Homemade Pumpkin Mousse (Easy, No Gelatin)

This easy homemade pumpkin mousse is a gorgeous treat after a fall feast! It’s a light, fluffy option when you’re craving pumpkin pie flavour.

Photography by Kelly Neil

If you love pumpkin pie, you will LOVE this light pumpkin mousse! It tastes like light fluffy pumpkin pie filling. It’s a mix between no-bake cheesecake and French mousse, with sweetened pumpkin puree folded with whipped cream and sweetened egg yolks.

Traditional French mousse is made with both raw egg yolks and raw egg whites. This recipe substitutes whipped cream for whipped egg whites. We highly recommend using room temperature egg yolks as they make for a lighter mousse than eggs that are cold from the fridge.

The mousse itself is unbelievably easy to prepare and you can use fresh or canned pumpkin. We used canned pumpkin purée here (not pumpkin pie filling).

We upped the spiciness level of the mousse with 2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice. If you want yours a little less spicy, reduce the amount to 1 ½ teaspoons. Also, keep in mind the mousse must chill before serving, at least two hours, so plan accordingly.

For garnish, top your pumpkin mousse with candied pecans and crumbled ginger cookies. We used this recipe for Candied Walnuts With Cinnamon & Brown Sugar, and substituted pecans and white sugar for this post.

Please note: this recipe contains raw egg yolks. Though the risk is minimal, we don’t recommend pregnant, very young or elderly people eating this.

Jump to:

• 💖Why You’ll Love This Recipe
• 📋Ingredients
• 👩‍🍳Method
• 💡Top Tips
• 📝Recipe Notes
• 🍂 Substitutions and Variations
• ❓Recipe FAQ
• Recipe

💖Why You’ll Love This Recipe

✔️ It only takes a few minutes to make, and the rest is chilling time!
✔️ It’s naturally gluten-free, a great dessert option for any guests with allergies.
✔️ You can have the best flavours of the season – pumpkin and spice – without turning on the oven.

📋Ingredients

Ingredient Notes and Substitutions

• Egg Yolks: we use large eggs in this recipe and the egg yolks weigh between 15 to 20 grams each.
• Powdered Sugar: also called icing sugar or confectioners sugar. Use a sieve to sift the sugar into the eggs yolks to avoid lumps.
• Pumpkin Purée: this is not pumpkin pie filling. We haven’t tested it, but you could probably use pumpkin pie filling in place of the purée and pumpkin pie spice.
• 35% Whipping Cream: whip the heavy cream to soft peaks. That means the cream holds its shape, but is still soft, flows a bit, and is not stiff. See chantilly cream for what this looks like.
• Pumpkin Pie Spice: the quintessential autumn spice blend. Available in most grocery stores in the spice section of the baking aisle. Or make your own.

Use the JUMP TO RECIPE button at the top, or scroll to the bottom of the post to see the printable recipe card with full ingredient measurements and complete instructions.

👩‍🍳Method

STEP 1: Whip the egg yolks and icing sugar until fluffy and lightened in colour.
STEP 2: Blend in the pumpkin puree and spices.

STEP 3: Whip the cream to form soft peaks.
STEP 4: Gently fold in the pumpkin mixture.
STEP 5: The mousse mixture should be fluffy and light – don’t over mix.
STEP 6: Spoon the mousse into dishes and chill before serving.

💡Top Tips

1. Use a tasty pumpkin puree. This isn’t the recipe to hide watery pumpkin in – if you don’t like the taste of the puree, you won’t like the mousse!
2. Mix, mix, mix. And then don’t over-mix! The egg mixture should be very light and fluffy, but the pumpkin mixture should be folded into the cream, not whipped.
3. Go for soft peaks. If you whip the cream into stiff peaks, it won’t mix well with the pumpkin and will make for lumpy mousse.

📝Recipe Notes

• This mousse is light and fluffy. It is not stable enough to use as pie filling.
• If making your own pumpkin puree, use a sweet pumpkin or winter squash as this is a dessert recipe. Sugar pie is great and so is butternut.
• To quickly brings eggs up to room temperature, submerge them in a cup of warm (not hot!) water for a couple of minutes.
• If you plan on making the mousse ahead of time, store it without any of the toppings or garnishes, as they can become soggy over time. Top immediately before serving.
• Because this recipe only makes four servings, we cover the mousse dishes loosely with wrap or lids and keep them in the fridge until ready to serve. It lasts four days in the fridge.

About Raw Egg Yolks

If you are worried about consuming raw egg yolks, you could try cooking the the pumpkin mixture. We haven’t tested this. That being said, we think the best way to do so is to cook the pumpkin-egg yolk mixture over medium-low heat until it reaches a temperature of 170ºF (77ºC). Once the mixture reaches temperature, remove it from the heat and let it cool completely before folding it into the whipped cream.

Eggs are considered safe to eat once they reach 160ºF (71ºC), but most classic custards are cooked to 170ºF (77ºC). Anywhere in that range is fine.

🍂 Substitutions and Variations

• If you can’t find, or don’t like pumpkin pie spice, consider trying homemade chai spice or this apple pie spice mix.
• You might be able to make this dairy-free by using a good vegan whipping cream alternative.
• Fold in ½ cup of chocolate or butterscotch chips when you fold the pumpkin and whipped cream together.
• Top the mousse with a drizzle of caramel, salted caramel sauce, or chocolate sauce.
• Make a streusel topping for garnish – just be sure to bake it first or microwave the flour if eating raw.
• Crushed meringues would be very pretty as a topping!
• Crumble brown sugar shortbread cookies, gluten-free gingerbread cookies, or brown butter sesame seed cookies.
• Sprinkle mini marshmallows on top before serving.

❓Recipe FAQ

🎃 More Easy Pumpkin Desserts

Brown Butter Pumpkin Bread Pudding
Pumpkin & Chocolate Marble Loaf Cake
Vegan Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

Recipe