salted caramel cheesecake mousse

Yes indeed a totally luscious, creamy, caramelly, cheesecakey mousse toppped with liquid gold caramel and caramel popcorn and a final sprinkling of sea salt (basically a pot of completely delicious calories). This recipe is for special occasions or for when emergency decadence is required and then Oh My God…phwaor!!!!! This is another recipe I developed for Fairfax and I must admit when I was testing, making and shooting them I would just have a morsel to check that I had the flavours right, and then perhaps a touch more to check they weren’t too sweet…and how about the texture? Dammit – another one gone, and seriously I usually have pretty good self control! (Back to yoga asap).


¾ cup plus 1 tablespoon caster sugar
¼ cup water
450ml cream
1 tablespoon butter
2 teaspoons sea salt
250g cream cheese, at room temperature, chopped
1 ½ cups caramel corn

For the sauce, put ¾ cup sugar in a very clean pot with water. Bring to a simmer stirring to dissolve the sugar, then continue to cook without stirring for several minutes until it starts to turn golden. While the sugar is caramelizing heat 200ml cream until hot but not boiling. As soon as the sugar is golden remove from the heat and add the hot cream, a ¼ cup of a time, whisking vigorously. It will froth up madly but keep going until it is a smooth rich caramel. Stir in the butter until melted. Leave to cool 10 minutes and stir in 1 teaspoon sea salt.

Put the cream cheese in a food processor with 1 tablespoon sugar and ½ cup of the caramel. Whiz until smooth. In a separate bowl whip the remaining cream to soft peaks. Fold cream into caramel cream cheese mixture then spoon into 6 serving glasses. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours. To serve, top each mousse with a tablespoon of caramel, a sprinkling of caramel corn and sea salt. Left-over caramel sauce is great as a topping for ice cream or winter puds. Makes 6

35 comments

  1. If I wanted to use the mousse without the caramel in it so I could put other toppings on it, would I just do everything the same except not mix any caramel in? Just wondering if proportions would be off somehow.

    1. Hmm – I haven't tried it so couldn't be sure – it should work fine but you would want to add maybe 1/4 cup of sugar, or to taste as the caramel is the main sweetener 🙂 Let me know how you go!

  2. Ooooo la la we had this for dessert this evening and it was devine – I will be making it again.
    I am going to get so fat if I keep making your yummy recipes ?

  3. And we have one main type of cream in New Zealand where I live – I think your equivalent is heavy cream.

    1. i know it is ml 🙂 but i asked what kind of cream, so it is that milk cream that we whip with the mixer? you mean we have to whip it first ?

    2. Ah I see this message went to my spam – it is, as I already replied above, heavy cream, and no, it isn't whipped – hope this helps 🙂

  4. Hi again – did you follow the recipe exactly – it has 1/2 cup of caramel in it which makes it go a beige colour..? Your recipe variations do not seem to mention caramel?

  5. Sorry – where did you ask about whipped cream? If you read my recipe you will have seen it says to mix caramel through…? "Put cream cheese in a food processor with 1 tablespoon sugar and ½ cup of the caramel."

  6. Goodness me – I did actually publish all of your comments, and answered all of your questions, but I am glad you are happy with your own recipe 🙂

  7. Hi there from sunny Spain! Do you think you could use the caramel cheesecake mix and make a proper no bake cheesecake instead and put it on a biscuit base?

    1. Hi Andie, yes you could, but you would need to add gelatin as a setting agent. I did one similar for a client of mine (Tim Tam biscuits), but you could use another biscuit base recipe, there are two more on the blog. Here are all the links: http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/food-wine/67513642/Tim-Tam-salted-caramel-cheesecake http://www.fromthekitchen.co.nz/2014/04/for-easter-ultimate-dark-chocolate.html#more http://www.fromthekitchen.co.nz/2013/09/best-ever-white-chocolate-and-raspberry.html#more

  8. You are amazing! Going to make this for my friends tomorrrow night 🙂 Btw have you read that book Delicious! by Ruth Reichl ? The commenter above reminds me of a character in that book 😉

    1. Hi Shaye – thanks so much, and I'll have to read that book – yes oh my God, you must be talking about KuvaricaGR – crikey that was a mission!!! 🙂

    1. Hi Ronda, you can definitely make them a day ahead – just leave the topping of caramel and popcorn until just before you serve them so the popcorn doesn't go soft 🙂

  9. Hi Sarah
    This caught my eye on your Insta, headed over to the recipe and am going to cook tonight for friends. Sorry if this is a stupid question, but I take it you put the moose in the fridge to set and then heat up the caramel again a couple of hours before serving, to pour on the moose and top with popcorn? Can you let the caramel go solid in the pan whilst the moose is in the fridge and then reheat? My head is telling me that’s not the best method…. Or do you top with the caramel and popcorn and then put in the fridge to set?
    Thanks in advance for your help x

    1. Hi Kate – how did you get on?! You can make the caramel first and then store it in a jug then heat it in the microwave for 30 seconds or so before pouring on the mousses at the end, but I wouldn’t refrigerate the mousses with the caramel and popcorn on top, mostly because the popcorn will go soft…

  10. I would love conversions of this recipe, is that possible.?
    Thank you, it looks scrumptious!

  11. I am salivating looking at all your recipes! Could this be made in a big bowl rather than individual servings or would that affect tbe setting time too much?

    1. Hi Adie – you could definitely make this in a big bowl – just not a super-deep one, wider would be better 🙂

  12. Sounds delicious! Can you tell me how much cheesecake this makes? I’m wanting to do it as a dessert shooter.

    1. Hi Carina – it makes 6 x 1/2 cup serves so I guess it depends on the size of your shooter glasses – but probably about 15-18 🙂

  13. Hi! This looks delicious! I was wondering if the consistency would be good for a cake filling? Thanks!

    1. Hi – hmm, it should work as long as it stays chilled – if you give it a go let me know how you get on! 🙂

  14. Just made this this evening! Sooo good! Thank you for the recipe! Everybody loved it.

  15. I just made this this evening and it was sooo delicious! Everybody loved it, thank you for the recipe!

  16. Hi just making this desert. I waited for ages to go brown and it never turned golden ,just light brown like it was turning but didn’t make it. Added the cream and its mid yellow colour. Is this right or wrong? How long should it take to turn golden. Thanks.

    1. Hmmm, that is strange – were you stirring it at all? It sounds like it didn’t get dark enough. The time it takes to go golden depends on how high your heat is – over a medium high heat it can take up 8-10 minutes 🙂

Leave a Reply to Sarah Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *