Baileys Mousse With Irish Whiskey Whipped Cream

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Treat yourself and your loved ones to one luscious, decadent dessert with this Baileys mousse with Irish whiskey whipped cream! Featuring the perfect airy texture and explosion of rich chocolate, everyone will fall in love with this gourmet delight after just one velvety bite. This is one unforgettable dessert that's sure to impress every time.

A cup of Baileys mousse with a bottle of Irish cream behind it with a sprig of mint to the side.

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Why You Need to Make This Recipe
Ingredients
Step-by-Step Instructions
How to Serve
Recipe FAQs
Expert Tips
Perfect Pairing
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📖 Recipe

Why You Need to Make This Recipe

Chocolate mousse is a dessert you typically associate with fine dining, but you may not realize that it isn’t difficult to make. The steps require a little patience, but the processes certainly aren’t hard.

We melt some chocolate, whip a couple additional ingredients and fold everything together. Just like that, we have one impressive, five-star dessert right from our home kitchen.

Of course, this isn’t any chocolate mousse. We make this confection extra special with a dose of Baileys Irish Cream.

Adding Baileys gives this dessert a layer of toffee and nutty notes with an extra punch of vanilla that beautifully complements our rich chocolate. Sure, chocolate mousse is always a favorite, but the Irish cream really makes this sweet treat stand out.

Along with the Baileys, we add the perfect finishing touch with an Irish whiskey whipped cream. That extra dose of Irish fun makes this a wonderful St. Patrick’s Day dessert, but don’t feel like you have to stop there.

Christmas, Valentine’s Day or just a random Saturday night are all perfect excuses to whip up a batch of this Irish cream mousse. No matter the occasion, this Baileys mousse is a welcome sweet ending to a meal, and you can never have enough trustworthy, crowd-pleasing dessert recipes.

Related: For more chocolate desserts, make sure you also try this triple chocolate tiramisu, amaretto ice cream and chocolate custard.

The Baileys mousse with a bottle of Irish cream and white flowers behind it on a wooden board.

Ingredients

For the most chocolatey, ultra rich Baileys mousse, I recommend a 70 percent bittersweet chocolate. That said, you can also use semisweet chocolate if you prefer. Look for baking bars rather than chocolate chips.

The Baileys may seem obvious, but this is simply the most well-known Irish cream. You're also welcome to use your favorite Irish cream liqueur if you don't have Baileys on hand.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Let’s get started. We make this Baileys mousse in three separate parts: melted chocolate, whipped egg whites and whipped cream. I like to begin by melting the chocolate to give it time to cool.

Step 1: To melt the chocolate, we add it to a heat-resistant bowl with butter and espresso powder and place the bowl over a pot of simmering water (photo 1). If you're extra fancy and have a double boiler, you can use that. This allows the chocolate to melt gently without burning.

As the chocolate heats, we continuously stir the mixture (photo 2) until it's nice and smooth (photo 3).

A collage showing the process of melting chocolate over a pot of simmering water until it melts and turns smooth.

Step 3: Once we melt the chocolate, we stir in one egg yolk at a time (photo 4). Again, we want to use gentle heat. If the heat is too hot, it can scramble our eggs.

Stirring in the egg yolk into the melted chocolate so that it incorporates smoothly.

Step 4: Now we beat our egg whites in a separate bowl with a touch of sugar. To ensure we have the proper structure, we whip them until stiff peaks form. You know you have stiff peaks when you lift your beater and the egg whites hold their shape like so (photo 5).

Egg whites beaten until stiff peaks form in a stainless steel mixing bowl.

Step 5: From here, we make our Baileys whipped cream. For this step, we whip together our heavy cream, Baileys Irish Cream, sugar and vanilla extract until it reaches the consistency of whipped cream (photo 6). We'll follow this same process for making our Irish whiskey whipped cream.

Beating the whipped cream in a stainless steel bowl until stiff peaks form.

Step 6: With these three elements ready, we now fold in our egg whites and then the whipped cream. We're dealing with delicate ingredients here, so we want to be gentle to maintain that airy texture.

