Baileys Chocolate Mousse is deliciously light, fluffy, and infused with the sweet flavor of Baileys Irish Cream. The perfect decadent dessert for holidays and special occasions!
I’m always up for dessert… but if I’m going to eat it, it better be worth it. Forget store bought cupcakes or boxed brownies or packaged cookies. But I’ll devour homemade chocolate coconut cupcakes or frosted brownies or chocolate chip cookies!
Because homemade is ALWAYS better… and when you add Baileys? It’s ALWAYS worth it! (If you really want to go all out, start with homemade Baileys!)
Case in point: this Baileys Chocolate Mousse recipe. It starts with an easy homemade chocolate mousse (no egg yolks or double boiler required), made even more delicious with the addition of Baileys. Not only does it add amazing Irish Cream flavor and a little bit of extra fun, but it has a deliciously silky texture that makes chocolate mouse even better.
Perfect for chocolate lovers or Baileys lovers or… better yet… both!
what you’ll need for this recipe
Unflavored gelatin – Gelatin helps to thicken and set the mousse, giving it the firm yet light, fluffy texture we expect from chocolate mousse.
Water – Water is first used to “bloom” or activate the gelatin, and then used to dissolve it. Be sure to use cold water to bloom and boiling water to dissolve.
Sugar – Granulated sugar gives this recipe its sweetness. Feel free to adjust the amount to taste.
Cocoa powder – Cocoa powder adds the chocolate flavor to the mousse. I used regular unsweetened cocoa powder, but you can also use dark cocoa powder for a dark chocolate flavor.
Cream – Heavy whipping cream (similar to double cream) is one of the key ingredients in mousse and what gives it its light, fluffy, creamy texture.
Irish Cream Liqueur – I substituted a portion of the heavy cream with Baileys Irish Cream for delicious flavor.
Vanilla – A dash of vanilla extract adds another layer of flavor to this recipe.
how to make baileys chocolate mousse
Prep the bowls & beaters. Before beginning, chill the bowls & beaters in the freezer for 15-20 minutes.
Prep the gelatin. Sprinkle the gelatin over cold water in small bowl; stir and let stand 1 minute to soften. Add boiling water; stir until gelatin is completely dissolved. Set aside to cool.
Combine the ingredients. In a large mixing bowl, combine the sugar and cocoa powder. Add the heavy cream; beat at medium-high speed using a hand mixer or stand mixer until stiff peaks form.
Add more ingredients. To the chocolate mixture, gradually add the Baileys, vanilla, and gelatin mixture. Beat continuously at high speed until well-blended and soft peaks form.
Spoon into serving dishes. Let stand 5 minutes to thicken. Spoon into serving dishes and place in refrigerator to chill. (For a faster setting mousse, chill bowls before filling.)
Chill. Chill in the fridge 1 hour or until ready to serve.
Tips for Success
Chill the bowl & beaters. Chilling the bowl and beaters by placing them in the freezer for a full 15-20 minutes before starting will help ensure that the temperature of the ingredients stays cold (a key to making this recipe work!)
Start with cold ingredients. Cold cream is key in making whipped cream AND in making mousse! So to ensure success, be sure your heavy cream and Baileys Irish Cream are both very cold.
Wait for the peaks. Before adding the Baileys, vanilla, and gelatin mixture, be sure you’ve achieved stiff peaks with the heavy cream. If not, your mousse will never thicken properly.
optional toppings
- Chocolate shavings
- Homemade Cool Whip
- Mini chocolate chips
- Chocolate ganache
More Baileys Recipes You’ll Love
Be sure to check out some more of my delicious Baileys dessert recipes!
Bailey’s Chocolate Mousse
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons gelatin unflavored
- 2 Tablespoons cold water
- 1/4 cup boiling water
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 Tablespoons cocoa powder for a more intense chocolate flavor, add 1 additional Tablespoon
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream very cold
- 1/2 cup Baileys Irish Cream very cold
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- *Before beginning, prep bowl and beaters by placing in the freezer for 15-20 minutes to chill.*
- Sprinkle gelatin over cold water in small bowl; stir and let stand 1 minute to soften.
