Strawberry Mousse

I'm sharing how to make light & fluffy strawberry mousse from scratch!

This dessert does not disappoint you if you love strawberries; It tastes VERY strawberry. (All from natural strawberry puree!) This airy mousse melts in your mouth.

strawberry mousse with strawberry sauce on top

I'm also sharing how to make a simple strawberry sauce to go with it.

❤️ I love this strawberry mousse because:

It's so light and airy and not dense.
You can enjoy it in many shapes and sizes: from small cups to a whole cake!
I do not need to buy an expensive strawberry puree to make the mousse - It's made from fresh strawberries!
Great use to consume not-so-sweet B+ strawberries. Turn them into this delicious dessert.

💬 I have a special place in my heart for strawberry desserts: strawberry cream cake, fruit tart, strawberry cheesecake, ...etc. This mousse is one of my favorites!

In this post, you'll learn essential baking tips such as:

Things to be careful about when you use gelatin
How to make homemade strawberry puree at home
secrets to the light and airy mousse
How to make Italian meringue in some simple steps
How to make a simple homemade strawberry sauce

... and so on.

Let's get started!

Jump to:

📌 2 Secrets To The Light & Airy Mousse
📌 What's In Strawberry Mousse?
📌 How To Make Strawberry Mousse
📌 Uses For Strawberry Mousse
📌 Frequently Asked Questions
📌 VIDEO: Watch How To Make It!
📌 Printable Recipe
Light And Fluffy Strawberry Mousse

📌 2 Secrets To The Light & Airy Mousse

1. Less gelatin + Stiffer whipped cream

You will need less gelatin to set your mousse when using stiff and fluffy whipped cream like today. It creates a fluffier and less pudding-like texture.

You will need more gelatin to harden the mousse when using soft whipped cream.

Just ensure you do not overwhip the heavy cream until it gets separated.

2. Meringue

But by adding meringue, the mousse gets airier and creates an amazingly light texture. And you'll need less gelatin to harden the mousse.

📌 What's In Strawberry Mousse?

7 simple ingredients

Strawberry puree

Strawberry, Pureed and strained
- Today, we are making mousse from fresh strawberries. You do not need to strain it if you want to leave the seeds.
Gelatin
- You can use either gelatin powder or gelatin sheets.
- Today, I used gelatin sheets with Bloom 230.
- Knox gelatin powder's bloom is 225. (Read a FAQ section for more details about Bloom.)
Lemon juice
- It brightens the color more and enhances the strawberry flavor more.

Whipped cream

Heavy cream
- It helps to create a fluffy texture.

Italian meringue

Egg white
- Ensure no yolk, oils, or liquids are mixed in the egg whites to create a fluffy Italian meringue.
Granulated sugar for egg white
- Sugar helps to stabilize egg whites. It's not a must, but it has a slight effect.

hot syrup

Granulated sugar for syrup
- Heat it to 246 - 248 F | 119 - 120 C
Water
- It's added to the sugar to make hot syrup.

Strawberry sauce

Strawberry, pureed and strained
Granulated sugar
Lemon juice

📌 How To Make Strawberry Mousse

The 12 steps:

Gelatin

Hydrate gelatin in cold water.
- When using gelatin powder, Mix it with icy water and wait about 10 minutes. (Chill it in the fridge, ideally.)
- When using gelatin sheets, Soak them in icy water and wait about 10 minutes.

Strawberry Puree

Cut strawberries, puree them, and strain them to remove seeds.
- Puree strawberries for both mousse and sauce at the same time and divide them later to save some time.

Strawberry Sauce

Heat raspberry puree, sugar, and lemon juice until it starts boiling. Set it aside in the fridge.

Puree for Mousse

Heat about ⅓ of the puree to melt the hydrated gelatin:
1. Gelatin melts around 122 - 140 F | 50 - 60 C. Avoid boiling puree, but ensure it is hot enough to melt the gelatin completely for the mousse to set correctly.
2. Add some of the cold puree to the warm puree and mix.
3. Pour it back into the bowl and mix well.
Add lemon juice to the puree.

Whipped Cream

Whip heavy cream until it gets very stiff and fluffy. Set it aside in the fridge. (Check the consistency again right before use.)

