Chocolate Mousse Domes with Raspberry Centres and Chocolate Glaze

Glossy chocolate mousse domes with a hidden raspberry centre and a fudgy brownie base. A stabilised mousse made with freeze-thaw-stable whipped cream sets cleanly, and a no-heat cold glaze finishes a pâtisserie-style dessert you can make at home.

Jump to recipe Shop ingredients
  • Prep 50 min
  • Bake 14 min
  • Rest / set 6 hrs 45 min
  • Glazing and decorating 20 min
  • Total 8 hrs 9 min
  • Serves 12
  • Level Intermediate
  • Oven 170 °C fan

A row of glossy chocolate domes looks like something from a pâtisserie window. Behind them is a simple plan: a thin brownie base, a light chocolate mousse with a raspberry centre hidden in the middle, and a smooth chocolate coat.

The brownie base is made with Vizyon Dark Compound Chocolate Coins. Compound chocolate uses vegetable fat in place of cocoa butter, so it never needs tempering and melts smoothly with the butter. The thin coins melt quickly and evenly with no chopping, which makes it easy to keep the mixture at the gentle temperature that protects the eggs.

The mousse is built on Vizyon Chocolate Cream Stabiliser. It is a chocolate charlotte powder that you hydrate in water and fold through whipped cream. It brings cocoa flavour and structure in one step, so the mousse holds a sharp dome shape without gelatine to bloom or chocolate to temper. Getting the water to 25°C matters, because that is the temperature at which the powder hydrates smoothly and evenly.

The whipped cream comes from Vizyon Stella Whipping Cream, a vegetable-based whipped cream powder that you whisk with cold milk. Keep the milk at 10–15°C: cool liquid lets the fat and emulsifiers in the powder set firmly around the air bubbles, giving a fine, stable foam. After whipping, a short 15-minute rest in the fridge firms it so it holds up to folding. It is freeze-thaw stable and won’t water out, which suits domes that go from freezer to fridge. It is lightly sweetened and vanilla-scented, so the mousse is a touch sweeter and lighter than one made with dairy cream.

The centre is Vizyon Raspberry Fruit Filling, a ready-to-use raspberry jelly with real fruit pieces. It is thickened with starch and pectin and is freeze-thaw stable, so you pipe it straight into the mousse. It holds its place, and when the domes thaw it stays soft and glossy rather than weeping juice into the mousse the way loose berries can. Its bright acidity is a good foil for the chocolate.

The finish is Vizyon Chocolate Cold Glaze, a ready-made chocolate gel that needs no heating. You whip it smooth, loosen it with a little water and pour it straight over the frozen domes. That makes it far more forgiving than a gelatine mirror glaze, which has to be poured at an exact temperature. All five products are available from Polen Food Oceania.

Plan ahead. The domes need at least four hours in the freezer before glazing, and overnight is better. They then need a couple of hours in the fridge to soften before serving.

Polen Food Oceania polenfood.com.au

Desserts

Chocolate Mousse Domes with Raspberry Centres and Chocolate Glaze

Glossy chocolate mousse domes with a hidden raspberry centre and a fudgy brownie base. A stabilised mousse made with freeze-thaw-stable whipped cream sets cleanly, and a no-heat cold glaze finishes a pâtisserie-style dessert you can make at home.

Makes 12 domes (8 cm)

  • Prep 50m
  • Bake 14m
  • Rest / set 6h 45m
  • Glazing and decorating 20m
  • Total 8h 9m
  • Serves 12
  • Level Intermediate
  • Oven 170 °C fan

The recipe

Chocolate Mousse Domes with Raspberry Centres and Chocolate Glaze

Makes 12 domes (8 cm)

Method

Brownie base

  1. Heat the oven to 170°C fan. Grease a 23 × 33 cm slice tin and line it with baking paper, leaving some overhang on the long sides so you can lift the brownie out.

  2. Melt the chocolate coins and butter together over a pan of barely simmering water, or in the microwave in 20-second bursts, stirring until smooth. The thin coins melt quickly, so stir often and don't let them overheat, or the compound chocolate will thicken and turn dull. Take it off the heat once it reaches about 45°C. If it is much hotter, it can scramble the eggs. Whisk in the caster sugar.

  3. Whisk in the eggs one at a time until the mixture is thick and glossy. Sift over the flour, cocoa and salt, then fold them in with a spatula until no streaks remain. Spread the batter into the tin with an offset spatula, taking care to get it even, because every dome needs a base of the same thickness.

  4. Bake for 12–14 minutes, until the centre is just set and a skewer comes out with a few moist crumbs. Cool in the tin, then freeze for 15–20 minutes to firm up. Lift it out and cut 12 discs with a 7 cm cutter. The discs are slightly smaller than the mould so a thin rim of mousse wraps the base. Keep them chilled.

Chocolate mousse

  1. Check the milk with a thermometer: it should be 10–15°C. Put the Vizyon Stella Whipping Cream powder and the milk in a cold bowl and whip at high speed for 3–4 minutes, until light, fluffy and holding soft peaks. Cool milk lets the fat and emulsifiers in the powder set firmly around the air bubbles, giving a finer, more stable foam. Chill the whipped cream in the fridge for 15 minutes so it firms up and holds when you fold it.

