Chocolate Mousse with a Secret Ingredient

Here it is…another fabulous vegan dessert!  You have to try this.  It’s easier than easy, and super delicious.  No cooking is involved, and it comes together in less than five minutes.

So, I told you it’s vegan.  Can you guess what the secret ingredient is? I will give you one hint: it’s not avocado (although I have been wanting to try this recipe for chocolate avocado pudding).
Here’s a picture of the process:

Have you figured it out?  It’s coconut cream!  Isn’t that crazy?  Maybe you already knew about this whipped coconut cream miracle, but I had no idea until I saw this photo tutorial the other day. Today after dinner (I tried to make shrimp korma—it was pretty good but I want to tweak the recipe before I share it with you) I had an extra can of coconut milk and a hankering to try it.  But, I felt like it would be lame to just make and eat a bowl of whipped coconut cream.  So, I searched for a dessert featuring this amazing stuff, and found and adapted this recipe from Baking Chic.  If you have a can of coconut milk, go put it in the refrigerator right now so you can make this tomorrow.  If you don’t have a can of coconut milk, go out and buy one, then put it in the refrigerator so you can make this tomorrow.  If you’re in a big hurry, put your can in the freezer so you can make this in half an hour.

Ingredients (serves one):

Cream from one can of coconut milk, chilled
1-3 tablespoons cocoa, to taste
1-3 tablespoons sugar, to taste
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Open the can of coconut milk, and spoon the hardened cream off the top.  Save the liquid for something else, like a smoothie.  Using an electric mixer, whip the coconut cream until fluffy.  Mix in sugar to taste and vanilla.  The original recipe called for three tablespoons of sugar, but I thought that would be way too sweet once I saw how little cream I had (maybe the yield varies by can).  Mine was perfect with a tablespoon and an extra teaspoon of sugar.  Set aside a few tablespoons of the whipped cream to use as a topping.  Mix in the cocoa to taste (I used a tablespoon and a half).  Serve the chocolate mousse with the reserved whipped cream on top.