Lilla’s Raspberry Mousse is a rather special recipe. It was shared with me by David, who I have enjoyed delightful food chat with over email for several months now. David’s late wife, Lilla (a wonderful cook), used to make this mousse as a treat for Sunday lunch, and he describes it as ‘a taste of heaven’. It uses just three ingredients – jelly, evaporated milk and raspberries, but you could vary what flavour jelly and what fruit you use (blackcurrant jelly with prunes is lovely too apparently). It tastes great, especially with the tart raspberries dolloped in to the light and sweet mixture. You could make it ahead if need be.
On top of this, David and I have been swapping other recipes, and he has shared with me stories of growing up in post-war Britain during rationing, when his aunt would be creative with what they had and fry bread in butter before sprinkling it with sugar. He has never forgotten the donuty taste of it. My kids love this too!
When making the mousse, if you blitz the evaporated milk in a food processor for 7 minutes it will aerate and give it a light, consistent texture. If not the jelly and milk will separate a bit when setting – still delicious but not faithful to the original recipe! Thanks David for sharing Lilla’s recipe.
Lilla’s Raspberry Mousse (makes around 7 small mousses)
One packet raspberry jelly
Small tin evaporated milk
Small tub fresh raspberries or a tin of raspberries
Put tin of milk in fridge for 2 hours. Put the broken up jelly in to a saucepan with 1/2 pint of hot water (or if using tinned raspberries, mix water with the drained syrup up to 1/2 pint and use this). Dissolve the jelly on a low heat, stirring well, then put aside to cool.
Take the tin of evaporated milk from the fridge, put in a food processor and run for 7 minutes – it won’t get thicker but will get aerated to give the mousse a lightness. Then pour the cooled jelly liquid in and blitz further until the colour runs deep. Pour into either a large dish or individual dishes (recycled ramekins or small glasses are perfect), then just drop the raspberries in (we put six in each ramekin). Put the mousses in the fridge to set for at least 2 hours (or overnight).
You can substitute the raspberries with either strawberries or oranges, with the appropriate jelly. Or blackcurrant jelly with prunes.
katielovescooking 
Would this work if I tried to do it in a jug blender instead of a food processor?
Yes I think it would, as long as it is aerating it and creating little bubbles! But if that doesn’t work don’t worry – the mousse will still set but will be layered with jelly on the bottom and mousse on top. Still delicious!
How big is a small tin. Please always state quantities.
johnep
Hi John – a small tin would be 170g. Best wishes! Katie