Vegan Chocolate Mousse
Photography by Simeon Crofts
DIETARY – Vegan, Vegetarian, Dairy-free, Nut-free, Gluten-free
I’ll confess, I am a total chocoholic! I love chocolate bars, chocolate desserts, chocolate cakes… the list goes on. There is an abundance of ways to use and enjoy the bi-product of the humble cocoa bean, from a silky chocolate ganache and homemade truffles to rich tortes, cheesecakes and everything in between. But finding a chocolate dessert that’s suitable for a vegan diet and still delivers on that indulgent cocoa flavour isn’t quite as straightforward, most often because chocolate desserts frequently come with a side of dairy.
When deciding what I was going to make for my vegan sweet, I first picked the occasion: a dinner party with friends. I wanted something more elegant and special than a cupcake or a brownie that I might have otherwise made. I settled on a crowd-pleasing chocolate dessert, so next on the agenda was choosing the dairy-free chocolate I wanted to use in it. Now I know there are some fabulous vegan chocolate brands out there, but I find a lot of them to be expensive, and they don’t always deliver on taste and texture. I have been using Lindt chocolate for many years and more often recently as, if you check their website, their 70% and above dark chocolate is actually 100% vegan but for a fraction of the price and it’s more readily available at the supermarket than some more specialist brands. I also find Lindt chocolate to be of exceptional quality, delicious in taste, and fabulous to cook with.
The next challenge was choosing a chocolate dessert that everyone, even those who are not vegan, would enjoy. I picked mousse as it’s something I am confident in making with dairy and it’s relatively simple. Mousse can be made in a variety of ways but there are four basic ingredients: eggs, sugar, cream and chocolate. The traditional French method of making chocolate mousse is to use whipped egg whites, so taking this premise, I thought there was no reason why whipped aquafaba, also known as chickpea brine, wouldn’t work in a similar way. I could stick with the dark chocolate and sugar and just replace cream with coconut cream, then I should be able to create a pretty good mousse.
After whipping the aquafaba into stiff peaks, it was just a case of working carefully and gently when adding the other ingredients to ensure the air didn’t get knocked entirely out of the ‘whites’. After bringing it all together and chilling overnight I was truly delighted to find I had a successfully set vegan chocolate mousse that was thick, perfectly aerated and bubbly inside, and rich with a velvety chocolate flavour. The real test was giving it to my hubby, who isn’t vegan, to see if he could tell the difference, and he couldn’t! In fact, he wolfed one down and told me it was amazing before I surprised him with the revelation that it was vegan and derived from the drained brine of a tin of chickpeas.
This really is a simple, straightforward vegan dessert to make and can be whipped up a day or more ahead of time, making it perfect for dinner parties. I can’t wait to hear what you think!
Vegan Chocolate Mousse
Ingredients:
- 170g dark chocolate
- 1 tin of chickpeas
- ¼ tsp cream of tartar
- 40g caster sugar
- ½ cup coconut cream
Method:
- First, melt the chocolate in a bain-marie (a glass bowl set over a saucepan of lightly simmering water – ensure the water isn’t touching the bottom of the bowl or this will burn the chocolate). Alternatively, you can melt the chocolate in the microwave in short intervals, stirring in between each.
- Next, drain the chickpeas and reserve the brine. Set the chickpeas aside to use for another recipe. Using an electric hand or stand mixer, whisk the brine and cream of tartar together on high speed until beginning to foam; at this stage, continue to whisk, and within 3-6 minutes you’ll have stiff peaks.
- Once stiff peaks have formed, gradually add the sugar, one spoonful at a time, mixing until fully incorporated before adding the next.
- In a clean bowl, whip the coconut cream until thick and slightly stiffened. When measuring out your cream, ensure you only scoop out the thick cream at the top of the can, avoiding the liquid or your cream will be too thin.
- Finally, pour the slightly cooled melted chocolate into the chickpea ‘egg’ whites and gently fold until thoroughly combined. Then, add the cream and fold gently until incorporated, being careful not to knock too much air out. You will notice the whipped chickpea whites reduce down to half their original size, but this is normal and completely fine.
- Spoon your mousse into six small glasses and chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours or ideally overnight.