I always thought that my grandma invented this raspberry mousse recipe so that we would stop wasting fruits from our garden. I grew up with raspberries because my grandparents had a large plant by the gate. Ever since I knew I enjoyed fresh raspberries, and the plant kept growing and growing, taking more and more space. Kids from the street would squeeze their arms through the gap between the fence and the gate just to grab some. There was always an abundance of raspberries, more and more as each year that passed by. But there’s only so many raspberries one can eat. So, after the first summer harvest, the rest of the fruits would just end up rotting in the fridge. My grandma then came up with this idea, to make a raspberry mousse, or “ice cream” as she called it. She would just mix egg whites with sugar and raspberries, and freeze it until I came back from my classes. We had unlimited quantities of cold raspberry ice cream all summer long, which was so refreshing when the temperatures reached 40 degrees in Bucharest.

In this article I want to show you how easy it is to make my grandma’s raspberry mousse recipe, which makes a great light dessert.

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The Ingredients for the Romanian Raspberry Mousse Recipe

A blue and white pack of sugar, 2 eggs and a wooden board with raspberries on it, on a grey tea towel

You don’t need many ingredients to make this delicious raspberry mousse recipe. The most important ingredient is of course, the fresh raspberries. Besides them, you will also need egg whites and sugar. I used fresh raspberries from the garden, and added a few red currants as well, which I had picked alongside them.

How to Make the Raspberry Mousse

A close-up of a digital thermometer showing the temperature of 121 degrees Celsius

There are two ways to make this delicious raspberry mousse recipe. Whilst my grandma made the simple meringue recipe, I chose to go for Italian meringue because it holds and freezes better. The difference between the two is the sugar. In the classic meringue recipe, you can just add the sugar to the egg whites, and whisk until stiff. The Italian meringue uses sugar syrup which is heated to a temperature of exactly 121 degrees Celsius. If you don’t feel confident doing the Italian meringue or don’t have a thermometer, go for the classic recipe. The final taste and the same.

Firstly I crushed the raspberries down into a smooth puree. If you want a creamy texture, you can pass the puree through a sieve, to remove the tiny seeds. I like a bit of texture in this mousse, so I left them as they were.

The pink meringue in the mixer bowl. You can see the tiny seeds of the raspberries in it

To make the syrup, I mixed the sugar with water and heated it up on a low temperature, mixing from time to time. Meanwhile, I separated two egg whites, and added them in the mixer bowl. I then started it at a low speed. By the time the eggs started to foam up, the sugar syrup was ready. I made sure to take it off the heat at exactly 121 degrees Celsius, and then pour it slowly into the eggs whilst switching the speed up to maximum. Be careful as the sugar will stick to everything, so try to pour it straight through the middle of the bowl cover, slowly. The high speed will prevent the eggs from cooking, creating that beautiful, shiny, meringue. Once you finish the syrup, start adding the raspberry mousse. Continue mixing until the meringue cools down to room temperature.

The last step is to transfer the raspberry mousse into serving bowls, and put them into the freezer for a couple of hours, before serving.

Notes and Tips:

You can make this raspberry mousse recipe using classic meringue or Italian meringue. The difference is only in texture, the taste is the same. The Italian merengue has a more creamy and shinier texture.
You can make this recipe with other similar fruits as well, such as strawberries, blueberries, or blackberries. It is a very easy recipe to make when you have extra fruits, especially if you grow them yourself and can’t eat them all fresh.
It is best to cover the serving bowls whilst in the freezer, so they don’t get “freezer-burn” and prevent cross contamination.