Pumpkin Pie Mousse Cups

🎃 Light & fluffy pumpkin mousse

This delicious homemade pumpkin pie mousse is perfect for the transitional time between summer and fall. It’s full of great autumn flavors, but the light and fluffy texture doesn’t feel too heavy for these in-between days when temperatures are still warm.

What’s in pumpkin mousse?

This mousse is made with white chocolate, heavy cream, real pumpkin puree, LOTS of pumpkin pie spice, and whipped cream. The cream gives it a wonderfully light texture, while the white chocolate and a touch of gelatin keep it stable at room temperature. Tip: If you want to increase the pumpkin spice vibe, you can substitute pumpkin spice coffee creamer for the heavy cream, and it works beautifully.

If you find the thought of making mousse intimidating, this is the perfect recipe for you! It’s actually a cheater’s mousse. Traditionally, mousse is made with whipped egg whites or yolks or both, and it’s a little fiddly and time-consuming. This version retains all of the great texture of traditional mousse, but with less work and precision required. Score!

If you love the sound of this mousse, you have to try our popular Pumpkin Chocolate Mousse Cake, which features pumpkin, butterscotch, and salted caramel mousse layers on chocolate cake. It’s truly spectacular, and a real hit with anyone who makes it.

🧾 What You’ll Need

Ingredients

This fabulous fall dessert is perfect for getting your pumpkin spice fix! Here’s what you’ll need:
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• White chocolate chips: When possible, I recommend using real white chocolate chips, or chopped white chocolate bars. Real white chocolate contains cocoa butter, and it has a deliciously smooth texture that improves the final product. Anything labeled “white chips” or “white baking chips” is not real white chocolate, and although you can use it in this recipe, the end result might be a little stiffer and less creamy.
• Heavy cream: When it comes to cream, the more fat, the better! This is why I recommend using “manufacturing cream” or “heavy cream” instead of “whipping cream,” when possible–they have higher fat contents, which makes whipped cream more stable and will improve the final product. If whipping cream is what you have, you can still use it with good results.
• Pumpkin puree: Make sure you are buying pumpkin puree and not pumpkin pie filling. Pie filling has added sugar and other ingredients, and it won’t work for this recipe.
• Pumpkin pie spice: You can’t have pumpkin pie mousse without pumpkin pie spice! This blend of  cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and allspice adds the perfect touch of warmth and coziness to the recipe. See the FAQ below for tips on making you own pumpkin pie spice.
• Orange gel food coloring: Adding a few drops of orange food coloring gives the pumpkin mousse that traditional pumpkin orange color. You can omit the food coloring if you prefer.
• Unflavored powdered gelatin: Gelatin helps this mousse set firmer, and stay set at room temperature. If you don’t eat gelatin, you can omit it without any other changes. The mousse’s texture will be softer, and it should be kept refrigerated at all times, but it will still work out just fine.
• Candy coating: If you want to make the edible pumpkin candy bowls, you’ll need orange candy coating, like these orange Wilton Candy Melts. I also like to add a bit of yellow and brown coating to the orange, to make it more of a deep pumpkin color.
• Sprinkles or other decorations:Top with a sprinkle of cinnamon, a pinch of gingersnap crumbs, a dash of fall sprinkles, or pumpkin mellowcremes.

Equipment

You just need a few kitchen tools to put together this pumpkin mousse cup recipe! (Links are affiliate links and I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases.)

• Mini Bundt Pan: This mini bundt pan is the perfect shape for making the edible pumpkin candy cups.
• Cupcake Scoop: I like to use a scoop to fill the cups–it makes sure each one has the same amount of mousse.
• Pastry Brush: A pastry brush or paint brush that has only been used for food) is useful for making the candy cups.

📋 INSTRUCTIONS

Here’s a quick overview of how to make pumpkin mousse, and you can find the full printable instructions in the recipe card below. I love to serve this mousse in edible candy bowls, so I’m including instructions for making those as well. This is, of course, totally optional, and you can skip them if you’d like!

How to make pumpkin pie mousse cups

• Combine white chocolate chips and heavy cream in a large bowl. Microwave, stirring frequently, until the white chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth.
• Add pumpkin puree, salt, pumpkin pie spice, and orange food coloring to the bowl, and whisk them in.

• Set the pumpkin/white chocolate bowl aside to cool until it’s only slightly warm, stirring occasionally.
• While you wait for it to cool, prepare the gelatin. Whisk together powdered gelatin and cold water in a small bowl, and set it aside for about 5 minutes to let the gelatin absorb the water.

• When the white chocolate is at room temperature, microwave the bowl of gelatin for about 10 seconds, until it is melted and fluid, but not hot.
• Whisk the melted gelatin and white chocolate mixture together.

• Whip the remaining cream to medium peaks. Fold half of the whipped cream into the pumpkin mixture.
• Once it’s incorporated, gently fold in the remaining whipped cream.

💭 Variations

Here are a few ideas for customizing this pumpkin mousse recipe:

• Switch up the candy bowls: you can make round bowls using balloons (following this method) if you don’t have a bundt pan.
• Flavor the candy bowls: you can buy pumpkin spice flavoring oil to add to your candy coating if you want to double the pumpkin spice flavor of this dessert. Don’t try and use extract in the candy coating — extracts are water-based and will cause the coating to seize.
• Skip the candy bowls: the edible bowls are completely optional! You can scoop this mousse into jars, cups, or bowls and serve them that way instead.
• Add it to a cake: this mousse also makes a terrific cake layer. Check out our pumpkin mousse cake recipe for tips and instructions for using it in a cake.

🧡 More Pumpkin Desserts:

If you love pumpkin as much as I do, check out my collection of pumpkin dessert recipes! Here are just a few of my favorites:

• Pumpkin Spice Hot Chocolate Truffles
• Pumpkin Bundt Cakes
• Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Cinnamon Swirl Pumpkin Pound Cake
• Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars
• Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes