It took me several years to learn how to make vegan chocolate mousse that was stable, delicious, and mimicked the traditional version with eggs, cream and gelatin. 

Understanding the structure of the traditional mousse helps when learning how make a vegan chocolate mousse (and I find that’s true for most recipes!) Traditionally, chocolate mousse is constructed by whipping eggs into a foam, then folding that into a mixture containing gelatin and/or a chocolate/cocoa butter mixture for added structure, and sometimes a semi-whipped cream.  The mixture is then stabilized in the refrigerator when the cold temperature congeals fats and gelatin protein, and thickens the walls of the air bubbles.¹

A mousse seems so simple when you eat it, but within the airy dessert, you find emulsions, foams, and crystallization processes that need to be treated with care! 

My vegan chocolate mousse is without eggs, dairy, or gelatin, so how can we mimic the structure and processes, without using these ingredients?

Foam:

Aquafaba (drained liquid from a can of chickpeas) is my go-to when making a meringue, and my best experience has been with using canned chickpeas. There are two options that work well for me to create a strong stable aquafaba meringue and it really just depends on which ingredients you would like to use:

1. Aquafaba, trehalose and inulin
2. Aquafaba, powdered sugar and xanthan gum

Most people feel that option two is a little more friendly in terms of ingredients, and I use this method in my Vegan Coffee Mango Mousse Cake recipe but I’ll tell you why option one is my favorite!

Trehlose: is a disaccharide typically derived from tapioca starch. It has a high water-holding capacity, and helps increase volume in whipped applications. It helps to stabilize whipped creams and meringues, and is 45-50% less sweet than sucrose (table sugar.)²

Inulin: is a polysaccharide that comes from plants, mainly roots and tubers such as chicory root. It is not digested by the body, and acts as a fiber and prebiotic. It has a high water-holding capacity, and contributes a creamy texture and mouthfeel similar to adding cream or additional fats. I’m linking to the one that I currently use in Italy, and I’m working on finding the US equivalent!³

Chocolate:

I typically use 70% vegan chocolate when making my vegan chocolate mousse. Be sure to double check the ingredients ensuring that there is no dairy, and contains cocoa butter. 

Sugar:

I try to limit the amount of added sugars in my desserts as much as possible. I really dislike desserts that are too sweet, and now there are other ways to achieve sweetness rather than excess added sugar. However, sugar contributes water-holding capacity and structure to desserts, so when you increase/decrease sugar or sugar substitutes in a recipe, keep it’s function in mind. 

When I am using pectin as my thickener, I will use a small amount of granulated sugar (brown sugar gives a nice flavor) in the ganache. Mixing the pectin with the sugar before combining with the milk will make sure that the pectin doesn’t clump up. 

If I’m using agar agar as my thickener, then I’ll use maple syrup or agave as my sweetener in the ganache. It’s typically just enough to balance out the bitterness in the dark chocolate, but you can find which suits your taste the best. 

Cream/milk:

Unsweetened almond and soy milk work really well for me, but canned coconut milk will also work very well here for an extra creamy dessert. It is poured over the chocolate to make a ganache before folding in the whipped aquafaba meringue. 

Gelling Agent:

Now, I recently tested the difference between using agar agar and pectin NH as my gelling agents in my vegan chocolate mousse. Both worked and both tasted delicious, but the version with NH pectin was a clear winner in terms of texture and lightness. The agar version was a much firmer gel, and felt a bit more dense, so if you can use pectin, I would highly recommend it. 

NH Pectin: is a polysaccharide derived from citrus peel and apple pomace. It creates thermo reversible gels (meaning it can melt and then re-solidify) in the presence of acid, sugar, and calcium ions. There are other types of pectin (LM & HM) but I prefer to use NH pectin here because it already contains the calcium needed for gellation to occur. ⁴

Resources:

1. McGee, Harold. On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen. New York: Scribner, 1984. Print.
2. Eggleston G., Legendre B., Godshall M.A. (2017) Sugar and Other Sweeteners. In: Kent J., Bommaraju T., Barnicki S. (eds) Handbook of Industrial Chemistry and Biotechnology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52287-6_15
3. Shoaib, Muhammad et al. “Inulin: Properties, health benefits and food applications.” Carbohydrate polymers vol. 147 (2016): 444-454. doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2016.04.020
4. Lersch, M. (ed.) Texture – A hydrocolloid recipe collection (v.3.0, 2014). Available for free download from http://blog.khymos.org/recipe-collection/   

AGAR METHOD:

Ingredients:

Ganache 

• 100g vegan 70% dark chocolate
• 125g unsweetened almond milk
• .5g agar agar powder
• 10g maple syrup

Meringue 

• 79g aquafaba (drained liquid from a can of chickpeas)
• 8g inulin powder
• 20g trehalose

PECTIN METHOD:

Ingredients:

Ganache 

• 100g vegan 70% dark chocolate
• 125g unsweetened almond milk
• 2.5g NH pectin
• 10g brown sugar

Meringue 

• 79g aquafaba (drained liquid from a can of chickpeas)
• 8g inulin powder
• 20g trehalose

AGAR AGAR METHOD Instructions:

For the ganache:

Place chocolate in a heatproof jug or bowl. 

In a saucepan, add milk and slowly pour in agar powder while whisking to avoid clumps.

Add maple syrup, and continue to whisk until dissolved.

Heat to about 185F/85C over medium heat. Set aside to cool to about 149F/60C  before pouring over the chocolate to melt.

Using an immersion blender, emulsify the chocolate and milk mixture until it is thick and creamy. Set aside to cool to about 95F/35C, and blend one more time before pouring into a bowl. 

PECTIN METHOD Instructions:

For the ganache:

Place chocolate in a heatproof jug or bowl. 

Mix pectin and sugar together in a small dish. 

In a saucepan, add milk and slowly pour in sugar pectin mixture while whisking to avoid clumps.

Heat to about 185F/85C over medium heat. Set aside to cool to about 149F/60C  before pouring over the chocolate to melt.

Using an immersion blender, emulsify the chocolate and milk mixture until it is thick and creamy. Set aside to cool to about 95F/35C, and blend one more time before pouring into a bowl. 

For the meringue:

With a hand mixer, start whipping the aquafaba in a bowl.* 

Once soft peaks have begun to form, slowly add in trehalose and inulin while whipping. 

Continue to whip for 3-5 minutes until the trehalose and inulin are dissolved completely, and the meringue becomes glossy and stable. 

Gently fold the meringue into the chocolate ganache in three parts with a rubber spatula. 

Cover with plastic wrap touching the surface, and refrigerate. The pectin fully sets at about 12 hours, but I usually can’t wait that long to eat it! I have found that 6 hours is a good texture for me, but it depends on your application. The agar version sets much more quickly, and seems to gel almost instantly. 

Enjoy!

Tips

*Place the bowl with aquafaba in the freezer for 5 minutes before whipping. 

* Check to see if the aquafba already contains salt. If so, don’t add any additional. If you are using no-salt added chickpeas, then adding a pinch of salt in with the ganache mixture would help bring out the flavors. 

*This mousse can be poured into molds, frozen and glazed for entremets!