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The tangy sweet raspberry mousse over the Russian sponge cake is so good! And raspberries are in season; at their peak of amazing-ness. This was my nieces 1st birthday cake :). Doesn’t it look fit for a princess?
My friend Nella shared this Raspberry Mousse Cake recipe with me awhile back. It’s so tasty and pretty straightforward to make. I baked it twice last week and everyone enjoyed it. Nella, thank you so much for sharing. It’s a keeper!
Ingredients for the Raspberry Mousse Cake:
3 large eggs, cold or room temp
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour *measured correctly
For the Raspberry Mousse:
1 1/4 cup fresh or frozen raspberries
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 Tbsp Knox Unflavored Gelatin
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 1/2 Tbsp confectioners (powdered) sugar
To decorate Raspberry Mousse Cake:
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 1/2 Tbsp powdered sugar
1/2 to 1 cup raspberries
How to Make Raspberry Mousse Cake:
Preheat the Oven to 350˚F.
1. Butter a cake pan or springform pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper.
2. Using electric mixer, beat 3 large eggs with 1/2 cup sugar using the whisk attachment for 6 min (7 min for cold eggs) on high speed
3. Sprinkle the top with 1/2 cup flour and fold in gently with a spatula just until all of the flour is incorporated. DO NOT OVER-MIX or it won’t rise well. Transfer to your prepared cake pan and bake for 23 min. Cool to room temp (I popped it into the freezer 10 minutes to speed up the cooling process).
How to Make the Raspberry Mousse:
1. In a Small saucepan, combine 1 1/4 cups fresh or frozen raspberries with 1/4 cup sugar. Whisk together until it’s the consistency of a raspberry sauce. Remove from heat and strain the raspberry sauce through a fine mesh sieve and push on the raspberries with a spoon to separate the juice from the seeds. You want to extract as much of the juice as possible.
2. Pour the juice back into the saucepan. Whisk in 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice and 1/2 Tbsp Knox unflavored gelatin and put back over the heat just until the gelatin is dissolved into the raspberry sauce. Refrigerate raspberry sauce until it’s room temp. Be careful not to leave it in the fridge too long since the gelatin starts to set quickly.
3. Whip 1 cup heavy whipping cream to soft peaks. Add 1 1/2 Tbsp confectioners sugar (powdered sugar). Continue beating until firm peaks form. Refrigerate until ready to use.
4. Once the raspberry sauce is cooled to room temp (make sure it’s not warm or it wont be spreadable after it’s mixed with the whipped cream), use a spatula to fold raspberry sauce into the whipped cream (pour about 1/4 of the raspberry sauce at a time). Spread the raspberry mouse over the cooled cake. Refrigerate for 2-3 hours or overnight before serving.
5. When the mousse is firm enough to decorate, beat 1 cup heavy cream with 1 1/2 Tbsp powdered sugar until firm peaks form then pipe rounds of whip cream around the perimeter of the cake and decorate with raspberries and tiny basil leaves for effect :). I used Wilton Star tip.
Enjoy! Enjoy!
P.S. Have you tried making a mousse with anything other than raspberries?
Raspberry Mousse Cake

Ingredients
- 3 large eggs, cold or room temp
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- Bake at 350 for 23 min
For the Raspberry Mousse:
- 1 1/4 cup fresh or frozen raspberries
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 Tbsp Knox Unflavored Gelatin
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 1/2 Tbsp confectioners, powdered sugar
To decorate:
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 1/2 Tbsp powdered sugar
- 1/2 to 1 cup raspberries
- 10 tiny basil leaves, optional
Instructions
How to Make Raspberry Mousse Cake:
- Preheat the Oven to 350˚F.
- Butter a cake pan or springform pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper.
- Beat 3 large eggs with 1/2 cup sugar using the whisk attachment for 6 min (7 min for cold eggs) on high speed.
- Sprinkle the top with 1/2 cup flour and fold in gently with a spatula just until all of the flour is incorporated. DO NOT OVERMIX or it won't rise well. Transfer to your prepared cake pan and bake for 23 min. Cool to room temp (I popped it into the freezer 10 minutes to speed up the cooling process).
