Chocolate cups!  Chocolate-orange mousse!  Strawberries!  It all adds up to an amazing dessert that will impress your friends and family – yet they’ll never have to know how crazy easy it was to throw together.

Chocolate Cups

* A good quality semi-sweet chocolate
* Balloons, on the smaller side with no writing

Melt chocolate, either in a double boiler or in the microwave. LET IT
COOL. Seriously, this step can’t be overlooked, or your balloons will
explode all over your kitchen! Let it cool, and when you think it’s cool
enough, let it cool some more. It should be warm but no more than that.
Then…dip the bottom of your balloon in the chocolate, as high as you’d
like your cups to be.

Now, just sit back and let them harden. This will take a while, and you
can tell they’re hard enough when they’re no longer shiny. I let mine sit
for a couple of hours, although you could speed this up by putting them in
the fridge. When it’s time, take a pin and prick the balloons at the top;
you don’t want them to pop, you just want to slowly let the air out. The
air will come out and the balloons will release from the chocolate.

Now, just fill them and serve! Again, you can fill them with just about
anything you can come up with. We love this chocolate-orange mousse, so
if you’re lacking imagination at the moment, by all means use this recipe.
I like to top it with a bit of orange zest for color and serve with a
fanned strawberry or two on the side – the strawberry flavor is great with
the mousse.

Chocolate-Orange Mousse

* 1 cup heavy cream
* 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
* 3/4 cup sugar
* 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
* 1 tablespoon orange zest, grated

In a medium bowl with electric mixer on high speed, beat cream to stiff
peaks; set aside. In another bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar together
on medium speed until smooth. With the mixer on low speed, beat in cocoa
powder and orange zest. Gently beat in half the whipped cream. Remove
mixer and fold in remaining whipped cream by hand. Using a plastic bag,
pipe mousse into chocolate cups, garnish with orange zest and
strawberries, and listen to the oooh’s and aaah’s from your adoring fans!

You can also see my guest post for this recipe at bellalimento.

Like the chocolate bowls?  Serve them as the dessert to my braided salmon and you’ve got one impressive – but easy – dinner for guests!

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