Coconut Mousse Recipe: 4 Tips for Making the Dessert

Coconut mousse is a dessert featuring coconut cream folded into whipped cream, often stabilized with gelatin. Popular toppings for coconut mousse include toasted coconut and fresh berries.

Many mousse recipes use gelatin, but you can easily make mousse with a host of thickening alternatives, such as whipped egg whites. Alternatively, you can use whipped cream alone—you’ll have to eat the mousse immediately after chilling, or it will deflate.

When making coconut mousse, consider the following tips and ingredients:

1. 1. Chill the whipped cream. Whipped cream provides lightness and volume in a mousse. The key to making whipped cream is cold cream. After whipping the cream and folding it with the coconut mixture, store it in the refrigerator before serving to help it maintain maximum volume.
2. 2. Experiment with toppings. You can serve mousse with additional whipped cream on top or with your favorite toppings. Toasted coconut, lime zest, or fresh berries are popular toppings for coconut mousse. Alternatively, you can use the coconut mousse between layers of cake to make a coconut mousse cake.
3. 3. Try different thickeners. Unflavored gelatin sheets or gelatine powder are the most popular thickeners for mousse. You can add a slurry of cornstarch and water to the custard mixture. Other options are agar, eggs or egg yolks, or xanthan gum. Expect subtle differences in flavor depending on the thickener you use.
4. 4. Warm the custard mixture. Mix the coconut milk and coconut cream with bloomed gelatin to make a thickened, stabilized, and flavorful base for the mousse. Gently warm the mixture to dissolve the gelatin. To make a chocolate coconut mousse, you can add cocoa powder, chopped chocolate, or white chocolate to the custard.