Members of the mousse clan are creamy-sweet, velvet-smooth concoctions that we savor by each spoonful in gastronomic delight. They are pudding-like with no pastry base or topping and no flour other than as thickener.

The clan includes the familiar and homey puddings and custards, the stylish, elegant mousses, the less familiar creams (or crèmes), the old-fashioned fools, whips and the culinary tour-de-force, sweet soufflés. Although their preparation ranges from simple to difficult, they all satisfy your sweet tooth like nothing else.

Who is who

Puddings and custards are based on milk (or cream), eggs and sugar in varying combination as well as flavorings. The thickening agent is egg. Recipes may also call for flour, starch or gelatin to ensure a firmer structure. Although these thickeners are not essential, they reduce the chance of failure in case your eggs turn out scrambled instead of thickener.

There is a subtle difference between custard and pudding. Usually anything thickened with eggs only are called custards, while puddings also contain another thickener. The basic preparation for both is the same and both used to be more popular than they are today.

They are easy to prepare, nutritious and inexpensive, and institutions often served them to save on labor. When cheap instant pudding powders appeared on grocery store shelves, they made home preparation remarkably easy. Just stir the powder into water, heat and you have instant dessert. Today bakers still serve them as informal everyday desserts, though less frequently.

Gelatin desserts are also in this category.

Creams and mousses are closely related and similar to custards and puddings in consistency. Creams (the French call them crèmes) are heavy cream and flavorings whipped together without any thickeners.

Mousses are whipped cream and flavorings with added gelatin to give a firmer structure. If there are eggs in the mousse, they are not for thickening but for extra flavor. Some recipes fold in beaten egg whites for a cloud-like texture. Mousses today are especially fashionable desserts.

Fools and whips are always fruit based desserts. In case of fools (originally a British term of endearment from where the name came), you fold sweetened whipped cream into puréed or finely chopped fruits, while whips use a similarly prepared fruit with sweetened beaten egg whites folded into them, instead of cream.

Both are best when cold. Fools are uncooked but whips may be baked before serving. Just as easy to prepare as creams and mousses, they can also be just as impressive and delicious. For some reason they are not nearly as popular as mousses.

They are particularly good summer desserts when plenty of fresh, good-flavored fruits are in season, especially berries. Their frosty, refreshing chill is a welcome sight on a hot summer dinner table. Let’s not forget the most spectacular member of this family, dessert soufflés.

They demand far more preparation, attention and expertise than fools or puddings, but the basic ingredients are similar: mostly eggs and flavoring, often with milk and possibly flour or starch. The ingredients and their exact proportions are critical. So is the way you whip the egg whites, and the technique for making the basic sauce, as well as the temperature of the oven and bake time. Presenting a perfect soufflé as a finale to any meal is like serving a piece of art.

You make soufflés in two basic steps. First, you carefully cook and thicken an egg yolk based custard-like sauce. Add the flavorings after the sauce reaches the right consistency. The second step is to beat the egg whites to a soft-peak stage and fold the foam into the sauce. Pour the mixture into a vertical-sided soufflé mold and bake. Heat expands the beaten egg white, just like in a cake but the soufflé’s structure is especially unstable.

Soufflés can easily double, even triple in volume in the oven. Insert a paper collar around the inner edge of the soufflé mold to give support to the baking batter that rises above the edge of the dish. Otherwise you will end up with a giant mushroom shape with a large flat cap. Remove the collar just before serving.

When to remove the finished soufflé from the oven is also crucial. Pull it out a few minutes too soon, and you and your guests can watch your marvelous creation deflate before your very eyes.Leave it in two minutes too long and you end up with something that beginning to taste like a dry omelet thickened with sawdust.

Soufflés don’t hold well. You must serve them straight out of the oven, so you must keep the guests on schedule. To serve this masterpiece for maximum effect, place it on the table, cut into pieces and served while everyone is watching. An alternative is to bake soufflé in individual soufflé dishes. Either way, soufflé is best fresh. They don’t store well till the next day.

For all the time and effort you put into them, the risk of total disaster is high. Baking soufflés is for brave and experienced cooks but the results are spectacularly rewarding. Prudent cooks have a back-up dessert when baking soufflés.