Comments on: Creamy Caramel Mousse

By: David Leite

David Leite — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 03:07:30 +0000

Jeff, good question. Do you have a light-colored pan? A darker pan will make it harder to see the color. You want the the mixture to turn from a lighter to darker brown. If it’s impossible to tell visually, use the timing of 5 to 6 minutes as a guide.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 22:36:12 +0000

As soon as I put it on the stove the color of the liquid was already amber by adding the light brown sugar, honey, and vanilla. How do you tell when you get an amber color if the mixture is already has a brown color with the added colored ingredients?

By: David Leite

David Leite — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 20:09:22 +0000

Actually, there’s enough liquid in there that it won’t burn.

By: Anna Leah

Anna Leah — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 18:43:23 +0000

If you cook it without stirring and over high heat, wouldn’t it burn before it turns amber colored?

By: David Leite

David Leite — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:09:01 +0000

Anne, so glad you like it. It’s a lovely book.

By: Anne

Anne — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 16:15:46 +0000

Thanks David. After reading all the reviews on it, I can’t believe I haven’t seen it on someone’s cooking show.
If I can’t find it in Canada, I’ll beg a friend to bring it over from the States.

By: David Leite

David Leite — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 14:53:17 +0000

Hi Anne. Vanilla paste is just that: a paste made from vanilla beans. You can read more about it and order it from here.

By: Anne

Anne — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 14:47:01 +0000

What’s vanilla paste?

By: Testers Choice

Testers Choice — Sat, 02 May 2009 01:23:17 +0000

[Leanne Abe] I had always thought “bowl-licking-good” to be an exaggeration, but then I found myself licking the bowl—and the spatula—as I cleaned up after making this mousse.

Make sure you check the size of the pot you use to cook the sugars, as anything smaller than a 2-quart pot runs the risk of the caramel bubbling over when you add the cream and anything larger than a 2-quart pot may evaporate the water too quickly, allowing the sugars to burn. I found six minutes to be the perfect timing for cooking the sugar. At four minutes I had a caramel that was too light, runny, and too sweet (in other words, not sufficiently caramelized). But at six minutes, I could tell the sugars were well caramelized. I think any longer might have burned them. Adding the hot cream will make the mixture sputter, so stand back and use that long-handled spatula to stir!

Cool the caramel to room temperature, then place it in the fridge and check it after 30 minutes. You want the caramel to be cool but still stirrable. Warm caramel will “melt” the whipped cream later, but if it’s too cold and hard, it won’t fold in properly. An hour in the fridge was enough for my caramel – it took a bit of extra folding to get the first 1/3 of the whipped cream incorporated, but the rest went smoothly.

This may serve six at a dinner party, but it really serves two when eating it out of the bowl while standing in the middle of your kitchen

By: Testers Choice

Testers Choice — Fri, 01 May 2009 20:05:40 +0000

[Brenda Carleton] Thankfully I have a lot of experience making caramel, so I wasn’t tempted to stir while the mixture was boiling. The recipe instructs you to brush the inside of the pan with a damp pastry brush twice to prevent crystallization, and that’s key.

The recipe also said to cook it about 6 minutes, until it turned an amber color, but I boiled it for just 5 minutes. I could tell it was perfect and didn’t want to let it go any longer. After the caramel is a lovely amber color, you’re instructed to add the hot cream (slowly, of course) followed by the butter. (Did I mention this mousse is not exactly fat-free?) Then you pour the mixture into a bowl and allow it to come to room temperature. The adds that it should be refrigerated for 1 to 2 hours, but I checked it after only half an hour (could not resist!) and it was already firm enough. Any longer and it would not have been stirrable.

As an aside, the recipe calls for vanilla bean paste, but it’s easy to make your own from vanilla beans. What flavor! Beautiful. All that’s left to do is fold in the whipped cream and voila! Mousse! I kept sneaking licks while it was firming up in the fridge. It’s light, silky, and airy, yet the flavor is rich and buttery. The only slight imperfection? It was ever so slightly grainy, due to the cream and butter, but other than that it was sublime. Seriously. Vanilla beans. Caramel. Convinced yet?