A few weeks ago, I was invited to lunch by a wonderful friend of mine and one of her friends, a French lady named Stella, brought chocolate mousse for dessert. Creamy and rich, it was unbelievably delicious and apparently no eggs involved. She told me the egg whites were substituted by aquafaba – which is the liquid you drain from your canned chickpeas. Chickpea liquid? Seriously???
My mind was BLOWN…
Well yes, they behave exactly the same as egg whites when whipped. Vegan chocolate mousse, vegan meringue, I was intrigued. So of course, I started researching it on the web and experimenting in the kitchen, and although there are endless recipes and combinations out there, I’ve found that all you really need are two ingredients. Yes, two! So today I bring you two-ingredient, no-tofu, no-eggs involved, delicious, rich and impossibly creamy vegan chocolate mousse.
This recipe is very easy, and only takes about 15 minutes to prepare and then it just needs to set in the fridge for a few hours.
You start by melting your chocolate and letting it cool whilst you whip your aquafaba. If you have a food processor, great, if not, whipping by hand will also work. Below is the chickpea liquid before and after whipping and I assure you no one would guess that these are not egg whites. Pure magic!
Once your aquafaba is whipped and your chocolate cooled, start incorporating the chocolate into the whipped “snow” little by little, folding it in. You have to be delicate with this part, so you don’t flatten all the air bubbles. Also, make sure not to do all the chocolate in one go, as it might seize. I usually do it in 4 parts and once it is all mixed together and uniform, you can pour into moulds and put in the fridge to set. I normally make my portions small, as it is very rich. I also like to use part dark chocolate and part milk/semi-sweet as otherwise it is too bitter if you only use dark, but you can choose depending on your preference. Raspberries pair wonderfully with the mousse and a sprinkle of cacao also helps. Also, save your chickpeas, next week I will show you how to make some delicious little sweet protein bombs with it 🙂
Now, I could end my post here, but I have a confession to make. As I was preparing the recipe for today’s post, I thought, why not also prepare some white chocolate mousse? The contrast of colours will look beautiful in the photos and it will give a little more variety.
Well, where are these photos with the beautiful contrasting colours, I hear you ask… Mmmhh, they all had to be cut to remove the jars with white mousse from them. Whoops… I made both, I photographed both, felt quite pleased with myself and put them in the fridge to set. In the afternoon, I called some friends to come over and sample them as I knew me and 6 mousses under one roof would not end well. To cut a long story short, the white ones were inedible. Actually, that’s a lie, the taste was quite nice but the texture was powdery and felt like eating sand. A complete failure!
So, of course, the first reaction of my perfectionist mind was panic and OMG, I cannot tell anyone and I will take this embarrassing secret to my grave!!! But then, I breathed deeply and thought, really? Did I really expect to be blogging new recipes every week and every single one coming out perfect every time? What about trial and error and learning from every experience? Why are we so harsh on ourselves and cannot accept fails as part of the learning process?
When a baby starts learning to walk, they fall plenty of times but get up every time and try again. We accept this as completely normal and cheer every small progress they make whilst accepting the mistakes as essential part of moving forward. Yet, as we grow older, we are less and less willing to accept errors and mistakes and failures. We judge ourselves and others harshly, expect perfection and hold ridiculously impossible high standards. And as errors are inevitable, this only leads to disappointment and negativity.
So I have promised myself to be gentle with myself, to cheer myself on with every step forward and to be patient with every step backwards. To actually enjoy the journey instead of just rushing mindlessly towards the goal. To enjoy every moment of what brings me joy, whether it be walking my dogs, working on my handstand or making and photographing beautiful but inedible white chocolate mousses 🙂
- 1 1/4 cup (300 ml) aquafaba - I needed 2 jars of chickpeas to get this quantity
- 250 g vegan chocolate or chocolate chips (I used 150 g milk and 100 g dark)
- Start by melting your chocolate either bain-marie or in the microwave and let cool slightly.
- Whilst your chocolate is cooling down, whip your aquafaba into hard peaks in a processor or manually, it will behave exactly the same as egg whites.
- When your chocolate is room temperature, start incorporating it little by little into the whipped aquafaba by folding it in (I normally do it in 4 parts).
- Don't do it all at once and don't overmix, as it will flatten all the air bubbles otherwise.
- Once the mixture is uniform, pour into cups / moulds and let set in the fridge for at least 3 - 4 hours.
- Inspired by Stella
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