Strawberry Mousse

Strawberries are back in season, so time to make a light, fluffy and creamy strawberry mousse for dessert.

Ingredients

2 x 250g punnets strawberries, hulled, roughly chopped
1 teaspoon strawberry essence (optional)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
½ cup pure icing sugar
2 tablespoons hot water
1 tablespoon gelatine
200ml thickened cream
1-2 drops red food colouring (optional)
3 egg whites

To decorate/serve:
Extra strawberries, halved or quartered (depends how big they are)
100ml thickened cream
2 tablespoons icing sugar, sifted
a few sprigs mint leaves

Method

1. In a food processor or blender, combine strawberries, strawberry essence, lemon juice and icing sugar and process until smooth. Strain into a large bowl and discard seeds. 
2. Meanwhile, whip the cream until slightly thickened/soft peaks form. Set aside. 
3. Combine water and gelatine in a small heatproof jug. Whisk until gelatine dissolves and liquid becomes clear. Add to strawberry mixture. Stir through well.
4. Add 2 tablespoons of cream to strawberry mixture. Whisk gently until well combined. Fold through remaining cream. Add a few drops red food colouring if desired.
5. Using an electric mixer, beat egg whites to soft peaks. Fold through strawberry mixture until well combined. 
6. Wet moulds with water. Spoon mousse into 6 x ½ cup capacity glasses or ramekins. Cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 4 hours, or until set.
7. To decorate the mousse: Use an electric mixer to beat cream and icing sugar in a medium bowl until firm peaks form. 
8. Place the cream in a piping bag fitted with a 1cm fluted nozzle and pipe on top of the mousse. Arrange a strawberry and some mint leaves next to the cream.

White Chocolate Strawberry Mousse Cake

I made this White Chocolate Strawberry Mousse Cake for my mum's birthday recently :) 

You’ll need approx 4 punnets strawberries for this recipe

Ingredients

1 x Chiffon cake base, cut into 2 even layers

Click here for the Chiffon Cake Base recipe

A) 400g strawberry
1 tbsp lemon juice
50g caster sugar

1 tsp strawberry essence
Extra strawberry sliced and cubed (as much as you like- I used approx 100g)
Whole strawberry for garnish (optional)

B) 300ml thickened cream
3 tbsp icing sugar

C) 100g white chocolate
50ml thickened cream

D) 15g gelatine (approx. 1 tbsp)
50ml hot water

E) 100ml thickened cream

1 tbsp icing sugar, extra

Method

1. Clean and hull the strawberries. Add in 50g sugar and let it sit for awhile. Puree them in a blender and put it through the strainer. You should get about 400ml strawberry puree. Stir in 1 tbsp of lemon juice. Reserve 2 tbsp of this puree for the swirl effect.
2. Whip 300ml thickened cream with 3 tbsp icing sugar till mousse state.
3. Melt 100g white chocolate then add into 50ml thickened cream.
4. Dissolve gelatine in hot water, let stand for 5 minutes then stir this into the strawberry puree. 
5. Add melted white chocolate mixture into the strawberry puree.
6. Fold the whipped cream into the strawberry chocolate mixture.
7. Line the cake pan with a slice of the cake base; top it with half the mousse. Add in the strawberry pieces. Press the fruits down gently if needed. Top it with some mousse just enough to cover the strawberry pieces.
8. Top it with another layer of cake and pour the rest of the mousse on it.
9. Spoon teaspoonfuls of the reserved puree onto the surface of the mousse on desired positions and swirl it with a toothpick to create the swirls.
10. Refrigerate for at least 3 - 4 hours.   
11. Use an electric beater to beat cream and icing sugar in a medium bowl until firm peaks form. 
12. Place the cream in a piping bag fitted with a 1cm fluted nozzle and pipe rosettes around the edge of the cake. Arrange some strawberries around the cake between the cream rosettes. Cut the cake into wedges to serve. 

Notes & Tips

To create the swirl effect on top of the cake, drop one teaspoon of strawberry puree on the cake surface and swirl the puree with a toothpick. I put 1 teaspoon on the middle of the cake and the rest at clock position of 12, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10.

*** I lined the inner circumference of my spring form cake pan with plastic cake tape and trimmed my cake to be smaller than the spring form pan. This way the mousse will cover the whole cake and you don’t need to cream the cake but just pipe some rosettes or whatever with some cream and do the rest of the décor on the cake. If you don't have any cake tape, use clear cellophane instead. Moisten one side of the cellophane with some water to help it adhere to the sides of the pan.

Mango Mousse Cake

I made this mango mousse cake as a surprise for my dad's birthday.

You'll need around 5 ripe medium sized mangoes for this recipe.

Click here for my chiffon cake base recipe.

Ingredients

1x Chiffon cake base, cut into 2 even layers
300ml Thickened cream
3 tbsp icing sugar, sifted
300g Mango, pureed (remove 2 tbsp for swirl effect)
200g Mango, cut into 2cm cubes
15g gelatine powder
100ml thickened cream, extra
1 tbs icing sugar, extra


Method

1. Dissolve gelatine in 50ml hot water. Keep warm for use later.
2. Add icing sugar to cream, then whip until stiff.
3. Add gelatine solution into mango puree and mix well.
4. Add mango gelatine mixture into whipped cream and combine well.
5. Line the inner circumferance of a spring form cake pan with plastic cake tape (or clear cellophane cut to size if none available).
   
6. Put 1 layer of cake onto cake pan and top it with mango mousse filling. Add in the mango cubes and top it with some mousse just enough to cover the mango cubes.
7. Put on the other cake layer and pour all the mousse over it.
8. To create the swirl effect on top of cake, drop one teaspoon of mango puree on the cake surface and swirl the puree with a toothpick. I put 1 teaspoon on the middle of the cake and the rest at clock position of 12, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10.
9. Whip the extra cream and extra icing sugar in a clean mixing bowl, then pipe some rosettes around the cake to decorate.
   
10. Chill cake for at least 4 hours (best overnight) before serving.
    

Notes & Tips

You can omit the swirl effect and just decorate the cake with sliced mangoes

Trim the chiffon cake to be smaller than the springform pan. This way the mousse will cover the whole cake when you pour it into the cake tin and you don't need to cream the cake.
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