Milk Chocolate Mousse

Pastry chef Mark Sopchak shows us how to make milk chocolate mousse.

• Milk Chocolate Mousse

Ingredients:

24 ounces High Quality Milk Chocolate (preferably Michel Cluizel Mangaro Lait)

3 cups Heavy Cream

9 yolks

1 egg

¾ cup sugar

2 Tablespoons light corn syrup

2 Tablespoons water

Method:

- Gently melt the chocolate over a double boiler. Set aside.

- Whip the cream to soft peaks. Set aside.

- Begin whipping the egg yolks and eggs in an electric mixer on high speed.

- Combine the sugar, corn syrup and water in a small saucepan.

- Bring to a boil, and cook until it registers 230 degrees on a candy thermometer.

- Immediately Pour into whipping eggs, and continue whipping until cool.

- Fold in the melted chocolate, followed by the whipped cream

- Immediately spoon into whatever dishes you plan to serve the mousse in.

- Chill until ready to serve.

Low-fat or lactose-free options:

Use egg whites instead of egg yolks and/or replace the whipped cream with non-fat whipped topping.

About the chef:

Pastry Chef Mark Sopchak has been with the Central Park Boathouse since 2002. He spent several years living in Yemen as a child, and traveling around Europe and the Middle East, taking in all the sights, sounds, and tastes that would influence his cooking later. Having no formal culinary training, he received his degree in Music Composition from The Evergreen State College in his home of Olympia, Washington.

Originally moving to New York City in 1996 to pursue a career in music, he ended up finding his way into the restaurant world as a line cook, and soon after began to take an interest in pastry. After working as an assistant to both Sara Spearin and Jennifer McClintick at Zoë, as well as Kim Rothrock at Fressen, he went on to become the pastry chef at several restaurants, including Quince, Zoë, Lure, and Aquavit, before coming to the Boathouse.