Chocolate Cup filled with Raspberry Cheesecake and a Brownie

Comment – This dessert made the perfect end to a wonderful Valentines dinner. I got the idea from Salty’s restaurant in Portland, OR. The only thing I would do differently is add gelatin to the raspberry cheesecake because it did not firm up as much as it was suppose to.

Cheesecake Recipe
Alteration – I used 1 tsp raspberry extract instead of vanilla, white chocolate chips instead of semi sweet, white sugar instead of brown sugar, a brownie base instead of crumb crust & folded in 1 cup of raspberries.

Brownie base recipe – (I baked them in a 9 inch round spring form pan for 25 min and let them rest for 30 min. Then I cut them into circles…they don’t have to be perfect)

Chocolate cups -
1 bag semi sweet chocolate chips
1 bag white chocolate chips

Video 1 – The basic idea for decorating your own chocolate cup. I put a picture of the cupid and heard under my acetate sheet and pipped on the chocolate shapes. You can buy transfer sheets with cocoa butter patterns already on them if you want.

Video 2 – The basic idea for making a dessert cup. You can use cups or anything to mold the chocolate.


Raspberry sauce -
raspberries
Powdered sugar to taste
Blend and strain out the seeds

Blackberry Tart

Comment – I got Tahitian vanilla beans in the mail from Amazon recently and used them to make the custard for these tarts. I discovered that I really like the flavor of vanilla beans compared to vanilla extract. The desserts turned out great and the vanilla bean custard was my favorite part. I would recommend cooking the crust for less time to get a softer crust.  I used a tart pan with a removable bottom for the larger tart. I shaped the smaller tart crust in my molten lava cake pan with removable bottoms.  The glaze over the top of the smaller tart was just blackberry juice heated with powdered sugar and a little cornstarch to thicken it.

Recipe

Gateau St. Honore

Comment - Gateau St. Honore is a French dessert. I saw a picture of it online and knew that I had to try making it. The dessert turned out to be more challenging to make than I expected. There were many steps involved. I used store bought puff pastry, to save some time, but it still took me all day to make. Was it worth it? Well, yes and no. The downside was the crunch of caramel on the cream puffs. It reminded me of hard candy, which I am not a big fan of. Although I did like the final presentation. The vanilla bean custard was the best part and combined nicely with the blueberries and puff pastry . The left over cream puffs without caramel were really good too. Will I make the dessert again? Probably not, but I am glad that I tried it. I ended up making a medium and small version of the Gateau St. Honore. The one with blackberries is the smaller of the two.


Ingredients
1 package Puff pastry (or homemade)

Choux pastry balls - (To find the recipe, follow the link, look at the Eclair post. you’ll find the recipe there listed as Pate a Choux)

Pastry Cream (you may have to use google translate or you could look at the pastry cream recipe at Rouxbe.com since it is almost identical)

Blackberries with powdered sugar to taste

Spun Sugar ( I omit the lemon drops from this recipe)

Directions
Step 1 – The crust for the larger Gateau St. Honore did not turn out as thick as I would have liked. I would recommend cutting out two 9″ round circles from the puff pastry. With the remaining dough form a ring for the choux pastry balls to sit on. Make sure and roll the extra dough out before making the ring so that it is smooth before baking. Stack the layers and bake until done (20 or so minutes).

Step 2 – Make the Choux pastry balls. Follow link above for recipe. Make the pastry balls medium size. I dipped the cream puff tops in caramel before I filled them with vanilla custard.

Step 3 – Make the custard. See link above for recipe. I used a whole vanilla bean, but you could use half that much. Make sure and strain the black seeds out before mixing into the egg, sugar, cornstarch mixture.

Step 4 – Make the spun sugar. See recipe above. I omit the lemon drops in the recipe. Make sure your kitchen is covered in newspaper before you begin because this process is messy. Dip the Choux pastry balls in caramel and place them on a metal oiled pan or sheet. The caramel will cool quickly. Fill the bottom of the Choux pastry balls with vanilla bean custard (using a pastry bag and nozzle). Drizzle hot caramel over the bottom where you inserted the custard and stick it around the puff pastry.

Step 5 – Sprinkle powdered sugar over blackberries and mix. Pour the berries over your custard on the dessert or serve on the side.

Chocolate hazelnut cookies filled with nutella

Comment – I knew I had to try this recipe when I found out that the cookies were filled with Nutella. Rolling the cookies in crushed hazelnuts adds another dimension to the cookie. I used 2 teaspoons of chocolate dough to form the balls, dipped them in egg whites and rolled them in the nuts. Other than that I followed the recipe exactly.


Recipe link

Zebra Cake

Comment – Salty’s seafood restaurant in Portland, OR serves amazing desserts, one of which is the Zebra Cake. It has layers of chocolate cake and thickened whip cream covered in chocolate ganache. I found assembly instructions for a similar triangle cake online and decided to try recreating Salty’s dessert at home. It turned out wonderful. Although, the cake was a little difficult and time consuming to make. The Zebra cake served at Salty’s has wider layers of whip cream. I like the appearance of their cake a little better and plan to double the whip cream mixture I use next time. It would be easier to make this cake with different cake layers or frosting, but I think the thickened homemade whip cream layer is worth the extra effort.


