Delicious Strawberry Mousse

Are you ready for the lightest, most delightful strawberry mousse in all the land? I have tested and tested, and I think you’ll love this airy mousse recipe that tastes like eating a fresh strawberry cloud.

This is a traditional mousse recipe that marries Swiss meringue, whipped cream, and a flavorful strawberry base into a delicate, poofy strawberry mousse you will want to serve for company or just for whenever it’s strawberry season.

For ease of browsing, you can find all my individual dessert recipes in one place. Now, let’s jump into this recipe, shall we?

At a Glance

✅Skill Level: Intermediate
✅Skills: Making fruit puree, Swiss meringue, hand-whipping cream (although you can certainly use a mixer for the cream. I did)
✅Type: Mousse/Individual Dessert
✅Number of Ingredients: 6
✅Prep Time: 20 minutes
✅Cook Time: 10 minutes (for the meringue)
✅Yield: 8 servings

Related Posts: Lemon Mousse, Butterscotch Mousse
Jump Straight to the Recipe

Tasting Notes

This strawberry mousse is nicely balanced thanks to the strawberry coulis I use in the recipe.

The coulis is not too sweet, intensely strawberry-y, and balanced with the tang of white balsamic vinegar (you could also use lemon juice).

This well-balanced sauce gets blended into both the Swiss meringue and the whipped cream.

The Swiss meringue tastes mainly of sweet strawberries and air while the whipped cream has a berries-and-cream flavor. Once you fold the two mixtures together, you get a lovely balanced bite of creamy sweet berries.

The texture is light and airy as well. Think of the texture of those Yoplait Whips. I don’t even know if they still make those, but this is similar if a bit softer and more inviting than air-injected gelatin. This mousse doesn’t contain gelatin and is vegetarian, by the way.

Thanks to the cornstarch in the coulis, strawberry mousse lasts in the fridge for several days without getting watery at the bottom. And since it’s made with puree, there are no chunks to get in the way of the delicate texture. They are truly just pure strawberry flavor in a cloud of a package.

If this sounds like a winner to you and you end up making it, please do me a quick favor, if you would.

Ingredients and Substitutions

• egg whites: For the Swiss meringue. This is a cooked meringue, so it is stable, won’t weep or shrink, and helps to set the structure and texture for the mousse
• granulated sugar: Sweetens and stabilizes the meringue and holds onto liquid (goes into solution as a syrup). There is also a bit of sugar in the whipped cream, mainly because the coulis is not very sweet and the cream is roughly half the volume of the entire mousse
• salt: Strengthens the meringue and brings out all the flavors. Used in both the meringue and the whipped cream
• heavy cream: The foam created by whipping the cream combined with the airy and stable meringue create the texture. The fat provides richness and helps to carry flavor
• strawberry coulis: 8 oz of coulis, 4 each in the meringue and the whipped cream. The flavor is intensely strawberry nicely balanced by a dairy creaminess from the whipped cream
• vanilla extract: Rounds out the flavor and adds a creamy, floral finish. If you’d like, you can substitute strawberry extract for an even more strawberry-y mousse

Procedure

If you are familiar with making Swiss meringue and whipped cream, you can skip straight to the recipe.

For those of you who’d like step-by-step instructions, stick with me.

There are three components to a classic mousse:

1. Flavorful base
2. Meringue/Egg Foam: I specify egg foam here because some mousse recipes are lightened by an egg foam called a pate a bombe.
3. Whipped Cream

In this case of strawberry mousse, you will make an intense strawberry coulis (recipe here) using fresh or frozen berries.

Chill the coulis so it’s ready to go.

Now, onto making the actual mousse:

Making the Swiss Meringue

1. Combine egg whites, sugar, and salt in the bowl of your stand mixer (or in a metal bowl, if you’ll be using a hand mixer).
2. Place the bowl over a pan of simmering water, making sure the water doesn’t touch the bottom of the bowl.
3. Whisk constantly until the mixture is very hot, 160F-180F.
4. Move to your mixer and whip on medium-high speed until the whites have cooled to barely warm. If using a hand mixer, just plop the bowl on the counter and whisk away.

1. Whip until your meringue holds almost stiff peaks–the peak will curl over just a bit when you turn the whisk upside down.
2. Pour the cold coulis into the bowl of whipping whites.
3. Scrape the bowl as necessary and beat until the meringue is a uniform pastel pink.
4. Scrape all the meringue out into a mixing bowl. You can see I used the bowl that had the coulis in it. It’s all going in the same place, so there’s no need to dirty a ton of dishes.

Making the Whipped Cream

1. Place the heavy cream, sugar, salt, and a little vanilla in the bowl you just scraped the Swiss meringue out of. No need to wash the bowl. That’s why we made the Swiss meringue first. If we made the whipped cream first, you would have to wash the bowl.
2. Whip on medium-low to get some bubbles going, and then turn the speed up to medium high to mix until soft peaks.
3. Pour in the chilled coulis and whip to medium-firm peaks. Scrape the bowl to make sure the strawberry is evenly distributed.
4. Scrape the pink whipped cream into the bowl with the Swiss meringue. Note that the two mixtures are almost exactly the same color and texture.

Bringing It All Together

Once you have your two mixtures in the bowl, all that’s left is to fold them together as gently and thoroughly as you can, and then spoon or pipe the mousse into individual servings of about 4 oz each (by volume).

Serve in anything from teacups to wine glasses to ramekins. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and chill for at least a couple of hours before serving.

Mousse will stay lovely and soft for several days. For best flavor and texture, enjoy within 4 days.

Serving Tips

Even though the mousse has to be kept refrigerated, you’ll get the best strawberry flavor by letting it temper on the counter for 30-45 minutes before serving.

To add a little crunch, top with some fancy granola, some baked streusel, or toasted and chopped nuts.

Use some strawberry syrup or even some chocolate syrup as a drizzle on top.

Place your serving dishes on small plates and add a side of a couple of pieces of shortbread or pecan sandies.

A Little Mousse Q & A

Questions?

If you have any questions about this post or recipe, I am happy to help.

Simply leave a comment here and I will get back to you soon. I also invite you to ask question in my Facebook group, Fearless Kitchen Fun.

If your question is more pressing, please feel free to email me. I should be back in touch ASAP, as long as I’m not asleep.

A Note About Measurements

My recipes are almost all written by weight, including liquids, unless otherwise specified.

For accuracy and consistency of results, I encourage you to buy–and use–a kitchen scale.

I promise that baking and cleanup will be so much quicker and easier.

This is the scale that I recommend for home use. I have owned and used one for years.

Love This? Please Take a Moment to Rate and Review

And there you have it, friends. I hope you love the strawberry mousse.

Thanks so much for spending some time with me today.