A Simple Raspberry Chocolate Mousse Tart, inspired by Pierre Hermé

I made this because I was greedy and I bought a lot of raspberries which were on sale and since they rot very fast, I was thinking of ways of disposing them - eating them as they are, on tarts, and in muffins and cakes. And also because I was craving for some chocolate mousse and I wanted to try out my new tart ring. I've never had a tart ring before - it literally is a ring which you place on a baking tray and mould your tart. I so very much wanted those professional looking tarts but mine turned out rather rustic looking (that's a nice way of putting it). Needless to say, the tart ring worked like a dream, but I want those smaller ones because a 5-inch ring is too big for anyone to consume in a single sitting!

Onto the mousse, I have to say that I really really like Pierre Hermé’s chocolate mousse. It takes longer than usual to set – taking at least 24 hours to reach a mousse-like consistency, but the results are fantastic. In a tart, they settle to form a caramel-chocolate like base with the chocolate mousse top. It is soft, pillowy, and absolutely delicious! It's really strange but the bottom layer really does taste like a rich chocolate caramel. This is however, not the recipe you would want to use if you’re looking for an aesthetically pleasing tart. The mousse should really be eaten as a mousse and is not apt as a tart filling, because it is very holey due to the air incorporated. But there's nothing that a dusting of cocoa powder wouldn't help with, isn't it? ;p 

Chocolate Mousse Raspberry Tarts 

Makes enough to fill 2 5-inch (12-cm) tarts 

You will need 1 portion of the pie crust recipe (sufficient to make a 9-inch pie), a portion of the chocolate mousse recipe below as well as a few raspberries to top the pie. You can also choose to line the base of the pie with some raspberry jam, which I did with my homemade raspberry jam (same method with different ingredients) :]

Pie Crust 

Blind bake it your favorite pie crust recipe. My two favorites (for the moment) are Bourke Street’s and Cook’s illustrated. However, I baked this tart using my Semolina Cream Cheese Pie Crust recipe. 

Chocolate Mousse

adapted and translated from Pierre Hermé's Le Larousse du Chocolat

Serves 4 small portions

85g bittersweet chocolate 

40g whole milk

10g egg yolk

60g egg whites

20g castor sugar

1. Chop chocolate into chunks and place it in a bowl over a bain marie, or a simmering pot. Make sure the water is simmering and not boiling. Melt the chocolate and put it aside. 
2. In the meantime, bring the milk to a boil. Pour it into the bowl containing the melted chocolate and whisk to combine. Add in the egg yolk and whisk until fully incorporated. 
3. Whip the eggs whites on medium speed until they reach a soft peak. Add in the sugar 'like rain' (in a slow steady stream) and increase the speed to medium until you get a firm and glossy peak. The chocolate mixture should be cooled by the time the egg whites are ready.
4. Add a third of the egg whites to the chocolate mixture to lighten the mixture before gently folding in the remaining egg whites into the chocolate mixture. Stop folding once there are no white streaks. 
5. You can pour the mousse into cups or into your pre-baked tarts. Chill for at least an 1 hour before consuming. It is best to chill it for at least a few hours so that the mousse can set properly. 

To assemble: 

1. Blind bake it your favorite pie crust recipe. Once the crust turns a golden brown, remove from the oven and allow it to cool. 
2. Begin making the mousse once the pie crust is out of the oven, by following the method above. Once you have folded in the egg whites into the chocolate mixture, immediately pour it into your baked tart crust. Otherwise once the mousse sets, it is hard to scoop or transfer it from the cup to the tart. If you wish, spread some raspberry jam on the bottom of the crust before adding the chocolate mousse. 
3. Allow the tart to chill in the refrigerator for at least 3-24 hours (preferably) before consuming. Garnish with some fresh raspberries before serving. 

Check out my 'holey' tart and that strange streak of light from the top right. 

Janine's jots: 

• Notes: Do note that Pierre Hermé does have a number of chocolate mousse recipes, but I really like this one because of the caramel-y like layer it produces and the lack of whipping cream used.  
• Taste: I really like the contrast of chocolate mousse and raspberries - I intentionally used a milk chocolate here, to go with the tart raspberries I had, and the combination was lovely - each bite was filled with a tart raspberry jam on the bottom, the milky sweet chocolate mousse and another tart, seedy raspberry. YUM.
• Texture: I felt that the tart could have benefited from a more substantial tart crust, i.e., one with less bite from the semolina and with a slightly more buttery texture. Nevertheless, I liked the rustic-ness of the tart, from the hole-y mousse to the uneven tart crust and its almost-grainy texture to the tiny pyramid of raspberries which I dug into immediately. 
• Serving size: This tart might be a tad big for one person to have for dessert, it's a nice dessert to share. I however had no such problem. The mousse was sufficiently light on the palate, and the crust being a semolina one, didn't leave me with a gelat aftertaste. Together with the tart raspberries, I found able to stomach more of the tart than expected. 
• Modifications: This recipe has been halved from the original and the sugar amounts have been decreased. Do note that the texture of this mousse is lighter if served after the brief chilling. However, you can cover and store in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days, the texture will be much more dense.
• Storage: The tart keeps well in an air tight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. After that, the tart crust becomes soggy because of the chocolate mousse. If you wish to keep it for longer, keep the mousse and pre-baked tart crust separately before filling it with the mousse and chilling it briefly again before serving. 
• Would I make this again?: Definitely, this is not the first time I've made this chocolate mousse recipe and is definitely not the last!

One final look at this yummy tart :D