lighter and creamier, but still perfectly delicious, mousse.
If you cannot find the Barry Callebaut white chocolate with caramel, don't fret. Any good quality white chocolate, such as Lindt for example, should work fine.
When working with hot sugar syrup BE CAREFUL!! We are heating this stuff up to almost 250 degrees and even though sugar seems so sweet and innocent, this stuff will burn you without remorse. No need to break out the kevlar gloves and lab goggles, just pour slowly and don't let the kiddos stick their adorable little fingers in the pot or it will be like a weeny roast at the ol' camp fire.
In the notes section I am including a recipe for a larger batch of pâte à bombe as well. Working with just one yolk and only a tiny amount of sugar can actually be a little trickier than a larger amount. Pâte à bombe freezes well so you can make and freeze in a silicone mold or ice cube tray for future use. Just measure out about 40g for this recipe.
Ingredients
- 17.5g Egg Yolk (1 egg yolk)
- 17.5g Sugar (1 TBS + 1.5 tsp)
- 40g Heavy Cream (4 TBS)
- 1 tsp Powdered Gelatin, bloomed as follows or 1.25 sheets Silver Gelatin, bloomed in ice water
- 75g White Chocolate such as Barry Callebaut White Chocolate with Caramel
- 220g Cream Whipped to Soft Peaks, unsweetened (1 cup un-whipped cream)
Instructions
1. Make Pâte à Bombe: In a ceramic, glass or metal bowl with high sides, add yolks and whisk until frothy.
If you have a hand mixer with whisk attachment, have it at ready. For larger batches, a stand mixer may be used instead. Cook sugar with 2 TBS water over medium high heat until it reaches 248ᵒ F on an instant read thermometer. With the mixer running, pour syrup into egg yolks in a thin, steady stream. Continue whisking until light and thick. Continue whisking until room temperature.
2. For powdered gelatin, mix 1 tsp gelatin together with 1 TBS of cold cream to bloom. Heat another 3 TBS of cream in the microwave until hot (20-20 seconds) then stir into the gelatin mixture. For sheet gelatin, heat cream, drain sheets and squeeze out excess water, then stir into hot cream.
3. Melt white chocolate in a bain marie or in the microwave then stir in the warm cream and gelatin mixture. Keep warm so the gelatin does not start to set.
5. Fold in Pâte à Bombe then whipped cream as indicated in the notes. Chill at least 1 hour to set.
Notes
Large Batch Pâte à Bombe
12 ounces sugar
3 ounces water
12 egg yolks (9 ounces)
Combine
the sugar and water in a small, preferably heavy, saucepan and bring the mixture to 248 degrees Fahrenheit. Meanwhile, whip the egg yolks in a stand mixer until light and frothy. Pour the hot syrup into a glass measure and with the machine off, pour a thin stream into the egg yolks. Turn the mixer on high for about 10 seconds to incorporate. Continue in this way until all the sugar syrup has been used. Continue to whip on medium-high until the pâté à bombe has almost doubled in volume and the bowl cools down to being somewhat warm to the touch. (from JoePastry.com)
How to Fold in Ingredients: Anytime you are incorporating whipped egg whites or whipped cream (or anything else where you want to retain a light airy texture), you use the same technique: folding. First, add a third of the whites or whipped cream and stir quickly to lighten. Next, add another third in the following way: Scrape your whisk or spatula down from 12 o'clock to 6o'clock, turn the bowl a quarter turn towards whichever hand you are using and then lift from the bottom of the mix and gentle lay it back over the top. Finish by folding in the remaining third. In this way you can keep your mixture light and fluffy.