- Add boiling water; stir until gelatin is completely dissolved. Let stand to cool.
- Stir together sugar and cocoa in a large mixing bowl; add heavy cream.
- Beat at medium-high speed until stiff peaks form; gradually pour in Baileys, vanilla, and gelatin mixture, beating continuously at high speed until well-blended and soft peaks form.
- Let stand 5 minutes to thicken.
- Spoon into serving dishes and place in refrigerator to chill. (*For a faster setting mousse, chill bowls before filling.)
- Chill 1 hour or until ready to serve.
Video
Nutrition
Sooo yummy! There is not much I love more than some Bailey’s!
I haven’t had a good homemade chocolate moose since I spent a year and n college in Paris. We attended a small private school. My professor and her friend to nvited us to their hous and we made chocolate. Mousse. Believe it or not they had no fridge ( and this was in1972. LOL), so we had to put the mousse out the window to cool. But, it was the best mousse I ever had. I tried one or two since then but they were horrible. I hope this isn’t ne comes out. I think one trick was to have everything chilled (outside the window) until they are ready to be incorporated. Then maybe X very slow and easy. We didn’t use the Baileys back then.
Ooooh, I do hope you’ll swing by the Potluck Dinner Party over at Carole’s Chatter and add this to the table!
Cheers
I much prefer staying in for St. Patrick’s Day now, though I used to party hardy, too! 🙂 This chocolate mousse looks fantastic, Cathy! I love that you added bailey’s to it. Looks so creamy and delicious!
How many does this serve?
The recipe does say serves six 1/2 cup servings.
Not sure how I missed this one i’m so glad I found it before March 17! It looks creamy, rich and delicious…another fabulous recipe my friend!
Wow, that looks amazing Cathy!! My spoon doesn’t seem to be able to get through the computer screen! 😉 I cannot even comprehend having 4 kids, I don’t know that my brain could do it, LOL
Do you have the recipe for this yummy looking dessert
Does anyone know what size and how many portions the Bailey’s Chocolate Mousse makes?
That information is right above the list of ingredients:
Serves: 6 (1/2 cup) servings
This looks so good!!! What us nutritional info? Thanks
Hahahaha..nutrition? I don’t think so..If you choose to eat this..you must forgo the “Healthy” eating for the moment.
Made this s today and it was wonderful. I did not use the liquor and substituted the creamer flavored like Bailey’s.
That’s a great idea! I was thinking about a non alcoholic version for the kids!
The alcohol will be gone when u eat it!! lol
Soo many artifical ingredients in coffee creamer flavorings! Much better to use actual Bailey’s Irish Cream, somewhat a little more healthy.
What did u use instead of the alcohol
Wow!! I just finished making this for company today. Just licked the spoon! Awesome!!! Somebody tear me away from the dessert bowls!! Yikes! So light and fluffy. One minor change…..I always use dark cocoa so that’s what I had on hand. Will absolutely make this again! Loved how easy and fast it was.. Used my stand mixer with beater attachment. Thanks for the recipe!
Is there something else similar to baily’s
that you could use but that isn’t alcohol?
It looks delicious.
Hi Nancy,
I haven’t tried it in this recipe, but what about Bailey’s flavored coffee creamer?
hello
I want to make those Bailey’s chocolate mousse but I don’t understand the quantity ?!? I am so dissapointed…. Please help me …. I will try to translate the recipe in french if I can….
Thanks in advance I like Baileys ! Kiss Karine
Here are the quantities in metric measures. North Americans measure everything by volume. Bon appetite!
10 mL unflavored gelatin
30 mL cold water
60 mL boiling water
120 mL sugar
30 mL cocoa powder (for a more intense chocolate flavor, add additional 15 mL)
360 mL heavy cream, very cold
120 mL Bailey’s, very cold
5 mL vanilla
Thank you!!
Thank you. I find “cups” very confusing as they vary between countries.
How many grammes of sugar and cocoa powder?
After the mousse is made how long will it store and whats the best way to store it?