How to Make the Raspberry Mousse:
- In a Small saucepan, combine 1 1/4 cups fresh or frozen raspberries with 1/4 cup sugar. Whisk together until it's the consistency of a raspberry sauce. Remove from heat and strain the raspberry sauce through a fine mesh sieve and push on the raspberries with a spoon to separate the juice from the seeds. You want to extract as much of the juice as possible.
- Pour the juice back into the saucepan. Whisk in 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice and 1/2 Tbsp Knox unflavored gelatin and put back over the heat just until the gelatin is dissolved into the raspberry sauce. Refrigerate raspberry sauce until it's room temp. Be careful not to leave it in the fridge too long since the gelatin starts to set quickly.
- Whip 1 cup heavy whipping cream to soft peaks. Add 1 1/2 Tbsp confectioners sugar (powdered sugar). Continue beating until firm peaks form. Refrigerate until ready to use.
- Once the raspberry sauce is cooled to room temp (make sure it's not warm or it wont be spreadable after it's mixed with the whipped cream), use a spatula to fold raspberry sauce into the whipped cream (pour about 1/4 of the raspberry sauce at a time). Spread the raspberry mouse over the cooled cake. Refrigerate for 2-3 hours or overnight before serving.
- When the mousse is firm enough to decorate, beat 1 cup heavy cream with 1 1/2 Tbsp powdered sugar until firm peaks form then pipe rounds of whip cream around the perimeter of the cake and decorate with raspberries and tiny basil leaves for effect 🙂
This looks perfect for Mother’s day. Just wondering, what size cake pan you used? Love your photos and your instructions. Can’t wait to make this. Thanks Natasha.
A regular 8″ or 9″ round cake pan would work. Mine was a 9-inch 🙂 Thank you for the compliment 🙂 I’m so happy that you are enjoying the blog.
Hi Natasha!
Yesterday I tried your Raspberry Mousse cake and it is delicious! Thank you for the recipe. But I think I did something wrong and I need your advice 🙂 I used frozen raspberries, but they did not give me enough juice. And the juice was thick. Maybe I boiled the raspberries too much? Or should I use more Raspberries? maybe 2 cups? My cake did not look like yours in the picture since my raspberry sauce was thick in consistency even before I added the gelatin, but I still enjoyed it a lot! I would love to try it again!
If the sauce was too thick, it might have been that the raspberries were boiled too long. How long did you boil them?
I don’t remember but I think it was a long time 🙂 I will try it again Natasha! Thank you for replying. I will try it again with the same amount of raspberries and with less boiling 😉
Its me again, I am sorry 🙂 I just need to ask one more question. Natasha sometimes the sides of cakes (base) in general get kind of dry/crunchy on the sides, since nothing is covering the sides. Is there something we can do to avoid that? Oh and by the way this cake is so delicious, not too sweet which I love. I can eat the whole thing at once!
You could cover it with some frosting I guess but then it wouldn’t look the same. I guess if you wanted it moist, you could brush it with a little sweet syrup (sugar water or sprite). I’m so glad you liked it. 🙂
Hi Natasha!
I was wondering if I could replace the raspberries with strawberries? My one daughter is not too fond of raspberries. I was thinking of making this in a heart-shaped springform pan for Valentine’s and making a strawberry mousse and then decorating the top with hearts cut out from strawberries.
I think it could work with strawberries, but I’m not sure of the difference in amount of juice strawberries would let off versus raspberries since you’re only keeping the juice of the berries.
I made this recipe the other day and it was amazing!! Everyone loved it because it was was the perfect balance of sweet and tangy. I will definitely be making it again 🙂
I’m so glad you all loved it!! Thanks so much for the great review 🙂
I was wondering how long will this cake be good, after being completely finished?
It’s best to make it the day of or day before your event. You can make it a few days ahead but don’t add fresh fruit until you’re closer to serving.
This cake looks delicious! And I love that its so simple to make:) …can you please tell me what tip you used to decorate?
I used wilton 1M.
