Chocolate Banana Mousse

This has got to be one of the easiest desserts ever. Easy in the sense that it is just a matter of mashing up some very ripe bananas and mixing the whole lot with melted chocolate and whipped cream. But assembling the dessert is another story. It does require a certain degree of finesse of which I have very little.

I attempted this dessert two years ago after seeing the recipe on Ann's blog. At that time, I did not blog about it because I made it in a hurry for a family dinner.

To make the chocolate mixture for the banana mouse, the recipe calls for boiling 60g of whipping cream from which only 40g is added to 60g of chocolate pieces. I do understand why it is done this way because it is not easy to measure and boil 40g of whipping cream.

But still, I find this rather tedious and I have taken the liberty of doing things a little differently. I did away with the 60g/40g thingy and made more chocolate ganache instead.

Then, I simply took about 100g of ganache to mix into the mashed bananas. That really simplified matters. Lazy me. LOL! Please excuse this long post because I am documenting what I did so that I can use it for future reference. I know that I am going to make this dessert again. Soon.

Break chocolate pieces by snapping them before you unwrap the bar.
 This keeps your hands clean and it is rather fun.
But not as enjoyable as popping bubble wrap.

Place chocolate into a measuring jug.
It makes it easier to pour into piping bag later.

Boil whipping cream.

Pour into chocolate. Leave for 5 minutes. Don't touch!

Stir. It looks diluted but keep stirring.

You'll end up with a thick smooth ganache. Eventually.

Mash the bananas until fine. Mine has lumps but who cares?

Whisk the whipping cream until soft peaks.

Pour into the mashed bananas. Yikes! I forgot to add chocolate ganache!
But it is OK as I could add at this point.

Fold until evenly blended. Aiyah! Forgot the vanilla extract!

Once you get to this part, put the banana mousse and the remaining chocolate ganache into individual piping bags. I tell you, my piping skills are next to non-existent and it was not an easy job. My layers were uneven and I made a mess. I'm not going to lie to you. Assembling this Chocolate Banana Mousse is not a breeze. In fact it was a freaking tornado. Before I arrived at this vision of loveliness :

This was what preceded :

The harsh reality of food blogging. And that's just the dining table.

Messy, messy, messy!!! Did you see the dessert resting on the printed copy of Ann's recipe? And the extra bananas in my colander? And oh, the solitary dessert cup that remained empty. Bah! I should have doubled the recipe. hee..hee.. It was just as well that I made extra ganache or else there wouldn't be enough to go around. My piping and layering is appalling.  LOL! This piping business is hard :( 

I had this for breakfast the next morning. I know. I'm bad.

Before I put on the finishing touches, I chilled the Chocolate Banana Mousse in the fridge for a few hours. While it was chilling, what else, I had to clean up the mess. This part of my hobby is no fun :(

Ann Low's bakes are works of art and I admire her so much. I love the way she puts things together and I can spend hours just gawking at her photos. And her influence is rubbing off on me. So this is my attempt at being artsy fartsy. 

When it was time to taste the fruits of my labour, ah! All that hard work was so worth it. Mmmmmppphhh!!! Yummmmeh!!! Look at that. Smooth melt-in-your mouth chocolate and banana heaven!

This recipe made me only 3 tumblers of dessert (volume approximately 250ml each). What you see here is all of it. Ann however, made 8-10 cups. Ann being Ann, she is artistry personified so you would expect her to make her desserts in elegant dainty cups and not in big tumblers like I did. I am such a pig. Oinks! heee...heee....

And allow me let you in on my dirty little secret. Immediately after assembling this batch of dessert, I went to Aeon and got me another 2 cartons of whipping cream. That took care of the remaining 8 ripe bananas (double recipe, yeah!). And nope, no more piping business for this batch. I just poured the mousse into individual air tight containers. They are now safely tucked in the freezer. That's my idea of a sound investment :D

Chocolate Banana Mousse
Recipe source : Adapted from Anncoo Journal

Ingredients :

Chocolate Ganache :
- 240g dark chocolate
- 200ml whipping cream

Banana Mousse :
- 200g very ripe bananas, mashed (about 4 medium sized bananas)
- 100g chocolate ganache (from above)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 200g whipping cream, whipped to soft peaks

Method :
For chocolate ganache :
1. Break chocolate into small pieces and place in a big measuring jug (or any suitable container)
2. Boil the whipping cream and pour into the chocolate. Leave for 5 minutes without stirring.
3. Stir until you get a smooth chocolate mixture. Set aside to cool.

For the Banana Mousse :
1. Mix the mashed bananas with chocolate ganache and vanilla extract until well blended.
2. Fold in the whipped cream and mix until well blended.

To assemble :
1. Put chocolate ganache and banana mousse into individual piping bags.
2. Pipe equal amounts of chocolate mousse into each serving cup and top with a layer of chocolate ganache.
3. Repeat until you get a few layers.
4. Chill in the fridge for a few hours or overnight.
5. Garnish as desired and serve.