Store?? This won’t last long enough in most homes to need storing 🙂
I’d love to know how long it will last too!!!! Making this for a wedding and would like to make it ahead of the day? 1, 2, 3 days? Anyone know?
I made this last year and I believe max of 2 days ahead would be best. Cover, avoiding touching mousse, after fully set to avoid a harder top from forming and pulling away from sides of dish. Good luck!
Someone said they used Bailey’s coffee creamer. There’s lots of different flavors. No alcohol.
Um, Help! What did I do? I followed the directions to a T. My whips were nice and everything tasted delicious. When I did the last step and slowly added the gelatin mix my whip went completely to liquid. I could not get it to peak again. Any advice?
Did you let the gelatin mixture stand for a while to cool? My guess is it was too hot (?) Let me know and we can keep troubleshooting:)
I had the opposite happen. I had the sugar and cocoa mixed, added the hot water to the gelatin mixture then added my whipping cream to the chocolate mixture. By the time it peaked, my gelatin was solid and I had lumps of gelatin in my mousse! Oh and my house is kept at 65 degrees in the winter and it’s 15 degrees outside. Might put the gelatin in the microwave for a second to warm it back up some.
still tasted good just lumpy
Same thing happened to me. My gelatin had been sitting in the fridge for at least ten minutes and felt cool. So much for my anniversary dessert.
My gelatin turned to rubber before I added it to the mixture and then I just had rubber like pieces in my mousse. Guess I should have added it before it set? Otherwise, it tasted great!
Hi Johnny,
So sorry! Yes, the gelatin needs to be added before it sets. Glad it still tasted good…minus the rubber pieces! Hope you give it another try 🙂
The gelatin set when it cools so about when do you add the gelatin? Overall, good flavor but was disappointed in the fact that I was picking chunks of gelatin out.
I’m so sorry this happened. I would only let the gelatin sit for as long as it takes you to do the next step. Hope this helps!
Same deal. Added the gelatin and it went weird texture and lost its whipped texture. Disappointed. Flavour ok but not smooth enough.
I put the gelatin in the freezer, til it was slightly cold and just about starting to set. I added it last, after I had incorporated all the bailey’s and vanilla and made the whip slightly thicker than just soft peaks. I incorporated all the liquid REALLY gradually, about 1/8th to 1/4 cup at a time and kept scraping the sides so it was well mixed. I had also kept the bailey’s and vanilla in the freezer till I was ready to use it.
The texture was brilliant! My brother is really fussy about his mousse and the texture, and he loved it!
Our’s did the same thing. This recipe did NOT work for us. It ended up getting dumped.
Mm mm that looks delicious my mum thinks so too
Can this mousse be used as a filling for a chocolate cake i want to make? Or is it too soft? TIA 🙂
Hi Olivia! Would the mousse be like a layer in the middle? It does set pretty nicely so I would think it would work! Good luck 🙂
I made this mousse, so nice, but made a fat less sponge, just 1 layer, then when cold mixed 1/4 tsp whiskey to just about1/4-1/2 cup of good filter coffee, put the sponge into a spring form tin, put in the sponge, painted with whiskey n coffee mixture, set it to chill while it was doing that got a bar if good chocolate & using a veg peeler made some curls n shavings did the same with some white to break the colour up a bit, when set unmolded it , decided it needed some thing else, managed to get some small Strawberries, with the stalk on put them round the edge, 12 in all 1 for each slice then added the curls. It was very rich, loved every mouth full, the two guys had a second slice each, the next morning I found my hubby eating a slice for his breakfast at which point I sent him out on a 5 Mike bike ride!
This looks great. Would it set well if I poured it into a crust and made a pie?
Hi Alyssia, I think that would work just fine! Let me know how it turns out! 🙂
Could I sub the alcoho for Bailey’s Irish Creme flavored creamer?
I haven’t tried it, but I’m almost sure it would work just fine!
Any substitute for gelatin??
Thanks,
Vegetarian
I used one sachet of Dr Oetker’s vegetarian gel and it all worked out great, the gel set very quickly but I whisked it in and it seemed fine.
