IKEA chocolate mousse



Whew, I wasn't sure I was going to make it, but I did. You've probably been wondering where I've been all October. There were those mouth-watering Spice Crumble Brownies and then nothing.

What happened?

Well, I've been trapped in IKEA, surviving on $1 hotdogs and frozen yogurt, fountain pop and Swedish meatball combo meals and sleeping in the Malm showroom after hours. Earlier this morning, I finally managed to dig myself out of a stack of area rugs and stagger into the warehouse. I flagged down an unsuspecting employee with an empty cart, who gave me a ride to the checkout. When I saw the plastic bag dispensers, I knew I was home free.

No really.

Actually, we just moved. Again. So naturally we spent a few weekends at IKEA checking out the latest and greatest in affordable Swedish design. Nearly everyone I know claims to have outgrown IKEA and graduated to real furniture from real stores. Those same people usually still have some key IKEA items they'd be sad to give up.

Our 2nd landlord in Paris was an Italian from Argentina (or was it an Argentinean from Italy?). All I know is we made out the rent cheques to Henz, which doesn't sound very Italian or Argentinean to me. This guy was really into red and IKEA, and especially red things from IKEA. Everything in our apartment was IKEA: couch, lamps, bookcases, dressers, light fixtures, dishes, cupboards, right down to the candles on the table. It was all very...unFrench.

I don't know about you, but mousse (of any flavour) is not the first thing that comes to mind when I think of IKEA. Billy bookcases and Antifoni lamps, maybe. Or those TV commercials from a few years back where a suited Swede chastises viewers for feeling sad for a lamp abandoned on the sidewalk. Or even those aforementioned $1 hotdogs. So it struck me as somewhat odd to discover an IKEA recipe for chocolate mousse lying on a counter in the Swedish import store.

Surprisingly good though. Make-again good even.

Chocolate Mousse
150 grams (just under 5.5 ounces) dark chocolate
2 ounces strong coffee or espresso
4 eggs, separated
1 tablespoon orange peel, finely grated

4 tablespoons whipping cream

Roughly chop the chocolate and place in a heatproof bowl over boiling water until it melts. Remove from heat.

Mix in the coffee and stir until smooth. Add the egg yolks one at a time, stirring between each. Mix in the orange peel.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites into a hard foam.

Fold one scoop of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture. Fold in a second scoop of egg whites to lighten the mixture even further. Add the rest of the egg whites and fold just until incorporated.

Spoon the mousse into serving dishes and refrigerate to set.

Top with whipped cream before serving.

Casual Baker Notes: Since there's no sugar added, the sweetness of your mousse depends solely on the chocolate you choose. I went with 70% dark chocolate, which made for a fairly pucker-worthy dessert.

Source: IKEA.

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