  2. Towards the end of the chilling time, make the chocolate base. Check the water with a thermometer: it should be 25°C. Whisk the Vizyon Chocolate Cream Stabiliser into the water for about 1 minute, until smooth, thick and free of lumps. At this temperature the starch and alginate in the powder hydrate evenly. Colder water leaves it lumpy, and hotter water tends to make it set too quickly.

  3. Whisk about a third of the whipped cream into the chocolate base to loosen it. Then fold in the rest with a spatula until the colour is even and no white streaks remain. Work gently so you keep the air in, and use the mousse straight away, as it begins to firm as it stands. Spoon it into a large piping bag and snip a 1.5 cm opening.

Assembly

  1. Set the silicone mould on a flat tray so it stays level. Pipe mousse into each cavity until it is about two-thirds full. Use the back of a small spoon to push the mousse up the sides, which drives out air pockets that would otherwise show through the glaze.

  2. Stir the Vizyon Raspberry Fruit Filling until smooth, spoon it into a small piping bag and snip a 1 cm opening so the fruit pieces pass through. Push the tip into the centre of each dome and pipe about 18 g, a mound roughly 3 cm across, so the filling sits inside the mousse rather than on top of it. Keep it well away from the sides of the mould. Pipe a little more mousse over the top to cover it completely, leaving about 1 cm of space below the rim.

  3. Press a brownie disc, top side down, into each cavity until it sits level with the rim and mousse squeezes up around the edge. Scrape across the mould with an offset spatula to leave a flat base. Freeze for at least 4 hours, and ideally overnight, until completely solid.

Glazing and finishing

  1. Put the Vizyon Chocolate Cold Glaze in a bowl and stir it briskly with a spatula until smooth. Add the water a teaspoon at a time, mixing after each addition, until the glaze falls from the spatula in a thick, flowing ribbon, like pouring custard. Mix rather than whisk so you don't beat in air. Let it stand for a few minutes so any bubbles rise to the surface.

  2. Pop the frozen domes out of the mould and space them out on a wire rack set over a tray. Wipe off any frost with a paper towel. Pour the glaze over each dome in one steady stream, starting at the top and circling down so the whole surface is coated. Touch up any bare patches with a quick pass of the offset spatula.

  3. Let the excess drip off for 2–3 minutes. Run a small palette knife around the base of each dome to tidy the edge, then lift them onto serving plates or cake boards. Top each one with a fresh raspberry.

  4. Thaw the domes in the fridge for 2–3 hours before serving. Served frozen, the mousse is hard and its flavour is muted. Thawed, it turns soft and creamy, and the brownie becomes fudgy again.

Equipment

  • 8 cm silicone half-sphere mould (12 cavities, or two 6-cavity moulds)
  • 23 × 33 cm slice tin
  • 7 cm round cutter
  • Stand mixer or hand mixer
  • Large piping bag
  • Small piping bag
  • Offset spatula
  • Wire rack set over a tray
  • Digital scales
  • Probe thermometer

Chef’s tips

  • Whip the Stella cream only until it is light, fluffy and holds soft peaks, which takes about 3–4 minutes at high speed. Folding in the chocolate base tightens it further, and cream that starts out over-whipped is hard to fold evenly and leaves holes in the domes.
  • Use the stabiliser mixture as soon as it is made. It starts to thicken as it stands, and a firm base is hard to fold through the cream evenly.
  • Smear mousse up the sides of each cavity before you fill it. Trapped air shows up as pits once the glaze goes on.
  • Keep the raspberry filling in the middle of each dome and cover it completely with mousse. Any filling that touches the mould shows as a red patch under the glaze.
  • Glaze the domes fully frozen and wipe off any frost first, so the glaze sets as it hits the surface and clings evenly.
  • Scrape the glaze that drips onto the tray back into the bowl. As long as it is free of crumbs, you can reuse it.
  • Cut the brownie while it is cold from the freezer. The discs come out clean and keep their shape when you press them into the moulds.
  • The compound chocolate coins need no chopping or tempering, but melt them gently and stir often. Overheated compound chocolate turns thick and dull. Keep unused coins in a cool, dry cupboard at 18–22°C, not in the fridge.
  • Check the milk for the whipped cream with a thermometer. At 10–15°C the Stella powder whips to a firm, fine foam; warmer milk gives a softer cream that holds less air.

Storage

Unglazed domes keep in their moulds, or in an airtight container in the freezer, for up to 2 weeks. Glaze them straight from the freezer. Once glazed and thawed, keep the domes in the fridge, lightly covered, and eat them within 2 days. Do not refreeze after thawing. Keep opened Vizyon Stella Whipping Cream powder tightly sealed in a cool, dry place below 25°C.

Find this recipe, and everything you need to make it, at polenfood.com.au/recipes/chocolate-mousse-domes-with-raspberry-centres-and-chocolate-glaze/

Chocolate Mousse Domes with Raspberry Centres and Chocolate Glaze
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