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?
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
Whip the cream until firm and forms peaks. Set aside in the refrigerator.
Whip eggs and sugar at medium/high speed until fluffy and thick, about 10 minutes.
Melt the chocolate in the microwave (heat 30 seconds at a time, mix and heat again, to prevent the chocolate from burning).
Mix butter in the chocolate until it’s all melted and the mixture is smooth.
Add the chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and stir the whole thing by hand with a rubber spatula until fully incorporated.
Fold in the chilled whipped cream. Continue folding until fully incorporated.
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!