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Dessert

Caribbean Lime Mousse

A chilled lime mousse made with lime zest, juice, sugar, flour, cornstarch, eggs, butter, cream, and coconut.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Vanilla and coconut match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,294 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Caribbean Lime Mousse

4 large wine glasses or dessert dishes
Time2-3 hours chilling

Ingredients

Directions

Make the lime custard

  1. Using a microplane zester, remove zest from limes and set aside.

  2. Squeeze and strain juice from limes into a small bowl and set aside.

  3. Heat the water in a saucepan until steaming (do not boil).

  4. Whisk in the flour, cornstarch, salt, and 2 cups sugar.

  5. Cook, stirring constantly, until lightly thickened.

  6. Separate egg white from egg yolks and set each aside.

  7. Whisk together the egg yolks with the lime zest and vanilla.

  8. Using a small ladle, add a small amount of heated mixture to egg yolks, stirring briskly to temper. Do this a couple more times, then gradually stir the egg yolk mixture into the saucepan, whisking briskly as you do so.

  9. Quickly stir in the lime juice, butter, and heavy cream.

  10. Cook, stirring, for 2-4 minutes or until thickened; remove from heat.

Finish and set the mousse

  1. In a large mixing bowl, beat egg whites until very stiff.

  2. Fold beaten egg whites into lime mixture, stirring gently until blended.

  3. Spoon mousse into 4 large wine glasses or dessert dishes.

  4. Sprinkle each dessert with about 1 tbsp shredded coconut.

  5. Chill for 2-3 hours or until firm and set, before serving.

Garnish and serve

  1. Cut each lime slice almost in half, stopping cutting just at the edge of the peel on one side. Dip lime slices into granulated sugar, if desired, and shake off excess. Twist cut sides of lime into two opposite directions and lay on top of mousse.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1041Calories
23 gProtein
50 gFat
123 gCarbs

Counts 9 of 10 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Coconut1/2 cup shredded (40g)283
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Vanilla1 tsp extract (4ml)12
Limejuice of 1 lime (44ml)11
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Vanilla + coconuttop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,294 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Lime + coconuttop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together934 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Yolks thicken the custard and whites, whipped, give the mousse its light airy structure.
Flour
Starch that thickens the lime base so it holds its shape when cooled.
Cornstarch
Starch that thickens the lime base into a smooth, stable custard.
Butter
Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel to the finished custard.
Heavy cream
Adds fat and softness, making the mousse creamy rather than stiff.
Limes
Provide the zest aroma and the juice that gives the mousse its sharp acidity.

The step that matters

Tempering the egg yolks. Adding hot mixture to yolks slowly raises their temperature gradually. Adding it all at once can scramble the yolks into lumps, so stir briskly while adding the hot mixture a little at a time.

Swap the lime

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, egg, vanilla, butter, cream, coconut):

  1. Bananafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Blueberryfits better
  4. Limethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, egg, vanilla, butter, cream, coconut. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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