Thick and creamy with the sweet, fruity flavor of raspberries, our raspberry mousse recipe makes a delicious cake filling and a standalone dessert.

The recipe begins with a jam made from fresh raspberries that will leave you with plenty of extra for swirling onto the mousse or serving alongside another dessert, like this lemon raspberry parfait or our flourless chocolate cake. This is one for your recipe box.

Raspberry mousse filling in a parfait cup with extra sauce swirled on top.

Raspberry Mousse Cake Filling with Gelatin

This raspberry mousse cake filling is the diva of dessert fillings, with creamy, fruity perfection. Thanks to a touch of gelatin, it has just the right amount of body and firmness without going all jiggly on you. This mousse stays smooth and stable, making it the perfect cake filling for those show-stopping layers.

For this fluffy, whipped dessert, use fresh raspberries in season or frozen ones for year-round convenience. Both work beautifully. Either way, you’ll create an easy, gluten-free dessert that everyone will love.

Why this Recipe Works

The mixture of mascarpone, heavy cream, and raspberries gives this dreamy raspberry mousse a rich and creamy consistency that remains light and fluffy.

Our raspberry mousse is:

Delightfully fruity with a perfect balance of sweetness and just a hint of tartness from the raspberries.
Super versatile and great for enjoying on its own or as a filling between cake layers!
This dessert is perfect for enjoying all year round, and you even have the option to use frozen raspberries.

A spoon scooping out a bite of raspberry mousse cake filling.

Ingredients for Raspberry Mousse Cake Filling

This easy raspberry mousse recipe only calls for seven ingredients. With a beautiful pink color and extra sauce for drizzling, raspberry mousse makes an elegant and sophisticated dessert!

Here is the full ingredient list:

For the Raspberry Puree/Jam

fresh or frozen raspberries
sugar
lemon juice

You can make the jam several days in advance or purchase pre-made jam in the store.

For the Mousse

unflavored powdered gelatin
water
mascarpone cream
heavy cream

If you love minimal ingredient desserts, this one only has six ingredients.

Ingredients used to make raspberry mousse.

Versatile Raspberry Mousse Filling

We love serving this mousse in individual dessert cups, but many of our mousse recipes also make great cake fillings!

This raspberry mousse sets up firmly and is similar to our white chocolate mousse filling in that it’s perfect to pipe or spread between two fluffy cake layers.

The sweet, fruity flavor of raspberries pairs beautifully with a variety of cake recipes, from a white chocolate cake to our coconut cake and this 6-inch yellow cake recipe. It even goes well with our perfect chocolate cake.

And while we also have a raspberry white chocolate mousse recipe, this recipe uses more raspberries and you can drizzle it with extra puree or even some ganache.

Raspberry mousse layered between two cakes.

Making and Using Raspberry Puree (or Jam)

We start by making a puree with the raspberries and cooking it down until it is thick and jammy. You will not use all of the puree in the mousse but don’t toss it out because it is great drizzled on top or used in other recipes.

If you plan to serve this easy raspberry mousse as dessert, just pour that leftover sauce on top. It creates a beautiful red swirl and gives it an extra punch of fresh flavor.

If you’re making the mousse for a cake filling, save the extra sauce for strawberry ice cream, sourdough pancakes, crispy yeast waffles, or lemon ricotta cake.

This is perfect for brunch recipes or a Mother’s Day dessert. It is easy to make and only requires a few simple ingredients. It’s one of those recipes that looks impressive but doesn’t take a lot of time.

If you don’t want to cook down the raspberries, you can purchase a jar of jam to save time and effort.

A collage of three photos showing how to bloom and dissolve gelatin.

More Chilled or Frozen Desserts

Recipe Tips for Success

Chill the cream and mascarpone. You will also get better results if you chill your mixing bowl. Just pop it in the fridge while you make the sauce.
Let the gelatin hydrate or bloom before you heat it to dissolve the granules.
Do not get the gelatin too hot. Blast the gelatin in the microwave in 3-second increments just until it is liquid. If gelatin gets too hot, it will not set up properly.
Serve in pretty glasses: wine glasses or champagne glasses make a beautiful presentation!
Let it chill: It will get thicker after it chills in the fridge.

Several parfait cups with raspberry mousse filling.

This easy raspberry mousse recipe is sweet, fruity, and tart! The delicious mousse is just perfect when paired with delightful swirls of fresh raspberry sauce. It’s an awesome way to end any meal, and you know what’s even better? Its versatility as a cake filling opens up even more ways to enjoy this sweet delight!

