It’s March and that means one thing: Spring!

The days are getting longer, the temps are getting higher, and we’re starting to see green shoots appearing in the ground. This month’s recipe is a lightened-up spring dessert: a Cappuccino Mousse. It’s light and airy, but it also borrows from an old pandemic favourite from a couple years back: the dalgona coffee craze.

This recipe went viral on TikTok. Basically, you take equal parts instant coffee, water and sugar, and when you whip them together, they make this fluffy coffee whip, which people were adding milk to, to make dalgona coffees. I’ve taken inspiration from this viral sensation, but
incorporated it into a light springtime dessert that requires zero cooking!

Photo Cred: Rebecca Coleman

Cappuccino Mousse

Ingredients
1/3 cup instant coffee granules
1/3 cup warm/hot water
1/3 cup sugar
1 cup whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp coffee liquor (optional)

Method
Start by making the dalgona whipped coffee. Place the instant coffee, hot water and sugar in a bowl, and using a hand mixer or a stand mixer, whip for about 5 minutes. You’ll notice this go from a liquid to quite a light, fluffy whip. You can do this by hand, but it will take quite a while
and is a lot of work. Set aside in the refrigerator while you prepare the next step.

Place the whipping cream and vanilla in a bowl and, using a stand mixer or a hand mixer, whip till stiff peaks form, about 5 minutes. You know it’s ready when you remove the whip from the mixture and it forms a nice peak on the end of your beater. This is the point where you can add in your coffee liqueur if desired.

Take about ½ of the dalgona mixture and gently fold it into the whipped cream. Pipe or just drop by spoonful’s into cute little coffee cups, and then top with a blob of the leftover dalgona whip.

Refrigerate for about an hour, and then enjoy.

NOTE: the dalgona does not preserve well, it will begin to lose its fluff after an hour or two, so this dessert is best made and consumed fairly quickly. Without the dalgona topping, though the mousse will be good in the fridge for at least a few days.