Nutritionist, author and keto expert, Pauline Cox. Photo: Gary Lewis.
Zap your sugar cravings with this low-carb chocolate, coconut, cardamom and orange keto mousse recipe from nutritionist, Pauline Cox. The rich chocolate flavour, zesty orange and warm spice of cardamom, will satisfy your cravings while on the keto diet. Plus, it’s packed with protein to keep you fuller for longer.
Words and lead image: Pauline Cox
Coconut milk is ideal for desserts when following a low-carb, keto lifestyle. It has a naturally sweet flavour and high levels of MCT, a type of fat that bypasses digestion and gets converted to ketones by the liver, which encourages the body to increase fat-burning.
For this keto chocolate mousse recipe, choose good quality chocolate with 80 per cent or higher cocoa solids, as this creates the flavour and richness of your mousse. My favourites are Nibble and Before Chocolate There Was Cacao.
Low-carb keto chocolate mousse recipe
Makes 4 mousse portions. Carbs per portion: 8.2g
Ingredients for keto chocolate mousse:
- 100g dark chocolate buttons, melted
- 1 orange, zested and juiced
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp ground cardamom (grind whole cardamom for amazing flavour)
- 100g canned creamed coconut (I use Organic Cocofina coconut cream)
- 2 eggs separated
- Handful of crushed pistachio nuts
How to make keto chocolate mousse:
- Put the chocolate buttons in a glass bowl over a pan of gently simmering hot water. Slowly melt the chocolate. Once it is smooth and liquid, remove the bowl, set aside and allow the chocolate to cool.
- Grate the orange skin, and add most of the zest into a mixing bowl. Keep the remaining zest for decoration. Slice the orange in half, extract the juice and the pulp of the orange and add to the mixing bowl.
- Add the salt, cardamom and half of the coconut cream and combine. Separate the eggs and add the yolk to the bowl with the orange and coconut mix.
- In another bowl, add the egg whites and beat using a whisk until the mixture resembles fluffy clouds and forms stiff peaks.
- Gently add the coconut and orange mixture to the cooled chocolate, stirring continuously. Fold the beaten egg whites into the chocolate mix, retaining the fluffy lightness by not over stirring. Add the mixture to four ramekins or pretty glasses and chill for two to three hours.
- Next, add a dollop of the remaining canned coconut cream (whip it up with a whisk to loosen) and sprinkle with orange zest and chopped pistachio nuts. You can also add freeze-dried raspberry pieces for extra zest.
To source healthy, low-carb and keto snacks and more, visit sowandarrow.com. You can also find Pauline Cox on Facebook where she has a group, Healthy Keto & Low Carb Living.
