raspberry

The lovely weather of this past week put me in the mood for something light, frothy and summery. But usually my fast and easy fruit desserts involve lots of condensed milk, cream, yogurt and, in the end, although delicious, they tend to be a bit too heavy. Today, however, I had a bit more time and patience to do a proper airy mousse, which is a lot messier because of all the separate bowls, but well worth the effort.

450g frozen raspberries
250g sugar
4 sheets of flavourless gelatin
3 eggs, separated
100 ml cream
Chantilly and fresh raspberries to garnish.

Place the gelatin sheets in a bowl of cold water, to soften. Add the sugar to the frozen raspberries in a saucepan, over medium heat. As they start to thaw, smash them with a wooden spoon and mix them well with the melting sugar, until you have a fairly thick syrup. At this point you should pass the mixture through a sieve in order to get the seeds out and have a smoother consistency.

Place it back in the saucepan and let it simmer for a few seconds. It’s now time to drain the gelatin and add it to the syrup, mixing well until it melts away. Prepare 6-8 glass cups (depending on the size), spoon a little bit of this mixture on the bottom, and set them aside.

Separate the egg yolks from the whites. In a bowl, beat the yolks with a fork, and then slowly, while still beating, add the raspberry syrup until smooth.

While letting the mixture cool, whip the cream and beat the egg whites into soft peaks. First, add the whipped cream to the raspberry mixture, slowly incorporating without mixing too much. Then, we carefully fold the egg whites. It’s important not to mix too much, or we risk losing all the fluffiness.

Divide the mixture into the cups and refrigerate for at least a couple of hours. When it’s time to serve, you can garnish the mousse with some more whipped cream and fresh raspberries, to make them look even prettier.