Thank you! Will make it today:)
I had to LOL at the end there a little bit…anything besides raspberry? Ummm, yes, CHOCOLATE mousse! It’s one of our family favorites and an actual food group in itself. 🙂
The raspberry one looks so dainty, might be good for a baby shower. 🙂
Oh my goodness, chocolate mousse sounds ridiculously good! Do you have a good recipe you could share?
Natasha this cake looks delectable!! I tried it and it was a dud for me…I whipped my whipping cream and it seemed to just be flat…any tips? Also I just cannot master the typical sponge cake! Mine was just flat! I may give up on baking all together!
Don’t give up!! Was your whipping cream a HEAVY whipping cream? You really need it to say “heavy” on the container for it to whip up correctly. Also, make sure you fold in the egg whites into the batter and continue folding just until it’s combined. Don’t overdo it or it will flatten. You are relying on the egg white fluffiness to keep your cake from being flat. I hope that helps. DO NOT GIVE UP! My first cake was a disaster and I’m sure glad I stuck to it 🙂
Thank you for the encouragement:) yes it was heavy whipping cream…I think I just over mixed instead of folding…I love your videos! Its very nice to watch in person, even though the photographs are awesome I do love the videos!
Thank you Nelya 🙂 That’s very encouraging!
Nelya, The heavy whipping cream needs to be right out of the fridge(cold), not room temperature, or else it will be flat.
I made this last week for a get together and it was great! It turned out exactly as the directions specify. The raspberry mousse is so creamy with a sweet tang. This cake was enjoyed by all. Thanks Natasha!
I’m so glad you all enjoyed it. Music to my ears 🙂
Absolutely stunning. What a gorgeous cake and what skillful photography!
The frosting looks like a fluffy, pink cloud. Raspberries happen to be one of my favorite berries. They are so vibrant and have such a great balance of sweet and tart. They are such a perfect combination to many desserts. I’ll have to try this cake sometime soon.
It did make a great baby girls birthday cake for those very reasons! Same here; raspberries are my favorite berries. I don’t think I could have a bowl big enough to satisfy a raspberry craving.
Amazing photos and execution. Bravo Natasha, thank you!
Looks yummy! My baby is turning 1 also but he’s a boy! Do you have any ideas for a cake and decor for him??
I don’t know how you could make a pink cake look boy-ish? 🙂 For my son’s b-day, I made the tres leches cake that I have posted and I made the frosting blue then made the top look like a fishing theme 🙂
The raspberry mousse looks so delicious, my mouth is watering. Will definitely be making it soon. I wonder what this sponge tastes like, though. I’ve never baked a sponge that requires so few ingredientes! Doesn’t it taste a bit like eggs and/or flour? Can I add a few drops of vanila? Also, would it be ok to top the mousse with another layer of sponge? Thanks for the recipe! 🙂
You can definitely add a few drops of vanilla. It is a very simple yet tasty cake and is the base of many Russian and Ukrainian cakes 🙂 You can add another sponge over the top once the mousse is fully set.
This cake is so very pretty! Detailed instructions are so helpful and photography is stunning! I am a big fan of your blog, Natasha:)
Thanks Dina 🙂 You’re so sweet!
Making this one soon!:)
I hope you LOVE it!!
What a beautiful cake! Wow! I am giving you A++ for appearance! I wonder if the mousse is strong enough to be topped on top of jello and then another layer of jello? 🙂
Yes, just let the jello and mousse set in between the layers. Only pour room temperature jello mix, or it will start to melt.
That is just the prettiest cake!! I’m saving this one.
Thanks Veronica, I will be making this one many more times :).
A lovely recipe. Thank you.
Thank you Liz 🙂
Tomorrow my youngest turns 2… This might just be her birthday cake tomorrow 🙂 thank you Natasha!
You are welcome Alla :). Happy birthday to your princess!
Wow! This does look absolutely fit for a princess! I would love a slice of this on my birthday, though I have to admit I’m not exactly a princess myself.
Thank you Sarah :). I end up having more than one slice my self. Pictures on your blog are mouthwatering, especially that apple pie :).