Italian Meringue

Whip egg white until it gets very fluffy. (Add sugar once it looks bubbly.)
- Adjust the speed and timing so it gets fluffy (but not separated) when the hot syrup is ready.
- I usually start at medium-low speed and speed up toward the end.
Meanwhile, Heat sugar and water at medium heat.
- Brush the side of a pot with water a few times while heating to prevent sugar from crystallizing.
- Heat it to 246 - 248 F | 119 - 120 C
- Immediately remove it from the heat and use it while it's hot.
Add the hot syrup to the meringue slowly from the side of your bowl while mixing it at high speed.
- Continue whipping it at high speed while it's hot.
- Touch the bowl and check:
  - Lower the speed to medium-low speed once it feels slightly warm.
  - Stop whipping when it doesn't feel anything. (Not warm or cold.)

Combine them all.

Fold whipped cream and Italian meringue until about 50% is incorporated
- Re-whip heavy cream first if it looks looser.
Add strawberry puree and fold:
1. Add half of the strawberry puree and fold with a whisk until about 50% is blended. (Check the video tutorial to see how to fold mousse with a whisk.)
2. Add the rest of the puree and fold until 80 - 90 % is blended.
3. Switch to a spatula, clean the bowl's side and bottom, and fold until everything is evenly incorporated.
Pipe in glasses or cake molds and rings immediately. Chill them in the fridge until they are set completely. (At least for a few hours)

📝 More Tips With Images

Now, let me share detailed tips on each step, which are crucial for making the strawberry mousse successful.

Step 1: Hydrate gelatin in cold water.

When using gelatin powder

Mix it with five times the amount of icy water.
Mix well to ensure that every piece of gelatin is hydrated well.
Set it aside for about 10 minutes. (Ideally in the fridge)

I used this gelatin powder today.

hydrated gelatin powder for raspberry mousse

💬 This hydration process is very important for the mousse to set properly.

When using gelatin sheets

Dip them in icy water and wait about 10 minutes.

I used this gelatin sheet.

Step 2: Puree raspberries and strain them.

💬 Cut off the white parts if you want slightly stronger flavors and more vivid colors.

👩🏻‍🍳 Puree it well to make a smooth strawberry mousse!

And strain it:

💬 Puree strawberries for both mousse and sauce at the same time to save some time.

Step 3: Make strawberry sauce.

Let's finish the strawberry sauce first. (You can also finish it later!)

Simply heat the puree, sugar, and lemon juice together until it starts boiling.

Step 4: Heat about ⅓ of the puree and melt hydrated gelatin.

Now, let's go back to the raspberry mousse.

I used a microwave to heat the puree.

If you are using a gelatin sheet, squeeze out excess moisture well by hand before you add it.

👩🏻‍🍳 Check carefully to see if all the gelatin is melted for the mousse to set properly. Gelatin starts melting at about 122 F | 50 C. So we want the puree to be around that temperature by the time all the gelatin is melted.

💡 When the gelatin is not completely melted, heat it and check again.

Add some of the cold puree and mix:

Pour it back into the bowl and mix well.

Step 5: Add lemon juice to the puree.

💬 It might seem like a lot of lemon juice, but this acid helps to bring out even more strawberry flavor!

Step 6: Whip heavy cream.

Whip heavy cream until it gets very fluffy and stiff:

💬 It's hard to fix once it's over-whipped. Stop the machine before it's done and carefully finish with the hand.

Set it aside in the fridge until right before using it.

Step 7: Whip egg white until it gets very fluffy. (Add sugar once it looks bubbly.)

Now, we are making Italian meringue. In the mixing bowl, add egg white:

⚠️ Ensure that all the tools and ingredients are dried without oil, liquids, or chemicals such as soaps. - They prevent the egg white from getting whipped well to make stiff meringue. Egg yolks contain oil, so separate them carefully!

Once it gets bubbly like shampoo, add sugar for egg white:

Continue whipping until it gets very fluffy. Meanwhile, make the hot syrup!

👩🏻‍🍳 We want a very fluffy meringue by the time the syrup is ready. I usually start whipping egg white as soon as I heat the pot.

Step 8: Make the hot syrup: 246 - 248 F | 119 - 120 C

Add granulated sugar and water to the pot. And heat it at medium heat.

💬 Ensure that all the sugar is wet completely before heating. Brush the side a couple of times while heating to prevent sugar from crystallizing.

Heat to 246 - 248 F | 119 - 120 C and immediately remove from the heat.

💡 When making the double batch, heat to 244 - 246 F | 118 - 119 C instead.

⚠️ Do not mix it or shake the pot until it thickens to prevent sugar from getting crystallized.

💬 With one batch of the recipe, I usually start heating my pot after adding sugar to the egg white since the amount of water and sugar is very small with one batch of the recipe, and the syrup reaches the temperature quickly. Adjust the timings with your pace!

Step 9: Add the hot syrup to the fluffy meringue.

