I love a good chocolate mousse though usually find them too rich to eat much of. This mousse, made with mascarpone, dark chocolate and Grand Marnier was outstanding but I would probably make a traditional mousse instead of the mascarpone mousse next time. I did have some problems making the mousse. It completely broke apart at a couple of different points. It’s times like these that I appreciate my culinary training and can usually figure out a way to salvage a disaster without a complete do over.

I made half of the original recipe (below) and it was plenty.

From: Daring Bakers, June 2010 Challenge

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• grated zest of one lemon
• 9 oz dark chocolate (72%), chopped*
• 1 2/3 cup mascarpone
• pinch of nutmeg
• 2 tablespoons Grand Marnier

Directions:

Pour half cup of the heavy cream and lemon zest into a saucepan over medium high heat. Once warm, add the chocolate and whisk until melted and smooth. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and let sit at room temperature until cool. [I heated the chocolate too aggressively and it separated. Luckily I was able to save it by blending it in the food processor ... crisis 1 averted!]

Place the mascarpone, the remaining cup of cream and nutmeg in a bowl. Whip on low for a minute until the mascarpone turns creamy. Add the Grand Marnier and whip on medium speed until it holds soft peaks. (DO NOT OVERBEAT AS THE MASCARPONE WILL BREAK) [I overbeat the mascarpone after adding the Grand Marnier and it turned to something like butter with a lot of liquid draining out of it. It was pretty gross. But saved this mousse yet again ... I put the cheese in a strainer and pressed the rest of the liquid out. I then added the Grand Marnier back in and proceeded ... crisis 2 averted! Success delicious success!]

Mix about 1/4 of the mascarpone into the chocolate. Fold in the remaining mascarpone until well incorporated.

* I used super dark 72% chocolate as the recipe called for but with this dark of a chocolate, it breaks apart when melting very easily. I think you would have an easier time of working with the chocolate and still have a knock out fantastic flavor and texture by using a semi sweet chocolate.