Key Lime Mousse from Union Street Cafe, NYC

Photo by Heather Meldrom

Key Lime Mousse by Sunny Raymond, Union Street Cafe

If you don't have or don't wish to use gelatin, it may be omitted from the recipe. The mousse will not be as stable in consistency, but it will be no less delicious.

Active Time: 35 minutes Total Time: 3 hours (includes chilling) Serves: 8

1 cup granulated sugar

1½ tablespoons grated lime zest

1¼ cups freshly squeezed Key lime juice (from about 15 limes)

6 eggs, plus 2 egg yolks

2 gelatin sheets, optional

1½ cups heavy cream, plus additional for garnish, optional

1. In a heavy saucepan, whisk sugar, zest, lime juice, eggs and 2 yolks until combined. Set over medium-high heat and cook, whisking constantly, until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, 8-10 minutes. Remove from heat.

2. Bloom gelatin, if using: Submerge gelatin sheets in a small bowl of cold water until soft, 3 minutes. Discard water and stir gelatin into lime mixture.

3. Strain lime mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a stainless-steel or glass mixing bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing plastic directly onto surface to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until cool, about 1 hour.

4. Use an electric mixer on medium-high to whip heavy cream until soft-medium peaks form, about 5 minutes. Fold whipped cream into chilled lime mixture, then pour into individual cups or ramekins, or a single serving dish. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator 1½ hours. Remove from refrigerator 15 minutes prior to serving. Serve cold, with whipped cream, if desired.

—Adapted from Sunny Raymond of Union Square Café, New York

Corrections & Amplifications
For this recipe, only 2 egg yolks should be used, and in the final step, all of the whipped cream should be folded into the chilled lime mixture. An earlier version of this article called for 4 egg yolks and, in the final step, instructed, "Fold remaining whipped cream into chilled lime mixture."