Raspberry mousse

We had some friends over this weekend and I was on a bit of a retro kick, so I made some raspberry mousse. It was my first time using gelatin since making cheesecakes at my mammy’s knee back in the 80’s (remember when they’d just arrived from America and they were The Big Thing?).

Raspberry mousse

For four large portions, or six smaller ones, you will need:

500g raspberries (I used frozen ones – you can get these in many large supermarkets, and I’m sure you can use any of the frozen fruits in a box – there is red fruit mix and blueberries – dead handy to have in the freezer for emergency desserts or baking muffins, biscuits, crumbles, etc…)

80g sugar

150g fresh cream (I used 15% fat cream)

2 eggs

3 sheets of gelatin (in the recipe, it said that this is equal to 6 sheets that you’d usually find in the shops. Now, this was very confusing. Did it mean to use three or six? I used six, and the mousse was very solid, so I reckon that 4 sheets of Carrefour gelatin, in a pale blue packet, about 12x6cm, would do).

Steep the gelatin in a bowl of cold water for about 10 minutes.

Put the raspberries in a pot, heat until mushy and pass through a sieve to get rid of all the pips. Keep the liquid on the heat and add the sugar. Heat until the sugar is dissolved.

Once all the sugar is dissolved, turn off the heat, squeeze the gelatin and add this to the raspberry and sugar until it too is dissolved.  Leave this to cool.

Whip the cream until it is fairly thick – you’re looking for it to make shapes when the whip is removed. You’re going to finish making the mousse in this bowl, so you’ll need a fairly large one.

Separate the whites from the yolks and beat the whites in a clean bowl until they too can keep their shape when the whip is removed.

Slowly and gently add the cooled raspberry mixture to the cream. It’s a good idea to use a whip, to keep the air in it. Once it’s all fairly well mixed together add the egg whites and fold that through too, lightly, to keep the air. Pour into 4-6 glasses and chill for a few hours.


As I said, these were a bit too solid, so a bit less gelatin next time, but overall they were good and fruity. Definitely something for these summer evenings.