A Workout, Science Lesson and Decadent Dessert All-In-One: Chocolate Chantilly Cream

Chantilly Cream is sort of like chocolate mousse. Smooth, light and sinfully rich. The crazy thing is, there is only two ingredients necessary to make this dessert: chocolate and water. 

Now, you may have heard that chocolate and water are mortal enemies, the water causing the chocolate to sieze up and become grainy when in contact with it...

but that is not always true. Watch this super informative video and find out why.

Pretty cool huh? Now you can pass chemistry, I think.

Another great thing about this dessert is the room it leaves for the quality of the chocolate to speak for itself. The deliciousness of this dessert will depend greatly on the quality of chocolate you are using. It will taste really good with average chocolate, but out-of-this-world with top notch chocolate.

This Chocolate Chantilly also leaves room for creativity! You could add a number of things to accent the chocolate flavor. Just make sure if you're adding any sort of liquid flavoring, you are subtracting an equal amount of water from the recipe. I added some Cointreau and orange zest, but you could add chili powder, cinnamon, Chartreuse.... the possibilities are endless! Also, you can eat it by itself or use it as a filling for a cake; it is super versatile.

So I have hit on the dessert and science aspect of this post, but what's this about a workout? Well, if you whisk by hand you are bound to end up with some pretty toned triceps because it takes A LOT of whisking! However, it is kinda rewarding to watch it progress in thickness until it reaches the perfect consistency. Which, by the way, should look something like this.

Here is the recipe! Enjoy!

Chocolate Chantilly

Recipe adapted from Herve This & Heston Blumenthal, viacafefernando

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 9.35 ounces (265 grams) bittersweet (%70 cocoa solids) chocolate, chopped
• 1 cup (240 ml) water

Directions

1. Place a large mixing bowl on top of another slightly smaller one, filled with ice and cold water (the bottom of the large bowl should touch the ice). Set aside.
2. Put chocolate and water (also liquor or spice if you’re using) in a medium-sized pan and melt the chocolate over medium heat, stirring occasionally.
3. Pour the melted chocolate into the mixing bowl sitting on top of ice and water, and start whisking with a wire whisk (or an electrical hand-held mixer) until thick. Watch the texture as you whip and make sure not to over-whip as it will make the mousse grainy. If the mousse becomes grainy (which is possible at your first try), transfer it back into the pan, reheat until half of it is melted, pour it back to the mixing bowl and whisk again briefly.
4. Divide into four serving cups and serve immediately or refrigerate overnight to serve the next day.