Strawberry Mousse with Lemon Whipped Cream

Name: Strawberry Mousse with Lemon Whipped Cream
Prep time: 60 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 315 min
Ingredients: 2 pounds strawberries (plus more for garnish (about 1 cup chopped)); ½ cup granulated sugar (divided); pinch of salt; 1 ¾ teaspoons unflavored gelatin ((1 package)); 4 ounces cream cheese (cut into 8 pieces, at room temperature); ½ cup heavy whipping cream; ½ cup heavy whipping cream; 2 tablespoons granulated sugar; 1 teaspoon lemon zest; 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

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The BEST light and flavorful Strawberry Mousse recipe.

A clear glass stemware glass filled with bright pink strawberry mousse topped with diced strawberries and whipped cream.

Fresh and lightly sweet, this is the perfect spring or summer dessert!

This recipe for Creamy Strawberry Mousse with Lemon Whipped Cream was adapted from my favorite recipe resource, Cook’s Illustrated. Their magazines are the only ones that I don’t recycle after removing the interesting recipes. I hang on to each and every one.

The entire recipe calls for only 1/2 cup of granulated sugar. Therefore this dessert is not overly sweet and the strawberry flavor really shines.

How to get the most flavor out of your strawberries.

The May / June 2014 issue of Cook’s Illustrated features an article about how to coax the most flavor out of grocery store strawberries. This recipe involves several steps but each is designed to extract as much flavor as possible.

As you may know it’s often difficult to find consistently juicy, sweet and flavorful strawberries, especially from the grocery store.

When shopping for strawberries I inspect the packages throughly before taking them home. I look for strawberries that are red all the way to the top of the fruit. If the top of the strawberries are white, then the middle of the berry will be too. Red strawberries yield the best flavor.

The seeds should be light in color and preferably the stems and leaves not dried out.

Don’t feel like you have to use the very best strawberries ever grown. This foolproof method will extract plenty of strawberry flavor for the perfect dessert!

A bowl of red ripe strawberries with hulls removed.

Ingredients needed to make Strawberry Mousse:

For the strawberry mousse:

2 pounds fresh strawberries. Once you clean the strawberries and remove the hulls, you’ll have about 1 3/4 pounds.
granulated sugar
salt
unflavored gelatin
cream cheese
heavy whipping cream

For the lemon whipped cream:

heavy whipping cream
granulated sugar
lemon zest
lemon juice

fresh ripe strawberries in the bowl of a food processor

How to make Strawberry Mousse:

First, pulse half the strawberries in a food processor until most pieces are 1/4 to 1/2-inch thick. This takes about 10 short pulses. Repeat with the remaining strawberries.

Chopped red ripe strawberries in the bowl of a food processor

Don’t over-process the strawberries.

Place the processed strawberries in a medium mixing bowl and toss with 1/4 cup of sugar and a pinch of salt. Cover and allow the strawberries to rest for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Don’t wash the food processor yet – you’ll need it again in a minute.

draining chopped strawberries in a sieve set over a bowl

Extract the strawberry juice.

Strain the strawberries through a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl. You should have about 2/3 to 3/4 cup of juice.

strawberry puree in a small bowl with gelatin sprinkled on top

Add gelatin to the strawberry juice.

Remove 3 tablespoons of the juice to a small bowl. Sprinkle unflavored gelatin on top and let it rest for about 5 minutes.

Simmer the remaining strawberry juice.

Pour the remaining juice in a small saucepan. Heat on medium-high and cook until the juice is reduced to about 3 tablespoons. This should take about 10 minutes. Now you have intensely flavored strawberry juice with most of the liquid removed.

Remove the saucepan from the heat and add the softened gelatin. Stir until the gelatin is dissolved then pour the gelatin mixture to a large bowl. Add the cream cheese and whisk until fully incorporated.

strawberry puree in a sieve set over a bowl

Strain the remaining strawberries.

While the juice is cooking down, pour the strained strawberries back into the food processor and pulse until smooth. Strain through the fine mesh sieve using a spoon to press the solids and extract the juice. Once all the pulp and juice is extracted, discard the seeds and solids.

strawberry puree being poured into a mixing bowl with a whisk

Beautiful flavorful strawberry puree.

Add the strawberry puree to the bowl with the gelatin and cream cheese mixture.

strawberry puree being whisked with cream cheese

Finish the mousse with whipped cream.

Whisk the strawberry mixture until smooth. In a separate bowl beat 1/4 cup of heavy whipping cream until soft peaks form. Gradually add 1/4 cup of sugar and whip until stiff peaks form. Gently whisk the whipped cream into the strawberry mixture until fully incorporated.

strawberry mousse with lemon whipped cream in glasses and bowls on a platter

Pour the prepared mousse into pretty glasses, bowls or ramekins.

Divide the strawberry mousse into serving dishes or stemware. Cover with a small piece of plastic wrap and chill for at least 4 hours, or overnight.

When ready to serve, garnish with a spoonful of diced strawberries and a dollop of lemon whipped cream.

How to store strawberries:

If your strawberries are at the peak of ripeness, be sure to use or flash freeze right away. If the strawberries are firm, you have a couple of days to use them before they start to degrade.

When first purchased, check the package and discard any strawberries starting to mold or mushy. You can leave the strawberries in their original container and refrigerate until ready to use. Depending on their freshness, this can be a day or two, and up to a week.

I always wait to wash and de-stem the strawberries until ready to use. Keep the strawberries as dry as possible and you should be good to go!

strawberry mousse with lemon whipped cream served in a clear glass dessert dish

This Strawberry Mousse recipe delivers intense strawberry flavor.

The mousse is full of strawberry flavor and the small amount of cream cheese creates a wonderfully creamy consistency.

strawberry mousse with lemon whipped cream in a glass

Don’t skip the lemon whipped cream!

The zing from the tart lemon juice really works in this dessert. Lemon and strawberries are great companions anyway so the added freshness is phenomenal.

Make ahead for your next party!

We love to serve this Strawberry Mousse in pretty stemware or dessert glasses. It can also be used as a layer in a trifle, or spooned into plastic cups for outdoor picnics. Enjoy!

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