Hi, I’m from South Africa and this recipe looks so devine! I was just wondering what can I use as a substitute for “Baileys” because we dont have that product available here! 🙂
Thanks
Try Amarula- slightly different taste but should work as will any cream liqueur
Amarillo!!!!yummmmy
Hi Cathy!
Thanks so much for sharing this recipe with us!
I made this for my brother’s birthday, and he absolutely loved it (he’s really fussy about the texture of his mousse)! I added extra cocoa in mine to make it more chocolatey, but I could definitely have had a lot more chocolate and been happy.
I like that this recipe doesn’t have egg. Do you know what one can use as a substitute for gelatin?
This recipe looks delicious and I’d definitely like to make it for Christmas.
However as a Brit I would like to say that the casual use of the name Irish Car Bomb is really offensive. Enjoy a Guinness by all means but please don’t glorify terrorist.
Hi Sue, Thanks for bringing that to my attention. I removed the phrase from my post.
Hi Cathy,
I’m Irish and I share Sue’s concern. I opened this after you said it was gone – it’s still there.
Yall do realize that an Irish Car Bomb is a drink don’t you? It is not a casual use of the name as Sue stated. Cathy meant nothing offensive about it. It is what it is… A Drink.
Main alcohol: Irish whiskey, Stout, Irish cream
Ingredients: 1/4 oz. Irish whiskey, 1 pint Irish stout, 1/4 oz. Coffee liqueur, 1/2 oz. Irish cream
Preparation: The whiskey is floated on top of the Irish cream in a shot glass, and the shot glass is then dropped into the stout.
Have one and chill.
Thanks, Barbara 🙂
Hi Linda, I didn’t realize it was in more than one place. I’ve removed the remaining phrase of concern. Thanks.
Seems no matter how careful one is these days, someone is bound to become offended!. In my opinion, that’s their problem and should not be made your problem.
Cathy, I’m a vegetarian. Is the gelatin essential, or can I leave it out? If leaving it out isn’t an option, is there a vegetarian-friendly substitute for gelatin?
The gelatin is an essential ingredient. Here are some ideas for substitute (I hope they help!) http://www.thekitchn.com/vegetarian-and-vegan-substitutes-for-gelatin-tips-from-the-kitchn-189478
Can this be prepared the day before serving?
Hi Lori, Yes! This can be prepared a day in advance. Thanks!
Could you tell me what baileys is I have never heard oi and I have never used.
Hi Linda, Baileys is Irish Cream. I hope this helps!
Cathy, I’m a muffin monster.
Hi there, I’ve seen I’m not the only one wanting to use a different alcohol so I guess I’ll have to try that out myself if nobody else has already lol (or maybe a little more googling), however I also can’t have cocoa, do you think that I could sub that out for say a vanilla or white hot choc powder? And perhaps leave out some of the sugar from the recipe?
I will also be trying it with coconut cream as dairy is a bit out of bounds for me so maybe it’ll just be a big experiment =P
Hi Meliae, It definitely sounds like an experiment! I have never tried this mousse with different types of alcohol, so I can’t speak to how it would turn out. Maybe I’ll have to come up with another version! Good luck with your experimenting!
what about using carob powder – that is what I used
I have made this wonderful mousse twice. First with Original Bailey’s, second time with Salted Caramel Bailey’s. Wonderful both times! Easy, impressive, divine!
Thanks so much for the feedback, Kelly!
Do you use unsweetened or sweetened cocoa?
Hi Jami, I used unsweetened cocoa powder. Thanks!
Found this recipe on Pinterest and decided to give it a go.
Terrible idea, the recipe is far too liquidy when you add the gelatin and baileys and literally never whips up. Tried counteracting with all sorts of thickening agents to no avail. Thanks for wasting my precious alcohol.
Sorry you had problems with the recipe. I’ve made it several times with no similar issues. Did you follow the recipe exactly, including starting with very cold ingredients and a chilled bowl/beaters?
I had exactly the same problem, plus the mixture split, possibly because I kept beating it in the hope it would thicken up. Followed the recipe to the absolute letter.
