This year, I decided that I needed a new Christmas dessert recipe. Something light, and fresh, and of course something allergy friendly that I could share with guests who thought it was as equally delicious as we did! The texture of this Strawberry Mousse cake is like light fluffy mousse, ice cream and marshmallow, all rolled into one.
There are options for a vegan version, and an egg free version below. I hope you enjoy it as much a we did! If you have any special requirements, please sing out and I can help you out with what you need!
There is also a nut free base recipe at the bottom of the recipe.
I have also successfully halved the sugar in this recipe, and it was still delicious and what I’d consider a fairly low sugar dessert, with the reduced amount. But being Christmas, and serving other people who are used to sweet desserts, I have used 1 cup when serving to our guests.
You might also be interested in this mousse tart which is dairy, soy, egg, gluten and nut free, but contains coconut. And if you are browsing other Christmas dessert ideas, you can find my celebration recipes here.
Strawberry Delight Mousse Cake
Ingredients
- 2 egg whites
- 250 g punnet of strawberries
- 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 cup maple syrup, or honey you can also use a finely granulated sugar
- Optional: 1 tsp beetroot powder for colour
Base
- 1 cup almond meal or whole almonds
- ½ cup nuts
- 1 cup dates
- ¼ cup cocoa butter or coconut oil
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
Instructions
The Base:
- Line a spring form cake tin with baking paper on the bottom (you can also do the sides if you wish, but I only do the bottom). My tin is 18cm diameter.
- To make the base, put the whole nuts in the food processor or blender and blend until broken up into crumbs. Add the dates, almond meal if you are using, melted cocoa butter or coconut oil and vanilla, Blend until well combined and turn out into your lined tin. Press down to cover the base of your cake tin evenly. Set aside while you make the top.
The Topping
- *Cut the tops off the strawberries and place into a blender or food processor. Blend well until they are all broken down. You can just dice them and put them in the bowl with the rest of the ingredients instead, and the beater will break them up, but I prefer them blended first.
- Combine all of the other ingredients in a large bowl along with your blended strawberries. Use an electric egg beater or stand mixer to whip everything for about 5 – 10 minutes until you get stiff peaks. That is when you pull the beater up from the mix, a peak forms that stands upright and stays there without folding over too much.
- Pour the mix over the top of your base and put into the freezer for 3-4 hours. You can also make ahead and keep this in the freezer until needed. Its best served and eaten frozen and will melt quickly in the heat.
- Bring it to room temperature for 10 minutes before gently opening the springform tin to release the cake. Either plate and serve, or pop back into the freezer until needed.
Notes
*The mousse topping is very delicate and fragile. If you need to transport it, adding some gelatin at the stage of beating the eggs can help make it a bit sturdier for travel and prolong its structure against the heat.
Bloom 1 tablespoon gelatin in 2 tablespoons cold water, heat gently until melted and add to the egg whites / strawberries and whip as per instructions. You must make sure the gelatin is properly dissolved and heated first.
Strawberry marshmallow delight Cake
Egg free, but not vegan
Ive renamed this version Strawberry Marshmallow delight, as its more marshmallowy than the other two versions which are more like a mousse / ice cream. To be honest, I think this version is my favourite!
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- ¼ cup gelatin
- 1 cup maple syrup or honey
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla
- 250 g punnet of strawberries
Base
- 1 cup 1 cup almond meal or whole almonds
- ½ cup nuts
- ¼ cup cocoa butter or coconut oil
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Base
- Line a spring form cake tin with baking paper on the bottom (you can also do the sides if you wish, but I only do the bottom). My tin is 18cm diameter.
- To make the base, put the whole nuts in the food processor or blender and blend until broken up into crumbs. Add the dates, almond meal if you are using, melted cocoa butter or coconut oil and vanilla, Blend until well combined and turn out into your lined tin. Press down to cover the base of your cake tin evenly. Set aside while you make the top.
Filling
- Combine the gelatine with the water in a saucepan, and heat gently until the gelatin is melted.
