Easy, healthy-ish, and irresistible dark chocolate mousse tartlets! Serve these mini tarts at parties, or make one big chocolate mousse tart to simplify. No hand mixer needed!

Chocolate mousse tartlets with a variety of toppings, from almonds, raspberries, and salt flakes.

Ingredients and Substitutions

First up, ingredients for our tart shells. Feel free to skip making your own homemade tart shells and use store-bought (mini) tart shells instead!

Almonds: Our base for the gluten-free crust!
Cacao powder: For a chocolatey flavor in our tart shells.
- If you would like to have black tart shells, check out dark cacao powder for that beautiful black color. Otherwise, regular cacao or cocoa powder works!
Coconut oil: Helps crisp up the tart and bind things together.
Agave syrup: A bit of sweetness to pair the bitterness of the chocolate.
- Substitute with maple syrup, date syrup, or even granulated sugar if that’s what you have at hand.

Ingredients for chocolate mousse tart with labels, on a grey stone background.

And now, for the mousse. This one is taken from my banana mousse recipe.

Bananas: A creamy, naturally sweet fruit that forms the base of the mousse so there is no whipping cream or heavy cream needed.
- If you are not a fan of bananas, try my orange chocolate mousse recipe.
Dark chocolate chips: For the decadent chocolatey flavor in our mousse.
- If you don’t want to use chocolate chips and prefer to only use cacao powder for the chocolatey flavor, make my hazelnut mousse recipe instead which uses banana, hazelnut butter, and cacao powder.
Vanilla extract: For an extra oomph!

Lastly, 2 ingredients for the optional garnish (not in the picture above).

Raspberries: Or sub strawberries, cherries, or blueberries.
Crushed Nuts: For added crunch
Flaked Sea Salt: For the irresistible sweet-salty combo.

Step-by-step Instructions

Part 1: Make the Chocolate Tartlet Crusts (Skip if Using Store-Bought)

Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C) and grind the almonds into a fine flour using a food processor.

Whole almonds in a blender, taken from above.

Mix ground almonds with cacao powder, then add melted coconut oil and agave syrup to make the tart shells. Mix well, ensuring there are no large clumps.

Separate the dough into 6 equal pieces, about 2 heaping Tablespoons each. Then form each part into a ball. Place each ball into the tartlet pan, then use your hands to press and flatten them out, both to the bottom and the sides of the tartlet pans.

Note: You can also make one big tart instead. In that case, no need to separate the dough so you can directly press them into the tart pan.

A mini tartlet pan with a chocolate tart dough on top, rolled into a ball.

Two hands pressing chocolate tart crust onto the edges.

Bake the tart shell for 10 minutes. Adjust baking time if you are making one large tart.

Let it cool completely. I like to make my tart crust a day in advance, storing them on the counter in an air-tight container, for this reason!

Part 2: Make the Chocolate Mousse & Assemble!

Start by melting your chocolate chips either using a double boiler (au-bain-marie style), or by microwaving. If using a microwave, use a low power and start with 30 seconds. Stir, then microwave in 15-second increments, stirring in between, so you don’t burn your chocolate.

Now blend your bananas, melted chocolate chips, and vanilla extract until smooth. If you’d like to learn more, please refer to my banana chocolate mousse recipe for the full details. But it really is just blending the ingredients together!

A mini blender containing banana and melted chocolate, before blending them to make a chocolate banana mousse.

Chill your mousse in the fridge for at least 2 hours, as you wait for the tart shells to cool down.

Then spoon in the mousse into the tartlet shells. Garnish with raspberries or other toppings choices, and enjoy these easy chocolate mousse tartlets!

Six pieces of tart crust with chocolate mousse inside, placed on a cooling rack.

Six mini chocolate mousse tarts with raspberries, almonds, and flaked sea salt.

Top Tips

Grind the almonds finely. The finer the almond gets, the smoother and more cohesive your crust will be. Just keep an eye when blending so you don’t accidentally make almond butter instead!
Use ripe bananas for natural sweetness, but avoid overly spotty bananas (like the ones you would use for banana bread) if you don’t want the banana flavor to be overpowering.
Use tartlet pans with removable bottoms so you can easily take them out. Seriously, it’s worth the additional price.
- If cost is an issue, turn these mini chocolate mousse tarts into one big tart instead since that tends to be more affordable.

A stack of three chocolate mousse tartlets to show the texture inside.

Jazzing Up Your Mousse Tart & Other Topping Idease

For a gourmet touch, try piping your chocolate mousse with a piping bag!

For a more indulgent treat, you can make the tart base using crushed chocolate sandwich cookies (like Oreos), mixed with some melted butter or coconut oil as the binding agent. Although of course, note that Oreos are considered processed food so it’s definitely not the healthiest option.

For other toppings ideas, top with orange zest or chopped nuts on top. You can also add whipping cream, coconut flakes, or chocolate shavings on top!

Chocolate mousse raspberry tartlet with three raspberries, on a grey linen.

Storage and Meal Prep/Make Ahead Instructions

Store leftover dark chocolate tartlets in the fridge in an air-tight container for up to 3 days for the best flavor.

For making ahead, this is the exact recipe you need since this mousse tart requires chilling in the fridge overnight. If you would like to make it a couple days in advance, you can store the crusts and the chocolate mousse in separate containers for 3-5 days.

Then simply re-heat your tart shells at 350°F (175 °C) for 3-4 minutes to crisp them up again. Then fill them up with the mousse and you’re done!

FAQ

A tart is a larger pastry with a filling, while a tartlet is its mini version, typically individual-sized. The ingredients are usually the same, so the main difference is the size.

It might be because your bananas are still unripe and too firm. Ripe bananas give a creamier, lighter texture.

Remember that the best bananas are the ones where you can see some black spots, but not too many spots so the banana flavor isn’t too overwhelming!

Yes! Mousse makes a delicious and light layer or frosting for cakes, or in this case, a yummy filling for our tartlets!

Mousse is a creamy dessert on its own, while a mousse cake typically has mousse as one of its layers. In our this chocolate mousse tart, we’re using the mousse as the tart filling!

Chocolate custard is usually thickened with egg yolks and cooked, making it denser, while chocolate mousse is airy, often made with whipped cream (or blended bananas in this healthier version) for a light texture.

Nope. Chocolate mousse is light and airy, while ganache is dense and velvety.

Close-up of raspberry chocolate mousse tartlet using dark chocolate chips.

Want More Chocolate Recipes?

I recommend my dark chocolate covered peanuts. If you want something healthier, try my chocolate covered grapes or make this homemade Nutella with dates!

With that healthy Nutella, you can then make my Nutella mochi, Nutella acai bowl, or my Nutella milkshake!