She shared a recipe and you blame her for wasting your “precious alcohol ” because you screwed something up? I guess she forced you to make it? Some people are just born nasty.
Just put this in the fridge…tastes great but I am pretty sure I have way more than 6 half-cup servings! I think my six servings are at least 3/4 cup each, maybe a little more. Next time I’ll put at least 8 glasses in the fridge to chill. =)
I was having trouble getting the stiff peaks to form while mixing on medium speed, so I mixed on high and it worked out great. This tastes fantastic! Thanks for the recipe.
I just made this for my book club and it was a big hit!!! I doubled the recipe and it came out perfectly – the right peaks at each step, no clumps! I love it when a Pinterest recipe works out. Thanks for a great recipe! 🙂
I made the mousse earlier today but adapted the recipe slightly (less sugar, more baileys and a touch more gelatin) then used it to fill large choux buns that I topped with chocolate ganache, they were fantastic.
Hello! Plan on making this! Can I give it to my kid? Doesn’t seem like the alcohol would be cooked off
I think you can give to your kids, because baileys amount in the recipe is not much and as will be mix with the cream and chocolate wont be too strong, but if you are not so sure you can just add half, i tried this recipe and because only adults were trying it I decided add more baileys because i taste before put it on the fridge and for me the baileys taste was very subtle.
Hope it helps!
Thanks. If anything, I guess, they will sleep better
OMG! Your recipe is brilliant! I tried it last time for a family dinner and everybody loved it!!!
I only add a lil bit more of Bailey´s to the recipe
oh! … and double thumbs up for you cuz is so freaking easy to make!!
Thanks for sharing! ^_^
If I leave out the Bailey’s entirely (and don’t want to use another alcohol), do I need to add more of another liquid to keep the recipe the same consistency?
Also, I assume that the gelatin used is powdered gelatin (not the sheets), as you say “sprinkle gelatin” – is this correct please?
Try using kosher gelatine. It has no animal products in it and is therefore good for vegetarians/vegans.
You had me at Baileys! Pinned and feeling excited to try next time we have a need for a slightly posh grown up pudding. I’ve read all the comments about the temp of the gelatine and even seen the conversion to metric (normally I just do that myself!) looks great – thanks.
don’t have any Bailey’s right now, so might try it with Rum Chata
Did you try it with Rum Chata? I am curious to see how it was that way 🙂
This looks AMAZING! I never have Bailey’s in the house because I rarely drink alcohol (I’m cheap, haha!), but it definitely makes me want to go to the liquor store pdq! Thank you for the recipe. I love your blog!
Thanks so much, Avonelle! Splurge on some Baileys…this is worth it! 🙂
What can you use that is non-alcoholic in place of Bailey’s for the mousse??
I would try Baileys flavored coffee creamer!
Hi there: I was so looking forward to this mousse, but something wrong happened as I added the vanilla, Bailey`s and gelatin. The texture changed dramatically and became lumpy and watery. I followed exactly the instructions. 🙁
Made this yesterday,texture was spot on,fluffy,set perfectly,one little thing id change would be the amount of baileys in the recipe,i found the batch i made came out a little too strong to my liking..i think id only put 1/4 of a cup of baileys to have the flavor but not have it be overwhelming.Thank you for the recipe!
Whoa! This sounds perfect for the upcoming holidays! Easy and boozy, my kind of dessert!
Could you use half and half instead of cream?
I don’t think the half and half will work for this recipe.
This looks like a really yummy dessert and I make my own Irish Cream so it is quite strong, but will really be good made into this dessert, all I have to get is the Whipping Cream and Viola I am ready to make. Thank you so very much for sharing this recipe.
Would this work in a pie?? Prebaked crust, mousse, whipped cream on top??
Absolutely!
After reading all the comments and then re-reading the recipe, I decided that I wouldn’t add the boiling water at all. After sponging the gelatine I would then melt it CAREFULLY in the microwave or place the bowl with the sponged gelatine in some hot water to melt, then add to the mix. Maybe too much liquid or too hot when adding to mousse might be the problem. Worth a try for such a lovely recipe.