Lemon Mousse

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A traditional easy lemon mousse recipe made with just five simple ingredients. The perfect way to use fresh lemons for a light and refreshing dessert.

Welcome to #LemonWeek 2021 hosted by me! What better way to welcome summer than with over 50 recipes featuring bright and sunny lemons? Come join me and my fellow Lemon Week bloggers as we bring you recipes from appetizers to drinks to entrées and desserts!

When I sought out ideas for lemon week, I wanted to branch out from my traditional cakes/cookies/basics, which is where my lemon truffles came from.

Today’s lemon mousse recipe was the next on my list of ways to branch out, my interest in which was piqued when I made my easy chocolate mousse a bit ago.

I mentioned in that post (which was March’s No Bake of The Month) that there was a time and place for traditional, cooked mousse, and today’s lemon mousse dessert is it.

Since I didn’t know anything about traditional mousse, I did some research and consulted my favorite famous chef, Ina Garten, to see what lemon mousse was all about.

I took Ina’s recipe and made it my own, but the reason I picked hers was because it included lemon curd in the recipe, which is something I was already sharing during this celebratory lemon week. And I love me a good recipe to use up another recipe (hello, homemade apple butter and apple butter pull-apart bread).

Not only did we see my homemade lemon curd in my triple lemon cupcakes from earlier this week, but we can also use it in today’s lemon mousse… Or leave it out! We’ll get to all that good stuff, I promise.

Cooking the whole eggs + egg yolks + sugar + fresh lemon juice + lemon zest over simmering water cooks the eggs slowly so that they’re safe to eat. I use my digital thermometer to check to make sure my egg mixture reaches 150ºF (66ºC).

What you’re left with after that is a lemon custard, to which you’ll add the other components.

You’ll want to take the egg whites to stiff peaks and then fold them in to the lemon custard base.

Once the egg whites are in, you’ll add the final component, which is homemade whipped cream.

Both the whipped egg whites and the whipped cream add volume and lift to the lemon mousse which turns it from a dense and heavy lemon custard to a fluffy, airy lemon mousse.

By folding the egg whites and whipped cream in (rather than stirring them in), we keep them inflated. If we were to just stir them in, we’d run the risk of deflating all that hard work we did whipping everything to peaks.

Ok, ok, all joking aside… Folding something in goes like this:

1) use a spatula to cut down the center of the mixture.
2) scoop up one half of the mixture and carefully flip it onto the other half.
3) turn the bowl ¼ of a turn and repeat.

Folding in can be a slow process, but it’s worth it to keep things nice and light.

We also do this with lemon macaron batter, again, so we don’t deflate it.

I actually served our lemon mousse both ways and only preferred the individual cups to the larger bowl because who doesn’t love individually portioned desserts you can take into another room so that your children are none the wiser?

(You’re welcome for the tip.)

I served my lemon mousse with dollops of lemon curd and whipped cream on top, but you have the option of adding lemon curd directly to the lemon mousse. I’d recommend this if you either want to amp up the lemon flavor even more or if you need to stretch your lemon mousse farther.

Ina actually added the lemon curd to hers in the original recipe, but I liked it just fine without it and opting for the lemon curd dollops was perfect for me!

I hope you’ll give lemon mousse from scratch a try and discover that aside from patience, you don’t need to have any super fancy skills to make this seemingly fancy dessert.

Thank you for joining me for this #LemonWeek! I can’t wait to hear about all of your lemon dessert adventures!

Friday #LemonWeek Recipes

• Lemon Bundt Cake by House of Nash Eats
• Between The Sheets Cocktail by A Day in the Life on the Farms
• Strawberry Vodka Lemonade by SueBee Homemaker
• Greek Lemon Potatoes by The Spiffy Cookie
• Lemon Poppy Seed Dressing by Lemon Blossoms
• Bourbon Lemonade by Our Good Life
• Strawberry Vodka Pink Lemonade by Our Crafty Cocktail
• Baked Lemon Pasta by Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks
• Lemoncello Tiramisu by The Redhead Baker
• Lemony Baby Bok Choy Apple and Miso Salad by Shockingly Delicious
• Greek Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette by Making Miracles
• Lemon and Rice Cheese Bombs by Magical Ingredients
• Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins by Devour Dinner

5 from 6 votes
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Lemon Mousse
A traditional easy lemon mousse recipe made with just five simple ingredients. The perfect way to use fresh lemons for a light and refreshing dessert.
Prep Time10 minutes mins
Bake Time15 minutes mins
Chilling Time2 hours hrs
Total Time2 hours hrs 25 minutes mins
Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark
Recipe Author Lynn April
Servings: 3 cups
Ingredients
• ▢ 6 large eggs three separated¹
• ▢ 1 cup + 2 Tablespoons (215g) granulated sugar divided
• ▢ zest of 1 lemon
• ▢ ½ cup (120mL) fresh lemon juice about 3 or 4 lemons
• ▢ ⅛ teaspoon salt
• ▢ ½ cup (120mL) heavy whipping cream
• ▢ OPTIONAL: ½ cup homemade lemon curd
Instructions
• In a large heat-proof bowl, whisk together 3 whole eggs, 3 egg yolks (reserve the whites in a separate bowl), 1 cup of the granulated sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and salt. Set aside.
• Fill a large saucepan with a few inches of water and bring to boiling. Reduce to a simmer.
• Place the bowl of ingredients over the pan of simmering water and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, for about 15 minutes, or until mixture starts to thicken. I use my digital instant-read thermometer to check the temperature has reached 150ºF (66ºC).
• Remove bowl from heat and set aside for 15 minutes. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the mixture and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or until completely chilled.
• Place the 3 remaining egg whites into a medium size mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat on high speed for 1 minute. Add the remaining 2 Tablespoons of granulated sugar and continue to beat until the egg whites reach stiff peaks.
• Carefully fold the beaten egg whites into the cold lemon mixture (don't get rid of the bowl), going slowly and being careful not to deflate the egg whites. Set aside.
• Add the heavy cream to the bowl you used for the egg whites, and beat on high speed until stiff peaks form.
• Fold the stiff whipped cream into the lemon mixture, again going slowly and being careful not to deflate the mixture. Optional: if you'd like to stretch your lemon mousse further and/or amp up the lemon flavor even more, gently fold in homemade lemon curd.
• Spoon the lemon mousse into individual parfait cups or leave in one bowl (to be scooped out per serving) and chill for at least 30 minutes. Top with homemade whipped cream² and/or homemade lemon curd and serve cold. Store in the refrigerator, covered tightly, for up to 5 days.
Notes
1. Eggs: keep three eggs whole, and separate three other eggs. The three yolks will go in with the three whole eggs. Reserve the three egg whites in a separate bowl.
2. Homemade whipped cream: one pint of heavy whipping cream will be enough for this recipe + a half batch of my homemade whipped cream for topping.
Adapted from Ina Garten
Did you make this recipe?Mention @freshaprilflours on Instagram or tag #freshaprilflours!
Nutrition Disclosure
All nutritional values are approximate and provided to the reader as a courtesy. Changing ingredients and/or quantities will alter the estimated nutritional calculations.
Serving: 3cups | Calories: 526kcal | Carbohydrates: 71g | Protein: 12g | Fat: 23g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7g | Trans Fat: 0.03g | Cholesterol: 372mg | Sodium: 234mg | Potassium: 202mg | Fiber: 0.1g | Sugar: 69g | Vitamin A: 1061IU | Vitamin C: 16mg | Calcium: 79mg | Iron: 2mg