The meringue should look very fluffy before you add syrup:

Slowly add syrup to the meringue from the side of your bowl while mixing at high speed:

💬 How you add the syrup is very important. By adding hot syrup slowly from the side, a whisk can pick it up easier to let them blend well. Watch the video tutorial to see the motion.

Touch the bowl and check:

Once it feels gently warm, turn it down to medium-low speed.
Stop whipping when it doesn't feel anything. The meringue shouldn't be warm so the heavy cream can stay fluffy when combined.

Step 9: Combine whipped cream and Italian meringue.

As soon as the meringue is done, take your cold whipped cream from the fridge and start folding.

💬 Whipped cream oftentimes gets looser as it sits in the fridge - Check the consistency before use and re-whip more if necessary. I recommend checking it while waiting for the meringue to cool down.

Add all the meringue to the whipped cream and fold them until about 50 percent is blended.

💡 We do not want to over-mix it to make a very airy mousse!

Step 11: Mix strawberry puree to finish the mousse.

The temperature of the puree

Before you add puree to the bowl, check if it's gently cold. It helps to create a fluffy mousse that you can pipe.

Do not use warm puree because whipped cream and meringue lose volume, and the mousse gets much looser.

Not extremely cold, though; It shouldn't be thickened because of gelatin yet. Heat it slightly if it looks like the gelatin is already reacting and getting thickened.

Add about half of the raspberry puree and fold until about 50 percent is blended:

Add the rest of the puree and continue folding:

💬 Whipped cream and Italian meringue are pretty stiff, and the puree is liquid. There are two different textures here. With the whisk, you can combine them faster and eliminate whipped cream lumps much easier.

When about 80 - 90 % is blended, switch to a spatula.

Clean the side and the bottom of the bowl and fold until everything is evenly incorporated:

Step 12: Pipe and chill it in the fridge.

Use it immediately while the condition is the best!

Chill it in the fridge:

Chill it in the fridge for about a few hours or more, depending on the size, until it's set completely.

Pour the sauce on top before serving, or serve it with the shot so your guests can pour by themselves.

And it is done!! Bon-appetite.

📌 Uses For Strawberry Mousse

Enjoy the strawberry mousse in many shapes and sizes:

In glass cups
- Serve it in cocktail glasses, shot glasses, or smaller cups. You can save some time with them.
As whole cakes
- You can create a mousse cake such as Charlotte cake, mirror glaze entremets, and mini cakes. Customize the look for your special event.
As plated desserts
- Pour it into a silicone or stainless mold as a plated dessert.

📌 Frequently Asked Questions

About Mousse

How should I store it?

Wrap the surface or put it in an air-tight container. And store it in the fridge.

What's the shelf-life?

In the refrigerator: Store for up to a few days I recommend consuming it within 24 hours for the best taste.
In the freezer: Store in an airtight container for up to a few weeks.

Can I freeze the mousse?

Yes. You can freeze it to remove it from molds easier.

About gelatin

What's "bloom" in gelatin?

"Bloom" is a strength of gelatin. When the bloom is higher, the moose gets firmer. And when the bloom is lower, the mousse gets softer.
And the bloom ranges from 50 - 300 or 350 usually. Today, I used this gelatin sheets with 230 bloom.
So, that means the texture will be softer when you use gelatin with a much lower bloom, even if you use the same amount as the recipe.
Check your gelatin, compare it with the bloom I used today (230), and see if it's about the same or overly different.
I live in the States, and the most popular gelatin you can get anywhere at the grocery stores is gelatin powder from Knox. And I came to find out that the bloom is 225, which is so close to my gelatin sheet! I was so excited to share that with you.
If you have your favorite gelatin, check if it's listed in the package. and if it doesn't, see if the website says anything about it.
If you can't find it anywhere, make it one time and decide if you should reduce or add more gelatin next time.

About the meringue

Is the meringue cooked enough for salmonella?

Italian meringue is made by adding really hot syrup, but the temperature is not hot enough to kill salmonella or some other bacteria completely.
To resolve the issue, I have two choices for you to pick from:
1. Use pasteurized eggs: They are already heated enough to kill salmonella or other bacteria. You can find them at grocery stores (Many of the eggs in the states are pasteurized unless they are from the farms directly).
But in case you cannot find them, I have a second option:
2. Use Swiss meringue instead of Italian meringue and heat it to 160 F | 71 C, which is the temperature to kill salmonella. Compared to Italian meringue, Swiss meringue has less volume and is slightly heavier. (The mousse gets slightly heavier, although the difference is minor.) You can use the same amount of egg white and sugar from this recipe without the water. To learn more about how to make Swiss meringue, check out my Swiss meringue buttercream recipe.