Salted Caramel Chocolate Mousse Pots

Aka homemade rolo desserts

Hello, Happy Friday!

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Look, if it’s been a rubbish week, I have just the dessert for you; no one will be unhappy when presented with these pots of deliciousness. And if you’ve had a good week this will be the. Cherry on the top, the gilding of the lily. Inspired by a supermarket staple, the rolo dessert, they are made up of a chocolate mousse, a layer of salted caramel and, to make the desserts feel a bit like a real rolo, are topped with a thin crisp chocolate layer. You might remember the rolo dessert, as it had a moment during lockdowns over the pandemic, people took to freezing them and serving them with a little flaked sea salt. They were of course delicious and once the idea of recreating them got stuck in my head I had to make them immediately.

I know sometimes I like to give you complicated multi-step recipes but I promise this one is nice and simple and an absolute must make.

The base of the dessert is a chocolate mousse and when making a mousse you have a number of options, a number of styles to choose from including but not limited to;

1. Sabayon

2. Pate a Bombe

3. Creme anglaise

4. Classic

1. Sabayon is a mixture of egg yolks and sugar (traditionally alcohol too) whisked over a Bain Marie until the yolks are thick and pale. This mixture is folded into melted chocolate with meringue and whipped cream also folded through to make a light mousse.

2. Pate a Bombe is very similar to sabayon but this time whole eggs are whisked in a stand mixer and hot sugar syrup is slowly poured in the eggs (you can also make it in an identical manner to sabayon but using whole egg), whisking until cooled and a thick mousse like texture is formed. This is combined with the chocolate and then whipped cream is also folded through

3. The classic method, commonly favoured by home cooks, is a little more straight forward. Chocolate is melted, sometimes with a small amount of butter or cream, and then egg yolks are mixed into the warm chocolate. Then both whipped egg whites and whipped cream are folded through

4. With the creme anglaise method you start by effectively making a ganache but instead of using cream you make a simple creme anglaise with egg yolks, sugar, milk and cream. To turn this into a mousse you fold through whipped egg whites.

Whilst the ‘classic’ method is the favourite of many home cooks it can be a little tricky to make because adding the egg yolks to the warm chocolate mixture can cause the mixture to thicken too quickly and then the whole mixture can seizes when the cold cream and whites are folded through, leading to a grainy and sometimes dense mousse. A well made chocolate mousse relies on temperature control to ensure the whipped cream or whipped egg whites don't break or lose any volume when combined. If the chocolate mixture becomes too cold the whipped cream or egg whites will cause the chocolate to set and the mousse will both lack volume and become grainy. To prevent this problem I use the ever so slightly more involved creme anglaise method which is easy to make and makes the mousse easier to bring together.

This method has one additional step, compared with the classic method, but actually, because you're only whipping egg whites and not cream as well, it takes basically the same amount of time. The chocolate is melted and turned into a ganache using a creme anglaise base and because this keeps the chocolate warm and fully melted it combines with the egg whites beautifully and gives you a light and intensely flavoured chocolate mousse.

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