Just in time for Valentines! If you want a dessert that looks and tastes gourmet, but really only takes a few minutes, this your recipe. This is a no bake recipe that doesn’t require any cooking, egg whites, or gelatin powder — just fresh cream and delicious strawberries!

I’m a big mousse fan – mostly chocolate mousse, which I make with a variety of different types of chocolate. This time, though, I wanted a pink recipe for Valentine’s Day. This mousse ticks all the boxes — it’s light and airy, full of strawberry flavor, and so easy to make!

Ingredients

This is a simple recipe with simple ingredients. Depending on how sweet you want your mousse, there is an optional 3rd ingredient.

• Heavy Whipping Cream: This adds the light and fluffy texture to the mousse. Do not substitute this ingredient.
• Strawberries: You can use frozen or fresh strawberries. If you use fresh strawberries, you can skip the defrosting step.
• Optional: Granulated Sugar: This mousse has a lovely strawberry flavor and uses the natural sweetness of the strawberries. However, if you want a sweeter mousse, you can add up to 1/2 cup granulate sugar to the strawberry puree.

Instructions

In a large mixing bowl, use the whisk attachment of an electric mixer or a hand mixer to whip the heavy cream into stiff peaks. This is what you’re shooting for:

Step 2 | Defrost and Purée

While the cream is whipping, you can defrost and purée your strawberries. If you’re using frozen strawberries, place them in a microwave safe bowl and defrost them.

Once the strawberries are defrosted, place them in a blender or food processor and blend them into a smooth purée.

Pour the purée into a second large bowl. If you’re going to add the sugar, you can stir it into the purée right now.

Step 3 | Fold

Fold the heavy cream into the strawberry purée. If you’ve never folded before, here’s a video on the technique. Basically, you’ll use a rubber spatula to incorporate the whipped cream into the purée without losing any of its airiness.

You’re looking for a beautiful pink color and no more streaks of purée to know that you’re done folding.

Step 4 | Chill

Spoon the mousse into serving dishes. Cover the dishes and place them in the fridge to chill and set up. It takes about 30 minutes to be ready to enjoy!

Step 5 | Enjoy!

Serve your mousse chilled from the fridge. I love to top mine with sliced strawberries and a dollop of whipped cream. If you’ve never made cheesecake whipped cream, you really should try it. It’s divine topping this mousse!

Do I use frozen or fresh strawberries?

The short answer is yes. The longer answer is that while I developed this recipe with frozen strawberries, fresh strawberries also work. You just need to remove the tops before tossing them in the blender. We’re just turning them all into purée in the end anyway!

Mousse vs Pudding

Mousse and pudding do have some things in common, but mousse has a very different texture. The word “mousse” is French for “foam,” and mousse’s defining characteristic is a light and fluffy texture. Pudding is heavier and silkier.

Variations

This basic recipe will taste great with other berries and fruit (or combination thereof!). All of the options below are simply made by subbing other fruit in for the strawberries.

• Blueberry Mousse
• Raspberry Mousse
• Triple Berry Mouse: Sub 1/2 cup blueberries, 1/2 cup raspberries, and 1/2 cup strawberries for the strawberries.
• Peach Mousse
• Apricot Mousse