Chocolate mousse speaks for itself with its fluffy and airy chocolate base, but adding some chocolate shavings and whipped cream makes for an even prettier presentation.
Separate the egg yolks and egg whites into two large bowls. In one bowl use a hand mixer to beat the yolks and sugar together for about 3 minutes on high until light yellow and a bit fluffy.
In the second large bowl, beat the egg whites with a hand mixer until stiff white peaks are formed.
On the stovetop over low, heat 1 cup of the heavy whipping cream, stirring contstantly until warm. Do not boil. Add the chopped chocolate and stir with a whisk until fully combined, plus another couple minutes to allow for thickening into a chocolate ganache. Remove from heat and allow to cool to just over room temperature.
Drizzle the chocolate mixture into the egg yolk mixture while whisking to prevent clumping. Stir in the extract.
Fold in the egg whites. Refrigerate for one hour.
Whip the remaining heavy whipping cream, into whipped cream. After the hour of refrigeration, fold the whipped cream into the chocolate mixture and pour into choice of serving dishes or cups. Refrigerate for another 3 hours.
Serve with fresh whipped cream and chocolate shavings.
Notes
You may replace regular eggs with pasteurized eggs if you have concerns or are pregnant.
We used 100% cacao, unsweetened chocolate. Use baking chocolate, found in the baking aisle at the grocery store for this recipe. You may substitute with milk chocolate for a much sweeter taste, a bar of semi-sweet chocolate, or bittersweet at whatever percentage you prefer like 60% or 70%. You will get a much richer flavor out of the higher percentages of chocolate.