Vanilla Mousse “Apples” and Brownie “Dirt”- Lookalike Dessert!

This isn’t a real apple! Or even a dipped candy apple. It’s shaped vanilla mousse filled with apple compote and covered in a red mirror glaze and a chocolate stem. I served it over a brownie and crushed Oreo “dirt”.

I’ve always been fascinated by “look alike” desserts and loved seeing those viral videos of chefs cutting into seemingly normal objects like a mug of coffee, bag of chips, or piece of fruit, only to reveal that the object is actually some sort of cake or mousse.

So, when I saw a recipe for these “apples” that weren’t actually apples, I knew I had to try it.

Here’s my video of cutting into one of the “apples” to reveal the mousse and apple compote filling (press the white triangle button in the lower left corner to play).

These apples take quite a few steps to make so they’re a great project to try when you have a block of free time and want to try some new techniques. The steps are not complicated though and don’t require advanced cooking skills; they just require some patience!

The process is basically making the compote, shaping + freezing it, making the mousse, shaping + freezing it, making the glaze, dipping then chilling it, and the optional step of making brownies and “dirt” to serve them on.

I chose to make brownies and Oreo “dirt”, but the original recipe definitely doesn’t require this and I just wanted to take the look-alike theme to the next level. For the brownies, I used a boxed Ghiradhelli mix that tastes homemade! My mom has used this brand for years and they’ve become her signature dessert. No one ever suspects they came from a box mix!

The Oreo “dirt” is super simple to make, too. Simply dump about 20 Oreos into a food processor and process until they become a fine texture. There is no need to take out the white creme filling before blending and the filling actually helps the texture of the dirt become moist (and it doesn’t affect the end color).

If you don’t have a food processor, you can use a blender or even just put them in a Ziploc bag and crush with a rolling pin or mallet. For a gluten-free “dirt”, I recommend using Trader Joe’s gluten-free Joe-Joes or a similar gluten-free chocolate sandwich cookie.

For the actual recipe for the apples, I used the recipe from “How to Cook That” which I will list down below (with some slight alterations for better results). There are a few different recipes for apple-shaped desserts, but I used this one since it does not require a specialized mold and instead uses balloons as a mold for the apples.

If you want to try this recipe, definitely check out the official How to Cook That recipe video since she explains and shows the process very comprehensively! *Here is the video from the How to Cook That blog if you are going to try this.*

Now, here are some picture of how I made the apples (the full printable recipe card is at the bottom of the post).

This is the apple filling mixture. You can add more or less applesauce depending on what texture you want it to be.

Then, you stuff a spoonful or two of the mixture into a balloon, shape it with your hands into a sphere, and freeze to set.

Then, make the vanilla mousse and pipe it into the frozen balloon so that it surrounds the frozen apple sphere.

This is the mousse (with the apple filling inside) after being piped into the balloon and frozen, thus being frozen into a sphere without using an actual mold.

I then completely removed the balloon and used a knife to carve an indent into the top to resemble the dent that apples have at their top.

Some of the balloons were a little underfilled so you could see the apple filling in the center. To complete the layer of mousse, I just piped more mousse into the gap and froze it.

After fixing the underfilled ones and carving each apple, I stuck bamboo skewers down the center. They kinda look like peeled apples here!

I then used a pastry brush to paint diluted food coloring onto each apple. This is optional since the glaze itself is red, but having these layers of color intensifies the end result.

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This is the glaze before adding food coloring. The main ingredients in this glaze are white chocolate, sweetened condensed milk, and gelatin (or agar agar) and they make a shiny “mirror” glaze that has a soft, jello-like texture.

This is the glaze after adding food coloring. Red is notorious for being the hardest food coloring to work with so I recommend using gel food colors since they are more pigmented and will produce richer colors. They can be hard to find in the supermarket but specialty baking or craft stores and Amazon have great options. I use the AmeriColor soft gel paste brand.

Hold the apples by the skewer to dip them in and make sure the bowl is deep enough to fully submerge them! Let any excess drip off before placing on parchment paper to set.

You can dip the apples again for more coverage, but be aware that the thicker the glaze gets, the more likely it is to fall off the apple or stick to the parchment paper and tear when lifted.

Refrigerate the apples for a few hours to allow the mousse to thaw. Make the chocolate stems by piping melted chocolate onto ice water in short strands (the ice water instantly sets the chocolate).

Then, plate and serve the desserts!