No.39 The 100 Most Popular Recipes Ever · October 2026

Chocolate mousse

Made famous by Julia Child

Photo: Marie from Malang, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

From Mastering the Art of French Cooking, 1961.

France's classic chocolate dessert, and the one most people make the first time they cook a dinner party.

Written in our own words and tested in a home kitchen. Get the original in Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

Ingredients

• 6 oz (170 g) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate (60 to 70%), chopped
• 4 tbsp strong coffee
• 6 oz (170 g, 1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 4 large eggs, separated, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup (150 g) sugar, divided
• 1/4 cup (60 ml) orange liqueur or dark rum (or more coffee)
• Pinch of salt
• 1 tbsp sugar, for the whites
• Whipped cream, to serve

Steps

1. Melt the chocolate with the coffee in a bowl set over barely simmering water, stirring until smooth. Off the heat, beat in the butter a little at a time until smooth.
2. In a large heatproof bowl, beat the yolks with 2/3 cup sugar until thick and pale yellow and it forms a ribbon, 3 to 4 minutes. Beat in the liqueur.
3. Set the bowl over the simmering water and keep beating 3 to 4 minutes, until the mixture is foamy and too hot for your finger (about 160F). Then set it in a bowl of cold water and beat until cool and thick, like mayonnaise.
4. Beat the chocolate mixture into the yolks.
5. In a clean bowl, beat the whites with the salt until soft peaks form, then sprinkle in the tablespoon of sugar and beat to stiff, shiny peaks.
6. Stir a quarter of the whites into the chocolate to lighten it, then fold in the rest gently until no white streaks remain.
7. Spoon into a serving bowl or glasses and chill at least 2 hours, until set. Serve with whipped cream.

Chef's tips

• Cooking the yolks makes this safer than raw-yolk versions.
• Fold, don't stir, to keep the air in.

This is Chef Amazing's write-up of the dish, tested for a home kitchen. The original is in Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child: get the book, No. 1 on The 100 Greatest Cookbooks.

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