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Lenôtre’s Chocolate Mousse with the Pâte à bombe technique
2016-09-24
- This Recipe
- Chef: Lenôtre
- Cuisine: French Cuisine
- Course: Dessert, Mousse, Cake Mousse, Chocolate Mousse
- Difficulty: Experienced
- Category: Course
- This Post
- Chef : François
- Category: Recipe
- Posted on: Saturday September 24, 2016
- Comments : 4 Comments
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Languages :
English | 
Français
- Ingredients
- Chocolate, Whipping cream, Egg yolks, Eggs,
La version Française se trouve ICI |
A magic recipe of Lenôtre for Chocolate Mousse lovers, this one makes mousses light and frothy but also solid so they can hold a long time at room temperature as well as in layer cakes |
PrintAbout this recipeSince I tried this recipe I ditched my old chocolate mousse recipes, as this one beats them all ! This recipe makes extremely fluffy and tasty chocolate mousses |
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 | Source of the recipeI got this recipe from the Lenôtre cookbook "Ecole Lenôtre : Pastrymaking (French/English)". Lenôtre is one of the top pastry schools and pastry chefs in Paris. If you can, stop by their shop, school and restaurant on the Champs Elysées in ParisTo purchase online, see HERE |
 | I bought this book while studying in their school |
 | See the article I wrote about their school HERE |
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 | The recipe is on page 140 |
Modifications to the original recipe
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Ingredients
 | Pâte à Bombe 4 Tablespoons Water (50 grams)⅔ Cup Sugar (150 grams)½ Cup Egg Yolks (100 grams)⅓ Cup Eggs (150 grams)Whipped Cream 2 ⅓ Cups Whipping Cream (520 grams)Chocolate 11 oz Dark Chocolate (300 grams) |
You will need...
Steps
Prepping the ingredientsBefore starting the recipe, we need a bit of prepping: |
 Place the Whipping Cream (2 ⅓ Cups or 520 g) in the refrigerator |
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| Place the bowl and the whisk what you will use to whip the cream, in the freezer. It is important that you beat the cream when it is cold and when the mixing bowl is cold too |
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Let the the Egg Yolks (½ Cup or 100 g) and the theEggs (⅓ Cup or 150 g) warm to room temperature for30 minutes |
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The "pâte à bombe"The "pâte à bombe" is a French name for a mixture that will serve as the base for the chocolate mousse. It is a mix of beaten eggs with a hot syrup that will create thousands of bubbles while it is cooling down, while making the mousse "solid" : It's magical as the "pâte à bombe" makes mousse fluffy while making it sturdy as well... your chocolate mousse will be so fluffy, and will hold at room temperature. It is an ideal technique for mousses that must hold at room temperature, but also for mousses that must be used inside layer cakes (and resist the weight of layers) |
The SyrupWe start with the hot syrup : Pour in a saucepan theWater (4 Tablespoons or 50 g) and theSugar (⅔ Cup or 150 g) |
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Stir to combine |
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 Heat your sugar syrup over a medium-high flame |
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Bring to a boil |
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There is always a risk in making a syrup : Wash down the sides of the pan with a brush dipped in cold water to prevent crystallization... |
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In a mixing bowl, combine the Egg Yolks (½ Cup or 100 g) and theEggs (⅓ Cup or 150 g) |
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Beat at maximum speed using an egg beater or a stand mixer like the 'kitchen aid' appliance I'm using, the eggs must become light and frothy |
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Wait until the syrup temperature reaches 245 °F / 121 °C : remove the saucepan from the heat |
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Pour the hot sugar syrup by streaming it into your egg whites as they continue to whip on low to medium speed |
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 Try to pour between the whisk and the side of the bowl, not on the whisk ! |
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Once the syrup is poured, keep whipping on maximum speed for a few minutes to cool it down |
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Keep whisking for at least 10 minutes : you may stop only when the mixing bowl is not hot anymore |
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 | You will obtain a perfect "pâte à bombe", ready to be used |
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 | Crème montéeWhisk theWhipping Cream (2 ⅓ Cups or 520 g) in the mixing bowl that was set aside in the freezer |
We want to whisk for a brief moment... |
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 | You want a whipped cream that is not too stiff otherwise you won't be able to combine it easily with the rest. Once it's done, keep aside in the refrigerator |
 | This whipped cream is too stiff, too firm and this would be difficult to mix |
 | The cream must hold to the finger, but must be soft and not too stiff |
The chocolateLenôtre recommends a dark and qualityDark Chocolate at 70%, which I tried but I found it too .... much in chocolate as far as I'm concerned |
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I then decided to mix in Milk Chocolate and found the taste much better. It's really up to you, but trust me, the taste is better when you combine half Milk Chocolate ( 5 oz or 150 g) and half Dark Chocolate( 5 oz or 150 g) |
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 Melt the chocolate ( 11 oz or 300 g) in a double-boiler |
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Then set aside and wait until the temperature goes down to 120 °F / 45 °C |
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MixingMix in a bit of whipped cream |
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Add in the pâte à bombe and do not whisk, but gently fold in the mixture |
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Whisking would break the fluffy structure of the mousse, you do need to fold using a rubber spatula |
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At the end, fold in the Whipping Cream in 3 times |
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You will use a spatula to gently fold |
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Repeat twice |
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The batter won't look so fluffy, but don't be discouraged, it now needs to rest in the fridge |
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| Refrigerate for at least 4 hours |
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ResultYou may use this recipe for individual Mousse dessert, or use it in a layer cake.Enjoy !! |
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Cooking with the same Chef ?
All recipes of Lenôtre |
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Cooking with the same ingredients ?
What else to cook with Chocolate |
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4 Tablespoons Water (50 g)
⅔ Cup Sugar (150 g)
½ Cup Egg Yolks (100 g)
⅓ Cup Eggs (150 g)
2 ⅓ Cups Whipping Cream (520 g)
11 oz Dark Chocolate (300 g)
Comments for This Recipe
Use a large tip with the pastry bag, to keep the airy texture