Some Other Recipes We Are Sure You Will Love:

Mango and coconut combine in this creamy mango mousse cake! A sweet tropical mousse is served on top of a coconut sponge cake.

Life just got better with this Nutella Buttercream. Nutella is fantastic on its own, but you can also use it as a cake filling.

This lemon lavender cake is for all the lemon lovers! A thick lemon curd gets layered between two lavender sponge cakes soaked with lavender syrup. The cake gets topped with more lemon curd and an Italian meringue buttercream.

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A spoon in a dish of raspberry mouse cake filling.

Raspberry Mousse

Thick, creamy raspberry mousse makes a beautiful dessert piped in glasses or use the mousse for a cake filling. Since the mousse sets up firmly, you can put a thick layer between cakes.

When you make the raspberry jam, you will end up with 1-1/4 cups to 1-1/3 cups. You will only use 1 cup to make the mousse and you can use the remaining jam to swirl over the top of the mousse when you serve it.

4.62 from 34 votes

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Prep Time: 20

Cook Time: 12

Total Time: 32

Servings: servings (4 cups)

Calories: 233kcal

Author: Dahn Boquist

Ingredients

Make the Raspberry Jam (or purchase jam)

24 ounces fresh or frozen raspberries
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice

For the Raspberry Mousse

2-½ teaspoons unflavored powdered gelatin
¼ cup water
¾ cup (6 ounces) mascarpone cheese, chilled
½ cup confectioners sugar (aka powdered sugar)
1 cup heavy cream chilled

Instructions

Place a mixing bowl and whisk in the fridge to chill. You will use the chilled bowl when you whip the cream.

Make the Jam (or use 1 cup of store bought jam)

Place the raspberries, sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat, breaking it up with a fork or potato masher. Bring the mixture to a boil. Continue cooking for 15 to 20 minutes until thick.
Place a strainer over a bowl and pour the raspberry mixture into the strainer. Push the mixture through the strainer. You should have 1-1/4 cups to 1-1/3 cups of seedless jam. Toss out the seeds. Place the jam in the fridge to cool
(If you are starting with store bought jam, pass 1-1/3 cups through a strainer to remove the seeds).

Make the Mousse

Add the mascarpone and the confectioners sugar to a large bowl. Stir by hand with a wide spatula to incorporate the sugar and smooth the mascarpone. Set aside.
Place ¼ cup of water in a small microwavable bowl. Sprinkle the gelatin over the top of the water, give it a stir, and let it sit for 3 to 5 minutes. This will hydrate (or bloom) the gelatin.
When the gelatin absorbs all the water, place the bowl in the microwave. Zap it for 10 to 20 seconds stopping to stir every 4 seconds until it is dissolved, liquified and slightly warm to the touch. Do not cook the gelatin mixture too much as high heat will destroy the thickening power of the gelatin.
Pour the heavy cream into the chilled bowl and whip until soft peaks form (when you lift the whisk, the cream will form a peak then flop over on itself).
Once the cream reaches the soft peaks stage, drizzle in the gelatin mixture and continue to whip until stiff peaks form.
Fold ⅓ of the whipped cream into the mascarpone mixture. Then fold in the rest of the whipped cream in 2 separate batches.
Give the chilled raspberry jam a stir to loosen it up. Measure out 1 cup of jam and fold it into the whipped cream mixture.
Keep chilled until time to serve. The mousse will thicken even more after 4 to 6 hours in the fridge. If you have leftover jam, you can thin it out with a splash of water and use it to swirl into the mousse or layer it in parfait glasses.

Notes

Make sure the cream and mascarpone are chilled as well as the bowl.

Nutrition

4.62 from 34 votes (34 ratings without comment)

Linda

Thursday 19th of September 2024

Hi I was wondering if you could substitute the mascarpone for cream cheese? Would like to make this for a baby shower in November. BTW, I love your bio! Glad you’re pursuing your passion. Hope to do this full time myself one day. 😊

Dahn Boquist

Thank you so much, I’m glad you enjoyed my bio, and I hope you get to pursue your passion full time soon! Yes, you can definitely substitute cream cheese for mascarpone in the recipe. Just make sure to use a beater to whip the cream cheese until it’s smooth. Unlike mascarpone, you don’t have to worry about it curdling if you whip it for too long, so whip it up and get it nice and creamy. I hope the dish turns out great for the baby shower.