To properly fold together the ingredients, we take a spatula and run it on the side of the bowl through the bottom, keeping the spatula touching the bowl, and then bring it out through the other side. As we bring the spatula out the other side, we gently fold the chocolate mixture on top (photo 7). If you’d like a visual, see this video on how to fold ingredients.

Like I mentioned, this will take a little patience to incorporate all the ingredients, but this is our last active step for the mousse. Once we incorporate the three components (photo 8), we’re ready to put this delicious Baileys mousse in the refrigerator to set.

A collage showing the process of folding the ingredients until they incorporate and turn into the mousse.

How to Serve

This Irish cream mousse is delicious unadorned, but a lovely presentation always makes for an even more memorable dessert. For a more casual gathering, serving this boozy chocolate mousse in a mason jar or dessert glass is perfect. Or you can jazz it up and serve it in a wine glass or martini glass for a more upscale presentation.

For garnishing, I love a little grated chocolate. This is as simple as running a bar of chocolate along a box grater, so if you plan on using grated chocolate, make sure you grab an extra bar at the store.

Now dollop some Irish whiskey whipped cream on top and add a fresh mint sprig. You now have one beautiful dessert that’s sure to impress.

Looking down on the Baileys chocolate mousse with a bottle of Irish cream behind it.

Recipe FAQs

How long does it take to set mousse?

While this Baileys mousse will be perfectly delicious by the spoonful right away, it needs time to set for the right consistency. Plan for at least an hour or two of setting.

How do I serve mousse?

Once the Baileys chocolate mousse sets, it will firm up quite a bit. You’ll still be able to scoop the mousse just fine, but if you want a softer, airier bite, which I recommend, let it sit in room temperature for about 20 to 30 minutes or so before serving.

You can scoop it directly into dessert cups for a more casual gathering or pipe the mousse for a fancy touch.

Can I make mousse ahead of time?

In addition to the serving time, you can certainly make mousse ahead of time. It will keep for about a couple days, but I prefer to enjoy it within 24 hours.

What are other ways to use chocolate mousse?

Along with serving as its own stand-alone dessert, this Baileys mousse can be used in so many other ways. Here are a few ideas.

Use as a cake filling between layers, like in my Irish whiskey chocolate cake.
Spoon into an Oreo or graham cracker crust to make a mousse pie.
Serve in a dessert glass with layers of crushed chocolate cookies to make a parfait.
Spread onto these chocolate stout brownies.
Pipe into cupcakes for one decadent filling.
Dollop into mini phyllo tart shells to make bite-size desserts.

Expert Tips

When melting the chocolate and stirring in the egg yolks, make sure the water is just simmering, not rapidly boiling. Remember, we only want gentle heat. If the water starts boiling, turn down the heat.
It’s best to separate the eggs when cold and then whip them once they come to room temperature. Once eggs reach room temperature, they’re easier to incorporate, but that means they can be trickier to separate.
Before whipping the cream, chilling the stainless steel mixing bowl helps the cream come together quickly.
I prefer to use three mixing bowls, but if you only have two bowls, first whip the egg whites and then the cream. If any fat from the cream is left in the bowl with the egg whites, it can prevent the mixture from beating properly.

Perfect Pairing

For a beer, I always love an imperial stout with a chocolate dessert. The residual sweetness makes it a wonderful dessert beer, and the bold roasted malt melds perfectly with our chocolate. A Baltic porter is also a delicious option, or a nutty Belgian dubbel would be nice with the Irish cream.

Need the perfect wine? You can’t go wrong with a ruby port, which is a classic chocolate mousse pairing. The prominent berry notes also match nicely to the vanilla-forward, nutty Irish cream.

Of course, you might also enjoy a good Baileys cocktail with this boozy chocolate mousse, and I have just the recipe. Try my Baileys Irish coffee martini. With its additional coffee notes, you'll love it with this chocolatey treat. My Irish whiskey old fashioned isn't a bad option, either, especially with that whipped cream.

When you need an impressive, decadent dessert that rivals a five-star restaurant, I hope you try this Baileys mousse. It can be our little secret that this sweet treat is much simpler to make than your guests would think.

Cheers!

The mousse with a spoonful taken out of it and mint to the side.

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