Former royal chef reveals his recipe for boozy chocolate mousse loved by the Queen

The Queen’s former chef has revealed the recipe to a boozy chocolate mousse that is one of Her Majesty’s favourites.

Darren McGrady, 58, who was the personal chef to the Queen in the 1990s, made a video for his YouTube channel with a step-by-step recipe explaining how she enjoys chocolate desserts, which he served at Balmoral. 

‘It’s no secret that the Queen loves chocolate, and the darker chocolate the better,’ he says in the video. 

Darren, who was born in the UK but is now based in Texas, often shares stories from his life working for both the Queen and Princess Diana.

In the new clip, he revealed that the staff came up with the dessert as they would often not know where the royals would be dining during the summer at Balmoral and would need to prepare dishes that could be served anywhere on the estate.

‘The Queen is at Balmoral Castle. She loves it there! So do her staff. It’s a nerve-wracking time for her chefs though,’ Darren explains.

‘Will dinner be in (at the castle) or out (BBQ in the hills on the estate)? We had to be be prepared for both… at a moment’s notice!’

He added that the Royal Family often spend time out on the estate and as a result will occasionally dine in the lodges.

‘Here’s the most delicious chocolate mousse I made for The Queen, both at Balmoral and banquets at Buckingham Palace, that you will ever taste. 

‘Light, fluffy, not too sweet and easy to make!’ Darren said, adding: ‘I think if you polled all over the royal staff, they’d all agree that Balmoral is the favourite estate.’

To make the dish, Darren started off by melting dark chocolate but ensured it wasn’t too hot because that causes scorching.

Darren, who was born in the UK but is now based in Texas, often shares stories from his life working for both the Queen and Princess Diana in the 1990s. In the new clip, he revealed that the staff came up with the dish as they would often not know where the royals would be dining during the summer at Balmoral and would need to prepare dishes that could be served anywhere on the estate

Next he took the eggs and separated them to stiffen the whites. He then whipped cream until stiffened and set it aside. 

Darren added boiling water to instant coffee and then a generous splash of Drambuie whiskey to the mix. 

Once the chocolate was melted, he built the mousse by adding coffee and whiskey together and then adding egg yolk.

When everything was mixed in he added the whipped cream and egg whites and left he dessert for three hours to set in the fridge.

Darren said the royal kitchen staff love spending time at Balmoral as there is ‘gorgeous produce’ grown on site, including ‘the best berries in the world’. He is pictured making the mousse

It was then topped with whipped cream and chocolate drizzles.

Darren said the royal kitchen staff love spending time at Balmoral as there is ‘gorgeous produce’ grown on site, including ‘the best berries in the world’.   

But while the meals are finely cooked with the best ingredients, they are sometimes served on Tupperware.  

‘We never knew whether the royal family were going out for dinner, barbequing to the hills, or having dinner in the Castle,’ he explained.

‘We never knew until about 5 o’clock when they’d gather for afternoon tea and then decide. However, if foods such as the mousse were on the dinner menu, that posed problems in terms of how to serve it.

‘We’d have to make two different lots of chocolate mousse – one we’d prepare in a beautiful silver dish and one we’d prepare in plastic Tupperware because we couldn’t send the silver out to the hills.’