My go-to chocolate frosting that's actually chocolate mousse

I tried to find a good alternative to buttercream frosting. For vanilla cakes, I have a fantastic cream cheese frosting that I can always depend on because it’s pretty much foolproof. But for chocolate cakes, I searched long and hard to find a great yet easy frosting recipe that is not buttercream or even worse, meringue buttercream. Don’t get me wrong, buttercream or meringue buttercream taste amazing and are a dream to pipe. That being said, they are way too sweet for my taste and my kitchen’s room temperature is just too unstable for a proper result. You see, if the room is too cold, the butter will harden and there will be no cream in your buttercream; just sweet, thick butter. If it’s too hot, the butter will melt too fast and the buttercream will curdle. My kitchen constantly fluctuates between too hot and too cold, which means that I always have to MacGyver my buttercream. When the kitchen’s too cold, I have to mix with a hair dryer aimed directly at the bowl. When it’s too hot, I have to mix, refrigerate, and mix again. Meringue buttercream requires a candy thermometer and I just refuse to go there. Candy thermometer requires a level of attention and precision that I’m just not willing to provide.

Then one day it dawned on me that frosting can be what ever we choose it to be. I have a great chocolate mousse recipe so why not use it as frosting? From that day on, whenever I make a chocolate cake, I use chocolate mousse as my go-to frosting. So far, it’s been a huge hit! And why shouldn’t it be? It’s chocolaty, light, not too sweet, airy yet thick enough to be very easily piped. Oh, and did I mention how easy it is to prepare this mousse frosting?

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My go-to chocolate frosting that’s actually chocolate mousse


ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

  • 4 large eggs, room temperature

  • 2 tbsp powdered sugar

  • 12 oz good dark chocolate

  • 1/4 unsalted butter, cubed

directions

  1. Whip the cream until firm and forms peaks. Set aside in the refrigerator.

  2. Whip eggs and sugar at medium/high speed until fluffy and thick, about 10 minutes.

  3. Melt the chocolate in the microwave (heat 30 seconds at a time, mix and heat again, to prevent the chocolate from burning).

  4. Mix butter in the chocolate until it’s all melted and the mixture is smooth.

  5. Add the chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and stir the whole thing by hand with a rubber spatula until fully incorporated.

  6. Fold in the chilled whipped cream. Continue folding until fully incorporated.

  7. Pipe on cake.

And voilà! How easy was that? Needless to say that for a better chocolate mousse, you must use the best possible chocolate. That being said, I regularly use the dark chocolate bars from the baking section of my supermarket and the result was just as great.

Enjoy!

My go-to vanilla frosting

Frosting should not be underestimated. If not done properly, you could ruin a whole cake. For that reason, you should find that one recipe that you really master so you have something to fall back on in case of emergency. For special occasions, I always try to find a new vanilla frosting recipe but generally, I always go back to this one. It's simple and easy to make.

Personally, I am not a fan of buttercream frosting. First, because it requires a lot of temperature control: if the butter or the room you're baking in is too cold, the cream will be too thick but if it's too hot, the cream will be curdled. Very frustrating. And the second reason why I don't like buttercream is that it requires so much butter and sugar! I mean, 2 sticks of butter and 4 cups of sugar is just too much! 

My favorite recipe only uses 1 cup of sugar and is made with cream cheese and whipping cream. Not only is cream cheese my favorite spread for my morning toasts, it is also perfect for frosting because it ads a bit of tanginess, thus providing some balance taste-wise for the cakes. The dessert will not be over sweet and the whip cream makes the frosting super light.

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My go-to vanilla frosting

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese, room temperature
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups cold heavy whipping cream
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla paste (optional)

DIRECTIONS

  1. Using a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, whip the heavy cream on high speed, until thick and fluffy. About 2 minutes. Be careful not to over whip! The cream should not be so thick that it looks like butter.
  2. Transfer the cream into another bowl and store it in the refrigerator.
  3. Now back to the stand mixer, whip the cream cheese and slowly add the powdered sugar, one 1/4 cup at a time. Beat at low speed. Once all the sugar is incorporated, increase speed to medium-high.
  4. Add the vanilla extract and mix. I also like to add a little bit of vanilla paste for a fuller taste and also because the tiny little vanilla seeds make the frosting look so much better! 
  5. Then, fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture. This step is delicate so it should be done by hand, with a spatula.
  6. And that's it! Your frosting is ready to be piped or stored until ready to be used.