Passion Fruit Mousse
This dairy-free, egg-free Passion Fruit Mousse is sweet, tart, creamy, and simply luscious ~ a delightfully delicious way to end a meal.
As far as mousse goes, this Passion Fruit Mousse has the luscious creamy texture of a conventional mouse. However, this mousse is totally egg free and cream free.
Instead of using egg whites and / or cream, I used a combination of soaked cashews, coconut milk, and coconut oil to make this seemingly indulgent, yet healthyish Passion Fruit Mousse.
Awhile back I shared this chocolate pudding on here. It is one that my daughter loves. I used soaked and softened cashews, coconut milk, and coconut oil to make that tasty chocolate treat. So, I figured I’d do the same when I came across a rare sighting of fresh passion fruit at the Dekalb Farmers Market.
Like rambuttan, papaya, and mango, Passion fruit was another one of the fruits that were available in plenty in Sri Lanka during my childhood years there. And, it was found in everything from juices at little cafes to cake at popular bakeries.
Now, there are a couple of varieties of passion fruit. The one I’m familiar with is the purple hued one. While passion fruit look more enticing when they are plump, they seem to taste best when they are ripe and a bit shriveled.
How do you eat a passion fruit?
First off, use a sharp knife and cut the passion fruit in half. You will cut through the outside purple skin and white rind. You can use a spoon to scoop out the seeds and gelatinous yellow pulp. The seeds and pulp are the edible, highly aromatic and tasty part of the passion fruit.
What does passion fruit taste like?
Ripe passion fruit is sweet and tangy. With (what I think are) hints of papaya, mango, kiwi, pineapple, and lime, it is quite a refreshing fruit. We used to eat the seeds and pulp raw, without adding anything. But, I’ve noticed that the occasional passion fruit I stumble on here in Atlanta is a bit more tangy and tastes best with a bit of sweetener added in.
This Passion Fruit Mousse is:
• Vegan,
• A quick dessert,
• Made with only 8 ingredients, and
• A healthy-ish treat
I say healthy-ish as even though this dessert is made with nutritious and clean ingredients like soaked cashews, the coconut milk, maple syrup, melted coconut oil, vanilla extract, cardamom, and passion fruit, this dessert is high in calories due to the cashews used in it.
How to make this Passion Fruit Mousse?
- First, you will need to soak the cashews. I used to place cashews in water and soak them overnight. But then, thanks to Google University, I found that cashews can be soaked in 30 minutes. This 30 minute soak can be achieved by placing the cashews in a lemon + water mixture. Bring this mixture to a boil. Then cover the pan and remove it from the heat and leave it covered for 30 minutes. Then, drain the water out of the pan and the now softened cashews are ready to be used.
- Next, melt the coconut oil. This can be done by placing the coconut oil in a microwave safe dish and placing it in the microwave and heating it for 10-20 seconds.
- You will need a good blender for this next step. I’ve used blenders that were not powerful and ended up with a slightly grainy mixture. It still tastes great, but it definitely has a texture to it. Anyway, getting back to this third step, add the soaked cashews, the coconut milk, maple syrup, melted coconut oil, vanilla extract, cardamom, and the seeds and yellow pulp from 1 passion fruit into a blender. Blend on high until creamy and smooth.
- Divide the mixture up between two glass bowls or mason jars. Cover the glass bowls and mason jars and chill for 2 hours or overnight.
- Serve with coconut whipped cream and more passion fruit pulp and seeds.
This Passion Fruit Mousse, along with this mango custard, is one of our favorite summer treats and I am hoping that if you happen to stumble on fresh passion fruit, you give this dessert a try.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup cashews
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 a lemon
- 1/2 cup coconut mil
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 3 tbsp coconut oil
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp cardamom
- 1 passion fruit
Instructions
- First, soak the cashews by placing the cashews in the water. Squeeze 1/2 the lemon into this. Bring this mixture to a boil. Then cover the pan and remove it from the heat and leave it covered for 30 minutes. Then, drain the water out of the pan and the now softened cashews are ready to be used.
- Next, melt the coconut oil by placing the coconut oil in a microwave safe dish and placing it in the microwave and heating it for 10-20 seconds.
- Add the soaked cashews, the coconut milk, maple syrup, melted coconut oil, vanilla extract, cardamom, and the seeds and yellow pulp from 1 passion fruit into a blender. Blend on high until creamy and smooth.
- Divide the mixture up between two glass bowls or mason jars. Cover the glass bowls/ mason jars and chill for 2 hours or overnight.
- Serve with coconut whipped cream and more passion fruit pulp and seeds (sweetened to taste, if necessary)
I love anything with passionfruit, so this looks perfect to me. So light and fresh.
I love the tropical twist to this mousse! I’m used to seeing chocolate mousse (yum!), but the tropical version is totally calling to me during the dog days of summer. We can’t get fresh passion fruit up here, but I can get frozen passion fruit pulp…so I think I could totally adapt to make this one work!
Love this delicious mousse, so delicate in flavour – and perfect to enjoy with my friends who are lactose intollerant!
This sounds so natural and delicious and perfect for the summer.
I love this unique take on mousse. Will be on the constant lookout for passion fruit now!
This looks so delicious! My dream dessert – I love passion fruit so much!
I have not used coconut oil in my desserts yet! I love the flavor of coconut and this sounds so delicious with the flavor of coconut all around. Passion fruit is delicious and this is a great dessert to use it in.
I can never say no to passion fruit dessert. This is just so delicious, and bonus points for being vegan-friendly.
Mousse made with such an amazing flavor. Passion Fruit would be my first attempt to making this delicious Dessert. Very interesting .
Mango custard and passion fruit mousse sounds declicious
A very different mousse…I adore both passion fruit and cashew, so I am sure I would love this too.
A healthy dessert never looked and sounded so phenomenally delicious, Shashi! Love the combination of coconut and passion fruit; it certainly reminds me a tropical paradise ๐
This is the prettiest mousse EVER!!! I’ve never had passion fruit mousse and clearly I’ve been missing out, because WOWZA! I love that this is dairy free too (my belly doesn’t love dairy very much)! I cant wait to try this!!!
This looks so creamy, Shashi! I love using cashews for sauces so I can only imagine how much lushness they add to this mousse. Wish I had some right about now to perk up my Monday afternoon. Delish, my friend ๐ Have a great week!
Hi, would that work without coconut oil what do you think? Maybe guar gun instead? Thoughts?
Hello Nicki – I’ve never tried using guar gum as a thickener in this mousse before. I’ve used coconut oil to get it to a consistency that is just right for us – I hope this helps.
@Shashi,
I have tried it with Guam Agar and it worked! ๐ thank you!!!
it really is a delicious recipe!
Delicious. I used half the amount of maple syrup and 1 tablespoon of coconut oil,
divided it into 3 small bowls and topped it with grated dark chocolate and homemade granola crumbs. Next time I’ll try 2 tablespoons of coconut oil to get the firmer texture.
I would have given this recipe 5 stars, but the last star does not work ๐
Question: Does the lemon have any other purpose taste?
Hi Joan – yes – the lemon is for quick soaking the cashews only – if you soak the cashews overnight, no need for the lemon.