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TL;DR (Quick-Answer Box)
- What it is: An ethereally light, citrusy French dessert from Ina Garten. It features fresh lemon juice, zest, and a swirl of rich lemon curd folded into fluffy whipped cream.
- Why you’ll love it: It is the ultimate make-ahead spring dessert—refreshingly tart, incredibly smooth, and sophisticated enough for Easter, Mother’s Day, or weekend celebrations.
- How to make it: Cook a lemon-egg base until thick, chill, then fold in stiff egg whites and whipped heavy cream. Fold in lemon curd, transfer to a dish, and garnish with sweetened whipped cream and lemon.
This is many layers of things but the good news is that you can make it in advance and let it sit in the refrigerator for a long time. And I give it extra-special flavor by putting in half a cup of lemon curd, giving it a real lemon bite. Fold the lemon curd in to combine everything and place the mousse in a soufflé dish.
Barefoot Contessa Fresh Lemon Mousse
Ingredients
For the lemon mousse
- 3 extra-large whole eggs
- 3 extra-large eggs, separated
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
- 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice, (4 lemons)
- Kosher salt
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup good bottled lemon curd, at room temperature
- Sweetened Whipped Cream
- Sliced lemon, for garnish
For the sweetened whipped cream
- 1 cup cold heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Make the lemon mousse
- In a large heat-proof bowl, whisk together the 3 whole eggs, 3 egg yolks, 1 cup sugar, the lemon zest, lemon juice, and a pinch of salt.
- Place the bowl over a pan of simmering water and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, for about 10 to 12 minutes, until the mixture is thick like pudding. (I change to a whisk when the mixture starts to get thick.) Take off the heat and set aside for 15 minutes.
- Cover with plastic wrap directly on the surface and refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours, until completely chilled.
- Place half the egg whites and a pinch of salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on high speed. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar and continue to beat until the whites are stiff and shiny. Carefully fold the beaten whites into the cold lemon mixture with a rubber spatula.
- Place the cream in the same bowl of the electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (no need to clean the bowl) and beat on high speed until the cream forms stiff peaks. Carefully fold the whipped cream into the lemon mixture. Fold in the lemon curd and pour into a 7-inch-diameter, 3-inch deep soufflé dish.
Make the whipped cream
- Place the cream, sugar, and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whip on medium and then high speed until the cream just forms stiff peaks. Spoon the whipped cream into a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip.
- Decorate with sweetened whipped cream and lemon slices that have been cut into quarters. Chill and serve cold.
Notes
What size dish should I use for a mousse?
A soufflé dish measuring 7 inches in diameter, 3.5 inches high (that’s a 1-quart dish) will fit the amount of this recipe perfectly. You can also make individual servings. The amount will range between 6 to 10 servings, depending on your choice of vessel.
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Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Recipe Testers’ Reviews
Did you know only 68% of the recipes we test make it onto the site? This recipe survived our rigorous blind testing process by multiple home cooks. It earned the Leite’s Culinaria stamp of approval—and the testers’ reviews below prove it.
I confidently decided to make this for a dinner party without testing the recipe first. I was mightily rewarded and thanked by all dinner guests in attendance. Big hit! The recipe was fairly easy to make, although I did make my own lemon curd, which added an extra step to the process. But if you use a purchased lemon curd you’ll save time and dirty bowls.
Oh my, this lemon mousse was deliciously smooth and creamy, like lemony clouds dissolving on the tongue. I can’t say that I’ve ever had a lemon mousse, but I can say that I’ll be making this again. This recipe deserves to be printed out and stored in my dessert binder so that I don’t forget about it!
I had nine dinner guests to serve, and it made just enough to divide between nine beautiful champagne glasses. I smoothed the top, drizzled it with additional lemon curd, and garnished it with whipped cream and raspberries. Serve with crispy-crunchy amaretti cookies for a supremely satisfying experience of swiping the cookies through the mousse!
Lemon lovers will delight in this delicate dessert. It may seem a bit tedious (whisking, mixing, folding, and more folding…) but it will not disappoint. The lemon flavor was intense for my 9-year-old, but he still gave it a 9 as well as the rest of my family of taste testers.
I opted to serve this dessert layered (mousse, whip cream – repeat) in parfait cups. For individual servings, this will serve about 6.
Why do you use only half of the egg whites? Since it’s only 3 egg whites why not use all of them? Hard to divide them in half.
Hi, Jane. I know it kinda feels wasteful to toss those extra whites, but there’s a method to the madness. This mousse gets a lot of its body and richness from the heavy cream and the lemon curd. If we used all three whites, the mousse would actually become too aerated and fragile—it would likely collapse under its own weight or separate in the fridge.
As for the half problem, the easiest way is to whisk the 3 whites together in a small bowl first, then pour half of that liquid into your mixer. It doesn’t have to be down to the gram, just a visual half. I save the unused half and mix it into my morning eggs and scramble them.