Marshmallow Mousse

Ingredients

• 0.5 lb marshmallows
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 0.5 tsp vanilla
• 0.25 cup candied cherries
• 0.5 cup English walnut meats
• 2 tbsp powdered sugar
• as needed rum

Method

Soak the candied cherries in enough rum to cover for one hour. The alcohol softens the fruit and carries flavour into the syrup. Drain them well — excess liquid will weep into the mousse and collapse the structure — then cut into small dice. Crack the walnuts into pieces no larger than a hazelnut; larger shards catch the spoon awkwardly. Cut the marshmallows into roughly the same size. Uneven pieces fold unevenly and some will remain chalky while others dissolve into the cream.

Whip the cold heavy cream to stiff peaks. This is the skeleton of the dish: you're incorporating air into the fat via whipping, trapping it in a matrix of protein and emulsified butterfat. Stop when the cream holds a sharp peak and the whisk leaves a clean track. Over-beating turns it grainy and separates the butterfat — irreversible. Sift the powdered sugar directly into the whipped cream, add the vanilla, and fold gently with a rubber spatula. The folding motion — scraping up from the bottom, across the top, down the side — keeps the air in the cream. Stirring kills the mousse.

Add the cherries, walnuts, and marshmallows in one addition. Fold until the pieces are distributed evenly and no streaks of plain cream remain. The marshmallows will begin to dissolve slightly into the cream, which is correct — they add body and a faint sweetness without the need for additional sugar. The total folding time should not exceed 30 seconds per addition.

Transfer the mousse to a serving bowl or terrine and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, ideally overnight. Chilling allows the gelatin from the marshmallows to set the mousse into a trembling, spoonable texture. The cold also dulls the sweetness slightly, improving the balance of rum and walnut.

Serve very cold, directly from the refrigerator. A spoon should cut through cleanly without collapsing. If the mousse breaks or weeps liquid, the cream was over-beaten or the fold was too aggressive.