Ann Reardon

Strawberry Mousse Cake Recipe

strawberry mousse cake recipe ann reardon

It’s birthday season in our family.  If you’re not after a themed cake then my favourite would have to be a layered mousse cake.  This one has strawberry mousse, lemon gel, sponge cake topped with italian meringue and fresh strawberries.  It is oh so yum!  You can’t put fondant over a mousse cake directly as the moisture in the mousse would cause the fondant to dissolve on the inside leaving a gooey layer of sticky liquid in a pool around the cake and potentially causing the fondant to sag.


Watch strawburry17 make the mini cake

Strawberry mousse cake recipe

1 x sponge cake recipe baked in two 8″ round cake tins. Cool and level then cut each sponge cake into two layers.

For the topping – one quantitiy of italian meringue

Lemon Curd & Strawberry Mousse
200g (7.05 ounces) or 3/4 cup plus 3 Tbsp unsalted butter
250g (8.82 ounces) or 2 cups icing (powdered) sugar
1 cup or 250millilitres (8.45 fluid ounces) lemon juice
6 whole eggs
2 tsp cornflour
1½ Tbsp gelatin powder

2 punnets or 500g (17.64 ounces) or approx 3 1/3 cups of strawberries washed and hulled
300mL (10.14 fluid ounces) or 1 1/4 cups cream, whipped

Place one tablespoon of the gelatin into a bowl and mix with 2 tablespoons of the lemon juice. In another bowl mix the
remaining gelatin with 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. Set aside.

Place the rest of the juice, into a saucepan, then add the butter, powdered sugar, eggs and cornflour. Whisk it all together and then continue to whisk over the heat until it is thickened. Keep stirring over the heat for 30 seconds more.
Remove from the heat and split evenly between two bowls.
Add the smaller lump of gelatin to the first bowl and stir until all the gelatin is melted. Then set that to one side at room temperature.

Add the larger lump of gelatin to the second bowl of lemon curd and stir it through until it melts. Pour into a blender and add the strawberries. Blend until smooth. Leave at room temperature to cool.

In a seperate bowl, whip the cream. Fold in the cooled strawberry mixture.

Line an 8″ round container with non-stick baking paper or acetate. Layer the sponge followed by 1/2 cup of the lemon curd gel the 2 cups of strawberry mousse. Repeat finishing with a thin layer of mousse. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

Scrape the last bit of strawberry mousse onto a silpat and spread it super thin like paper. Place it in a slow oven for 40 minutes to dehydrate. Place in a sealed container.

Decorate as shown in the video. Slice generous portions and enjoy the moist fresh strawberry and lemon flavours.

Happy Birthday to my wonderful son, I love you so much!!
He requested a caramel version of this cake.  I know you’ll want the recipe for that too but I’ll have to leave that for another video.

caramel mousse cake ann reardon

by Ann Reardon How To Cook That
2015

My Cookbook

ann reardon crazy sweet creations cookbook
Stores that sell my book listed by country: http://bit.ly/ARcookbook
All recipe quantities in the book are in grams, ounces and cups.

94 Comments View Comments

  1. Rating: 5

    Hello, can I make this cake in advance and put it in the freezer for a week? Or should it be made fresh and served?

  2. Hello Ann!
    I have two questions, one, is it possible to bake this cake with strawberry mousse and add Nutella in one half of the mousse instead of strawberries to make a chocolate mousse and how much should I add? My other question is is one cake enough for a children’s birthday party of 25 children or would you recommend two cakes? Thank you in beforehand!

    • Hi Suzanna, Yes you could. The quantity of nutella will depend on the flavour you are after. I think you would need about 1/3 of a cup but test it to see if that is chcolatey enough for you. I don’t think it would meld well with the lemon mousse. The lemon and the strawberry are both fresh, light flavours and a little tangy to boot.

  3. Hi
    can i use this cake just like you made it for the base to make a thomas the train cake for my little boy? he do not like chocolate

    Thanks you,

    • Hi ISHAR, I wouldn’t recommend this cake as a base for Thomas at would not respond well to the weight and you would find the moisture from the mousse seeping into your fondant. If you don’t want to use a chocolate base, then you could use Ann’s sponge with a generous brushing of sugar syrup: https://www.howtocookthat.net/public_html/sponge-cake-recipe/

      • Hi thanks for your answer i was planning to do what you told me, but i wanted to know if in the space of the butercrem of thomas the train i can put the mousse in between the layers

        Regards from FRANCE

  4. Hey Ann,
    I am planning to make this cake for my birthday. How many days ahead can I begin to prepare? I just hope to avoid stress on the day/day before.

    • Hi Amy, Fresh cakes are always better, but you could potentially make the sponge two days out and then assemble the layers of cake and mousse and refrigerate the day prior to serving.

  5. Hi Ann,
    I did this cake two days ago and followed your instructions 100%. In the video I can see you pouring two spoons of lemon juice into each bowl of gelatin, while the instructions let us know that only one tbsp should be used for the second gelatin bowl. Could you clarify which is correct?
    Like in one of the other comments, both liquids – lemon curd and strawberry/lemon curd – did no have enough gelatin in them. Once I took the cake from the container, I had to apply cooled chocolate ganache to the outside immediately to stop the mousse and curd to run. Of course, once the cake was cut, each guest had sponge cake and mousse devided. They still liked if (after all the Christmas sweets, it was great to taste something lemon and fresh), but I was embarrassed.
    Maybe it is a different powder gelatin I am using? How much liquid per gram gelatin is applicable?

    • Hi Corinna, That is sad that it didn’t hold together the way you had hoped, even though the taste was good. The quantities in the written recipe were what Ann found gave the best result. However you are correct in thinking that gelatine sometimes has different strengths and that can be a factor. Ann usually uses a standard supermarket product unless she specifies otherwise. Standard gelatine in Australia will usually use 1 & 1/2 to 2 teaspoons of Gelatine Powder to set around 500ml of liquid. If you found the given quantity was not enough in your cake, then feel free to up the quantity of gelatine a little. Ann also set this cake in a plastic container and only took it out just before photographing and serving. It held its shape well, though you wouldn’t want it it sit out for too long as the curd would undoubtedly soften and shift.

      • Hi Admin HowToCookThat,
        Thanks for your answer. I looked at the gelatin I used and found my mistake: There are two sorts of powder gelatin here in Germany (Gelatine and Sofort Gelatine). One of them – the wrong one I used – is mixed with maltodextrin and therefore not pure gelatin. So I used only one third of the amount mentioned in Ann´s recipe by using the mixture.
        Happy to know how to avoid future mistakes with Ann´s perfect recipes!

        • So glad you were able to identify the issue.

  6. My husband made my cake request. This is the best thing of yours we have made so far! Thanks for all of these amazing recipes.

    • Hi Elizabeth, your cake looks delicious. Well done!

  7. Hello Ann! I was wondering if it is possible to substitute gelatin with agar. Let me know!
    Thanks

    • Hi Lillia, Gelatin works best in this recipe.

  8. Hi Ann , can I freeze this mousse? I want to make this cake but There is lots of component to make , can u suggest me how to make it ahead?

    • Hi Farah, Ann made the cake and refrigerated it to set, so you could make it the day prior. Some of the other elements could be done prior but I wouldn’t recommend trying to freeze the mousse.

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