Chocolate Mousse Musings

After my foray into creating what I consider a fabulous chocolate mousse, I won't say that I'm now a chocolate mousse expert, but I do confess that I did pat myself on the back (metaphorically speaking) each time I enjoyed one of the leftover ramekins in the fridge. To be honest, I was not a "mousse person" before because I simply had not found one I enjoyed. Chocolate mousse was always too sweet, too whippy, too "chocolate-lite" for my bittersweet, dense, rich chocolate preferences. Having found one I enjoy (aka mine, via Alice Medrich's recipe), I now have a mousse standard, and decided to give my taste buds a taste test.

Au Coquelet on University and Milvia in Berkeley has a special place in my heart. Having lived and ministered 4 years in the area, I spent many hours in this cafe with people, enjoying good fellowship and wonderful fruit tarts. With my new chocolate passion, I wanted to check out their Chocolate Mousse Tart and to experience how its flavor palate resonates with my emerging mousse preferences.

As I had learned from Alice, mousse, which simply means "foam," is to be elegantly smooth and creamy, with all its flavor coming from the chocolate. In other words, a good mousse is all about the chocolate, and allowing its flavors to "sing."

Unfortunately, the first note of Au Coquelet's Chocolate Mousse Tart made me wince. My first bite was very sweet, very rich, and not very "foamy." It was more like a thick, sweet ganache cake, and not what I imagined a mousse tart should be.

Once I got over the sweetness and settled into this experience, I cut small slivers to sample, so to identify the unique undertones that were being paired with the chocolate. There was a coconutty caramel flavor in this dessert, which I was beginning to enjoy. Yet as this little slice, which had been refrigerated, began to warm to room temperature, the sweetness began to overpower the chocolate.

Luckily, the crust, which had a deeper (aka "not as sweet") chocolate flavor, helped offset the sweetness. Because the fine chocolate crumb was a bit too crumbly and began to cover the plate with each cut, it coated more of my small slivers of mousse, and formed a better balance of flavor.

Though I eventually found the balance I needed to endure the sweetness, by the last bite, I found myself a bit strung out on a sugar high. This was a rich, sweet dessert and when it was done, I was done. May be I'm becoming more of a chocolate snob, but I now know what I like, and what I don't like, especially in a mousse. My preference is for a less sweet chocolate where the chocolate not the sugar sings the melody.

Overall assessment: 3 cacao beans (out of 5)
Though the coconutty caramel undertones were a unique high note in this chocolate mousse tart, which I enjoyed, it was a bit too sweet for me. I know however that some people with more of a chocolate sweet tooth would love this. It wasn't a bad mousse tart (I have had worst), it just wasn't excellent. It was simply OK. But if I am ever in need of a sugar high, I now know where to go get one.
(review date: 2010_03-02)