So i have a client and she wants a cake for her son's birthday and she would like it to have chocolate mousse filling. So is it ok to make real chocolate mousse or should i just make chocolate whipped cream? The son is going to be seven. So he's not a toddler or anything? I have seen alot of recipes say it's not for children and seniors or pregnant women because of the eggs. I don't want to have a problem but she asked for chocolate mousse.

she asked for it ..... give it to her.

Have you tried the new Jello mousse? We're not exactly a family of gourmets, but it tasted as good as the real thing to us. I've used it as a cake filling too and it's nice and firm, not slippery like pudding.

I'm not sure what your recipe is but the one I have cooks the eggs so I'm not sure what the problem would be. I agree, if she asked for it, give her what she wants.

Someone taught me a quick easy way to make chocolate mousse...just make some nice stiff whipped cream and then fold in some chocolate ganache until its as strong as you like it.

Its what I always use!

That, or at the grocery store there are mousse mixes that I use for vanilla or flavored mousses.

Or you can also get pasteurized eggs.

I just don't believe in playing food police. If someone orders a chocolate cake, I don't inquire if anyone in their family is allergic to chocolate. If they want crushed almonds on the side of the cake, I don't lecture them onm the dangers of nut allergies. If they order mousse filling, I assume they are ok with their family eating mousse filling. As far as I know, they probably scarf it down right after they snack on some raw cookie dough!

And don't forget the runny-yolked eggs they had for breakfast.

**I actually got written up for serving those to my residents when I was a dietary manager. I "knew" I was doing a bad.. bad VERY bad thing, but IMHO if an 89 year old man wants a fried egg for b'fast he d**n well will get one if I have anything to say about it. I then started ordering pasturized eggs at over double the price... sigh...

I totally understand where you're coming from. Without ruffling too many feathers, this is a quite different world than we grew up in. Remember personal responsiblity??

Aww KansasLaura when I get old I hope someone like you works in the kitchen. haha.

I do agree with the allergy thing...if they don't tell me they are allergic to anything, I don't worry about it. Although I do still, if they order pumpkin or carrot cake, leave the nuts out by default and only add them if requested.

But some of my icings contain almond flavoring and that goes in unless specifically asked not to.

I guess I've never made homemade mousse, the "real" way. haha.

Hey Kitagrl, can I have your recipe?

It wouldn't necessarily have occurred to me that chocolate mousse has raw eggs in it. So you're not crazy to worry about it a little, despite the order being what it is, although I've never heard that raw eggs are an issue only for children/seniors/pregnant women! Nobody is supposed to eat raw eggs! (And yet, we all do, every time we have the chance at some raw chocolate chip cookie dough... )

Anyway, I'd use pasteurized eggs. I've started using the egg whites that come in a carton whenever I'm using a recipe that calls for uncooked eggs, because really, it would suck for somebody to get sick because of something I brought to a potluck, you know? And I would think for a pro baker, you'd be concerned about legal liability as well. Build the cost of pasteurized into your prices.

I often let my 5 year old "taste" the spatula when i'm done making a cake. The risk is (if I'm remembering correctly about 1 in 10,000 eggs) and the quantity of what you eat does matter. Now if my son had a weakened immune system, I wouldn't give it to him the spatula.

The most common salmonella poisoning from eggs occurs when several dozen eggs are pooled together in a large container. Ummm.... think scrambled eggs at restaurants, I won't touch those, btw. But over-medium no problem.

Generally they are dozens cracked together into one container and left to sit (refrigerated, mostly) for a period of hours or days. This gives salmonella time to grow.

Honestly, eating turkey at DH's moms house now that's dangerous. I can't tell you how many times we have driven home with one of the kids vomiting the whole way.....I've learned to put ham on their plates...God bless her, but her turkey will kill you.

my quicky fake mousse:

cool whip
chocolate syrup (hershey's dark)

-----

as for raw/undercooked/mass batched eggs...

yep **might** get salmonella but then if you get it often enough it toughens up the immune system.

(gets into that whole we're OVERLY clean and therefore making ourselves sick)

of course that works only for "normal" people -- not those on with any kind of immune system problems (genetic, drug induced, age induced...)

oh..and I avoid restaurant buffet scrambled eggs as I don't like eating rubber.

This is no reflection on the OP or any posters in this thread...but I'm SO tired of hysteria!

You can't pick up a magazine, newspaper or click on the tube w/o hearing about some new threat! don't eat this, DO eat that... don't eat that if you cook it like this!!


I swear I saw it all about 6 weeks ago. A TV commercial for a hand soap dispenser for the home you don't have to touch to get your soap.. because HOARDS of bacteria live on that pump!!!.. Ummm...Isn't the reason you're pressing down on that death trap of bacteria in the first place is to WASH YOUR HANDS?? Our immune systems have got to be totally out of wack!!

No wonder there are increasing numbers of germaphobes.. and people running in circles not knowing WHAT to eat, touch or say.

Gimme a break-- I sure miss common sense!

Of my 33 years of eating raw cookie dough, cake batter, etc...I've never once gotten sick off of raw eggs. I do like my eggs runny when cooked. It really is kinda silly. I don't mean not be cautious. Could you maybe use egg beaters if your concerned about it?

Just a quick search... good info from what looks like a reliable site.

http://www.incredibleegg.org/egg-facts/egg-safety/eggs-and-food-safety

I already knew that the majority of the risk of salmonella comes from the shell not the egg itself.

If the raw eggs in cookie dough and cake batter really are deadly, I'd be a goner.
And all the silver dragees I ate in childhood would have me glowing in the dark by now.

WAY BACK WHEN, a very wise Home Economics teacher told us to rinse the eggshells before cracking the eggs, because dropping a dirty eggshell into your batter, etc., could contaminate your product.
That same woman told us to rinse off the lids of canned goods before opening, for the same reason. Dirt, dust, unwashed hands (that may have been anywhere), critters, etc., may have contaminated the surfaces.
I don't think that's alarmist thinking--it makes sense. And it was almost 40 years ago, so it's nothing new.

The only reason I was asking because my recipe is from the Martha Stewart website and it's only there. I would give it to my kids cuz they are mine but I wouldn't risk giving it to someone that I have never met before. I am a home baker and do not have a license. So I like to be very cautious and do everything not to have a proble