- Cut the tops off the strawberries and place into a blender or food processor. Blend well until they are all broken down.
- Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl along with your blended strawberries. Use an electric egg beater or stand mixer to whip everything for about 10 – 20 minutes (if you use a hand held egg beater, beg, bribe or pay someone to hold the beater, or ask them to clean the kitchen around you while you are stuck holding the beater!) After 15 – 20 minutes the mixture should double in size and begin to look glossy and thick, and that’s how you know it’s done. In my experience it takes bloody ages … put that Kitchen Aid on your xmas wish list pronto! Once it’s done you need to work quickly because marshmallow can seize quickly and without notice and you don’t want that to happen*.
- Pour it over your base and set in the fridge for a couple hours. It can be frozen and thawed before serving too.
- Gently open the springform tin to release the cake. Carefully peel away the baking paper from the sides. Either plate and serve, or pop back into the fridge or freezer until needed.
Notes
*If it does seize, or set before you’ve poured it, a very gentle heat (i’m talking like 5 seconds in microwave) can melt it back for pouring. But you really want to avoid that as you will lose some of its beautiful light fluffiness.
Strawberry Delight Mouse cake – Vegan
Ingredients
- ¾ cup chickpea brine the brine in the can of chickpeas! Also known as aquafaba
- 1 cup fine sugar*
- 250 g punnet of strawberries
- ⅛ teaspoon cream of tatar
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons freeze dried strawberry or raspberry powder Optional, but highly recommended
Base
- 1 cup Almond meal or whole almonds
- ½ cup nuts
- ¼ cup cocoa butter or coconut oil
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
Instructions
The Base
- Line a spring form cake tin with baking paper on the bottom (you can also do the sides if you wish, but I only do the bottom). My tin is 18cm diameter.
- To make the base, put the whole nuts in the food processor or blender and blend until broken up into crumbs. Add the dates, almond meal if you are using, melted cocoa butter or coconut oil and vanilla, Blend until well combined and turn out into your lined tin. Press down to cover the base of your cake tin evenly. Set aside while you make the top.
The Filling
- Cut the tops off the strawberries and place into a blender or food processor. Blend well until they are all broken down. You can just dice them and place them in the bowl with the rest of the ingredients instead, and the beater will break them up, but I prefer them blended first.
- Mix all of the other ingredients in a large bowl along with your blended strawberries. Use an electric egg beater or stand mixer to whip everything for about 10 minutes, until you get soft peaks. (That is when you pull the beater up from the mix, a peak forms that stands upright then folds over). They will be more soft than the egg version as aquafaba doesn’t hold up quite as well.
- Pour the mix over the top of your base and put into the freezer for 3-4 hours. You can also make ahead and keep this in the freezer until needed. Its best served and eaten frozen and will melt quickly in the heat.
- Gently open the springform tin to release the cake. Carefully peel away the baking paper from the sides. Either plate and serve, or pop back into the freezer until needed.
Notes
*icing sugar, castor sugar, or you can run coconut sugar through a blender or food processor to a fine powder, and use that. You can also absolutely use maple syrup, but aquafaba is a temperamental wee thing and does prefer the bulk of granulated sugar, it means your end result holds up a bit better.
Nut free base
1 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
1 cup dates
1/4 cup cocoa butter or coconut oil
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
To make the base, put the seeds in the food processor or blender and blend until broken up into crumbs. Add the dates, melted cocoa butter or coconut oil and vanilla, Blend until well combined and turn out into your lined tin. Press down to cover the base of your cake tin evenly. Set aside while you make the top.
Delicious recipe. Thanks for sharing.
Hey Laura, thank you for the feedback! Much appreciated 🙂
Kayla x
Could frozen strawberries be used or would that upset the delicate balance?
Yes Frozen strawberries would be fine 🙂
Yes frozen would be fine, I would defrost them first, and use just the berries if there is a lot of extra liquid ☺️