Blanc-manger (Blancmange)

For a light and fresh dessert, try this easy French blanc-manger (known as blancmange in English) - made with a few ingredients. Served in glasses or small jars, it is perfect for family gatherings or entertaining parties.

Blanc-manger means "white dish" in Old French. It also means it has to be made with white ingredients.

In modern French, the word blanc is translated as "white," and the word manger is the verb "to eat."

Blancmange is a sister of Italian panna cotta, Middle Eastern muhallebi, Chinese annin tofu, Hawaiian haupia, and Puerto Rican tembleque.

Blanc-manger is made in different ways: with whole milk, with or without heavy cream, with sweetened condensed milk, cottage cheese, coconut milk, almond milk, corn starch, rice flour, gelatin, agar-agar, etc.

What is blanc-manger?

Blanc-manger (blancmange in English) is a fancy-sounding dessert made with milk or heavy cream, sugar and thickened with gelatin, agar-agar, or cornstarch.

It is served cold in glasses, ramekins, small glass jars, or as a dessert set in a mold. Authentically white, it can also be made in different colors.

Blancmange variations

Blancmange is delicious all on its own or served with various toppings, for example, berry coulis (the recipe is below).

Serve it with other fruit coulis, such as mango, blackberry, banana, orange puree, or passion fruit pulp.

Decorate your blanc-manger with mango ribbons or wedges, fresh pomegranate or kumquats, half of the canned or fresh apricot, pineapple, or kiwi cut into cubes.

For your gourmet pleasure, serve the dessert with figs poached in sweet red wine.

Sprinkle the blancmange with toasted flaked almonds, shredded coconut, fresh or toasted coconut shaving, white chocolate shavings, or cranberries and raisins mixture.

Bring the final touch to the dessert with lime zest and a mint leaf.

Why you should try this recipe

1. It is an easy old recipe already made in the Middle Ages but still relevant today. 
2. The blancmange is perfect for serving at birthday or wedding parties, family gatherings, or entertaining parties.
3. Using different fruit, blanc-manger makes a colorful dessert at any time of the year.

Ingredients

For ingredients and detailed instructions, refer to the recipe card below.

Almond milk: use unsweetened almond milk or make it yourself.

Heavy cream: the recipe calls for heavy cream with at least 36% fat content. Replace it with whipped cream (30% fat content) or whole milk.

Whipped cream: use your favorite brand of whipped cream with 30% fat content.

Gelatin: use gelatin sheets with a strength of 200 bloom.

Sugar: use granulated white sugar or replace it with caster sugar.

Vanilla pod: the best is to use Madagascar vanilla bean to make the dessert.

Red fruit: use any combination of red fruit (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, or blackberries) to make a coulis.

How to make blancmange

To make red fruit coulis, mix the fruits and sugar in a food processor, except a few for the decoration (photo 1).

Pass it through a fine-mesh sieve to obtain a coulis (photo 2). Refrigerate.

To make blanc-manger, soak gelatin in cold water for 10 minutes. Split the vanilla bean in half, lengthwise.

Pour almond milk and heavy cream into a saucepan. Add sugar and vanilla pod (photo 3), bring to a boil, and let it simmer for a few minutes.

Take the pan from the heat, add drained gelatin to the hot mixture, and mix.

Pour it in a shallow dish, cover with plastic film in contact and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

Whisk whipping cream with an electric mixer into whipped cream (photo 4).

Take the milk preparation from the refrigerator. Add a few spoons of the whipped cream to the almond blancmange and mix with a hand whisk.

Then pour the blancmange into the whipped cream. Gently mix by lifting the mixture with the whisk (photo 5).

Transfer the blancmange to a pastry bag with the cut tip and push it into glasses/small glass jars. Refrigerate for about 2 hours.

To serve, pour 1 to 2 tablespoons red fruit coulis on top of the blancmange. Decorate with fresh fruit and serve (photo 6). 

Expert tips

1. Make sure to mix a little whipped cream with the main preparation before putting it in the whipped cream to incorporate well.
2. If the blancmange is "lumpy" after adding it to the whipped cream, continue to mix gently until it becomes homogeneous. 

Frequently asked questions

Love easy desserts? Try these next!

• French Chocolate Mousse
• French Rice Pudding
• Banoffee Pie Cups
• Browse all the No-Bake Desserts

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Recipe card

The nutritional information has been calculated using an online recipe nutrition calculator such as Verywellfit.com and is intended for informational purposes only. These figures should be used as a general guideline and not be construed as a guarantee.