There is a kind of dessert that everyone needs in their arsenal. The kind that requires minimal muss and fuss and that you put together in advance of a dinner party. The kind that you can tailor according to circumstance and guests without undergoing any of that awful "will they or won't they like it" anxiety. If you have ever had people over you know exactly what I am talking about. This Chocolate Mousse Tart hits all those boxes. The 'Mousse' is simply chocolate, coffee, and cream. The crust is Oreos and butter. What is there not to love?
(Am suddenly getting anxious and wondering if there is any left in the fridge…focus Sarah focus…)
This recipe is adapted from Flour, one of my favourite cookbooks of all time, and Joanne Chang calls it a Milky Way Tart. I enjoyed it as it was originally written but somehow couldn't connect the flavours to a Milky Way & always think of it as a Chocolate Mousse Tart. Over time I have made some changes to suit my tastes like switching out the buttery crust for an Oreo one because well duh. I also find that milk chocolate alone is underwhelming and use a mix of milk and dark or whatever I have in the house. The instant coffee I never skip though, it adds both interest and depth and isn't strong enough to put off the coffee-phobes.
You can always make this even simpler and use a store bought Oreo crust because let's be real those are delicious and sometimes you don't feel like pulverizing Oreos and pressing them into a pie plate or tart tin. Topping choices are infinite - I usually use the half of the chocolate bar that is left from the filling to make the curls. It is super simple - all you have to do is peel them right off with a vegetable peeler. That said you can always chop up candy bars from your kids Halloween loot, top with chocolate covered espresso beans for something more sophisticated, make a simple caramel drizzle or do what I do and thin out your store bought dulce de leche and drizzle it right over.
Quick Tip:
If you expect to leave it out at room temperature or are taking it somewhere then I recommend stabilizing it with some dissolved gelatin or whipping in some milk powder. Either way it is tastiest cold so try to keep it chilled!
An Easy Chocolate Mousse Tart
Ingredients
Crust
- 25 Oreos + 4 Tbsp Butter
- OR
- 1 ½ cups Oreo Baking Crumbs and 5 tbsp of butter
Filling
- 150 g chocolate of your choice no chips please!
- 2 cups whipping/heavy cream
- 2 tsp coffee
Instructions
For the Crust
- If using the whole cookie then pulverize them to a crumb, add in melted butter and press into your pie plate or tart tin.
- If using the Oreo crumbs then simply stir the ingredients together and press in.
- For a crunchy crust bake at 350 for 8 minutes, for a softer one leave as is. I do find that the soft one works on in a pie plate but not in a tart pan.
For the Filling
- Chop the chocolate into pieces.
- Heat the cream in a saucepan until its scalding hot.
- Take it off the heat and stir in the chocolate pieces and coffee until smooth.
- Transfer to a mixing bowl, cover and leave in the fridge for four hours or longer. It has to be cold to be able to whip up!
- Whip until soft peaks form. Taste – depending on the chocolate you use you may want to tweak it by adding vanilla extract, more sugar, etc.
- Pile it into the crust and refrigerate until set – overnight is best.
- Garnish with chocolate curls, a caramel drizzle, your favourite candies, fudge sauce etc.
Notes
I like using a combination of milk (100g) and dark (50g). If you use mostly dark then you will definitely need to sweeten it!
Hania says
Can't wait to try this! Looks absolutely delicious! What brand of chocolate do you use and what percentage of dark chocolate is recommended?
sarahjmir@gmail.com says
Hi Hania! I always use whatever I have handy - usually Lindt or the Camino bars! In terms of how dark, I personally like a semi sweet here so around the 52 mark but my family prefers it with straight up milk chocolate!
Humdah says
This looks incredible! What size pan did you use?
sarahjmir@gmail.com says
Thank you!
I typically use a 9-inch tart pan!
Hamna says
Hello Sarah, I plan on making this as individual serving dessert for a dessert table where they’d be expected to stay for 3/4 hours at room temperature around 10 degree Celsius . How would you suggest I stabilize it with gelatin as in the aty if gelatin and water and method ?
sarahjmir@gmail.com says
Hi Hamna! Yes in that case you would absolutely need gelatin to stabilize it because this is so creamy.
Herra Khan says
Definitely trying this over the weekend! Does the chocolate need to be baking chocolate or any chocolate bar (such as lindt)?
sarahjmir@gmail.com says
For this recipe any chocolate you like to eat works! The only thing I do avoid/use less of are milk chocolate chips because they tend to have an added stabilizer which makes the melted chocolate slightly grainy! Do keep me posted on how it turns out!
Herra Khan says
So it tasted really good! But just a couple of things: my filling was lighter in color and also it didn’t hold it’s shape that much when I cut into it. Not sure what I did wrong?
Zehra Qureshi says
Hi Sarah,
I LOVE LOVE FLOUR. My favourite sandwich in the world is with them, in Boston. Love their food, the bakery everything. Also, I wanted to know how do I mix the butter with the oreo crust, do I need a mixer or can be done by Hand? And chocolate will easily melt in the hot cream or do I need to do it in the same saucepan with cream heating at the same time. Sorry a complete noob when it comes to baking.
sarahjmir@gmail.com says
Hi Zehra! Ohmigod isn't their stuff the BEST! You can just stir the crust and chocolate melts beautifully in hot cream! Happy Dessert Making - do let me know how it turns out!
Joti says
Wow, so few ingredients, I love it!!! It looks so good, thanks for sharing!
sarahjmir@gmail.com says
Thanks Jyoti! Do hope you try it one day!
Zeba@Food For The Soul says
Looks yummy!
sarahjmir@gmail.com says
Thanks so much Zeba!
Kamana@SocialandStyle says
This looks like happiness! So uh-mazing!
sarahjmir@gmail.com says
Thanks Kamana!
Dixya @ Food, Pleasure, and Health says
i am a huge chocolate mousse fan so i think this is going to be devoured, by me 😛
sarahjmir@gmail.com says
Happy to hear it 🙂
salmadinani says
Sarah, this sounds uh-mazing! I wish we were neighbours 🙂
sarahjmir@gmail.com says
Me too!