Red Velvet Mousse with Raspberry Vanilla Cupcakes

It had never occurred to me to put mousse on a cupcake and I don’t know why!  I really hope you can make the mousse for yourself, but on the off chance that you can’t do it this VERY SECOND, I will just tell you. The mousse is everything you would imagine a chocolate mousse to be…light and rich and decadent.  But then paired with the raspberry soaked cupcake, it is quite magical.  

You might look at a cupcake like this and think, “That’s too rich,”  or “There is no way that could taste light and airy.” And you would be wrong.  Wrong, I tell you! The light rich mousse is piped over the light vanilla cupcake that packs a flavor punch in itself with the raspberry simple syrup… it was amazing.  Your tongue rolls over the soft smooth mousse then reaches the gentle crumb of the vanilla cake. And, there is more! Just when it starts to rest on the velvety bed of decadent sugary texture the raspberry flavor hits you and wakes everything up again.

I am not going to go back and re-read that last paragraph.  I wrote with my eyes closed as I was recalling the whole experience.  Even if it doesn’t work for a grammar teacher, it WILL work in your belly.

TOTAL TIME8MINUTES MINS

Raspberry Simple Syrup is easy to make and is given a burst of added raspberry flavor.

Ingredients

▢1 cup granulated sugar▢1 cup water▢1 teaspoon McCormickRaspberry Extract

Instructions

Bring sugar and 1 cup water to a boil in a saucepan over medium heat, and cook, stirring, until sugar has dissolved.

Allow the sugar water to cool completely.

Stir in raspberry extract.

Store in an air-tight container. Syrup will be good for about 10-14 days.