Strawberry mousse: gelatine goes into warm purée, never cold
A strawberry mousse most often fails in the same place: gelatine poured into cold purée sets instantly into threads, and instead of a smooth mousse you get a mixture full of jellied lumps. The fix is simple and comes down to temperature — the dissolved gelatine is first stirred into a small amount of lukewarm purée, and only that mixture goes into the rest. Everything else is whipped cream and four hours in the fridge.
Your own work in that: 45 min.
- Purée 20 min
- Combining 25 min
- Chilling 240 min
Step by step
0 / 6 doneBlend and sieve the strawberries
Blend the strawberries with the sugar and lemon juice, then push the purée through a fine sieve, pressing with a spoon. The seeds and fibres stay behind, and you don't want them in a smooth mousse. 600 g of fruit gives about 450 ml of purée.
Ingredients: 600 g strawberries · 80 g sugar · ½ pcs lemon, juice · 12 g gelatine · 60 ml cold water
TipFrozen strawberries work too, but thaw them and <b>pour off the water</b> that collects. Otherwise the purée is thinner and the mousse will not set properly.
Through a sieve, no seeds or fibresSoak and dissolve the gelatine
Cover the gelatine with cold water and leave 10 minutes to swell. Then warm it in a water bath or over low heat until completely clear. Never boil it — boiled gelatine sets less firmly.
Swollen, dissolved, never boiledTemper the gelatine with some purée
Set aside a cup of the purée and warm it to lukewarm. Stir the dissolved gelatine into it vigorously, and only then pour that mixture into the rest of the purée and mix well. This intermediate step is what decides between a smooth mousse and a stringy one. Put the purée in the fridge for about 15 minutes, stirring every few minutes, until it starts to thicken to the consistency of raw egg white — if it is too thin it sinks to the bottom of the glasses and the mousse separates.
TipThe rule applies to every gelatine dessert: <b>equalise temperatures gradually</b>. Hot gelatine in a cold mixture sets almost at once into threads and lumps.
Whip the cream to soft peaks
While the purée chills, whip the very cold cream with both sugars for about 3 minutes, only to soft peaks — the whisk should leave a trail while the peaks still slump slightly. Stiffly whipped cream will not fold in smoothly and leaves white streaks.
Ingredients: 400 ml whipping cream (30%) · 30 g icing sugar · 1 tbsp vanilla sugar
TipChill the bowl and whisk in the freezer for 10 minutes first. Cold equipment shortens the whipping and reduces the risk of taking the cream to butter.
Soft peaks that still slump a littleFold in two additions
Add a third of the cream to the thickening purée and mix vigorously to loosen it. Add the rest in two additions, folding with a spatula from the bottom, until the colour is an even pink with no white streaks.
An even pink, no white streaksDivide and chill four hours
Spoon into six glasses and refrigerate at least 4 hours, ideally overnight. Decorate with fresh strawberries and mint before serving. With a shorter chill the mousse will still be soft and unset in the middle.
Ingredients: 150 g strawberries · 6 pcs fresh mint
Four hours, ideally overnight
Before you start
Other fruit
Raspberries (definitely sieve them), mango, peaches, passion fruit. For less acidic fruit increase the lemon to a whole one — acidity gives the mousse its edge; without it, it tastes like a sweet foam. Avoid raw pineapple, kiwi and papaya: their enzymes break down gelatine and the mousse will not set.
Without gelatine
Agar works but behaves differently: it must be boiled in the purée for 2 minutes and sets faster, from 40 °C. Work briskly then, as the mixture begins to set before it meets the cream.
As a cake layer
The same mixture works between sponge layers; just increase the gelatine to 16 g. Pour it onto a layer inside a cake ring and chill 6 hours.
How long it keeps
Two days in the fridge, covered. After that the mousse starts to weep at the bottom of the glass and the strawberry aroma fades.