Assembly instructions – link 1

Assembly instructions – link 2

Note – I baked 2 chocolate cakes in a 15 by 10 inch pan. I used 4 cups of chocolate cake batter for each cake and baked them at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes. I used two cups of homemade whip cream thickened with gelatin between each layer. I would recommend whipping up at least 4 cups of heavy cream, which makes about 8 cups of whipping cream. I whipped up 3 1/2 cups of heavy whipping cream and ran a little short toward the end. I used about 10 Tbsp powdered sugar to sweeten up the whip cream I made. The coating is a ganache mixture of 2 cups chocolate chips, 6 Tbsp heavy cream and 2 Tbsp butter. This cake recipe makes a really long triangle. Next time I make it I will probably only bake one cake, cut it in 4 equal rectangles and fill each layer with 2 cups whip cream (The filling layer will be wider since the cake will be a shorter).

Chocolate Lava Cake

Comment – I tried several molten cake recipes that did not produce the chocolate lava before finding this one. The Ghirardelli recipe is simple. You just heat up chocolate with a little cream, roll it into balls, freeze it, and drop it into the batter before baking.

Note – I doubled the chocolate for the ganache recipe and only added a couple Tbsp of cream to it. I formed balls out of 2 Tbsp ganache. I use a bigger pan that is especially made for lava cake, so if you’re using a muffin pan you might not need the extra chocolate for the centers.
Ghirardelli Recipe

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bombe

Comment – This dessert is delicious and impressive. I used peanut butter chocolate ice cream, a brownie base and chocolate coating. The garnish is a chocolate lattice with caramelized peanut butter popcorn.

Recipe


1 box ice cream – any flavor
2 batches of brownies Recipe
24 oz of chocolate (to be on the safe side)

Directions
I use a special half circle pan to mold the ice cream. You can choose any flavor, but it is important to line the pan with plastic wrap before filling it. Otherwise the ice cream will stick to the pan and will create a big mess. I used a brownie base and set the molded ice cream carefully on top of it. Since I dont have a brownie pan right now I used a 9 inch round spring form pan using this homemade brownie Recipe. Then I heated chocolate up with just enough oil to coat it in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time until it was melted. Then I poured the chocolate over the dessert on a rack. You have to have a lot of melted chocolate when pouring it over the dessert to make sure that you get every spot the first time around. Otherwise the chocolate will get built up in places and will not be smooth. I chilled the desserts between all of these steps. This recipe takes patience. Good luck!

Mexican Chocolate Mousse with Ginger Crumb Crust

Comment: This dessert exceeded my expectations. The cinnamon spice in the Mexican chocolate Mousse paired well with the spice in the ginger cookie crust. The Mousse was melt in your mouth creamy and had a spiced, light chocolate flavor. I brought the dessert to a BBQ and one of my friends who tried it said “I give this dessert an A” grade. I received a few more complements and think it is probably the best dessert I have made so far using Mexican Chocolate.  If you don’t know what Mexican Chocolate is, then google “Ibarra”.


Mousse Recipe

Note – For the chocolate I added 3 Tbsp regular semi sweet chocolate chips and 2 triangles of mexican chocolate. I disolved the mexican chocolate into the milk before adding any other ingredients. I also added 2 Tbsp of butter, 1 tsp vanilla, 1/2 tsp cinnamon and a tiny pinch of cayenne pepper. I did not have heavy cream, so I used whip cream that came in an 8 oz tube. I should note that I took out 1 cup of the whip cream for something else earlier in the week so I did not use the whole tube for this recipe.

Ginger Cookie Recipe -

I used oil instead of butter when making the cookies. I added fresh nutmeg and cloves to the spice mix.

Crust -
The crust was made with the ginger cookies that I baked and then pulvarized in the blender. I added 1/4 cup of butter to the crumbs and patted them down in my 9″ round springform pan. I baked the crust for about 8 minutes at 350 degrees F. I think I used 2 or 3 cups of gingerbread crumbs for the crust.

Final Note – I recommend putting this dessert in the freezer overnight.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Comment: This pineapple upside down cake recipe is from Roy’s Hawaiian Fusion restaurant. I have made these cakes many times and they always turn out great. I like to bake the cakes individually in my molten lava cake pan with removable bottoms. I think the cakes are best served warm with vanilla ice cream.


Recipe

The sauce around the plate was made by combining 3/4 cup pineapple juice with 2 tsp cornstarch.
The garnish was made by putting brown sugar in the oven at 400 degrees F for 5 minutes. You have to wait at least 5 min before touching the sugar when it comes out of the oven. The hot sugar liquid will harden & set up within that time.

Asian Quail

Comment: I have made Quail several times this week. The Asian sauce I used to glaze this quail is incredibly good. It has a sweet and spicy flavor. The main ingredients in the sauce are hoisin, sesame, chilli garlic sauce and ginger. There is not a lot of meat on a quail so I usually try and serve it with a more filling side. I served this dish with mushroom risotto cakes. Honestly, I did not like the way my risotto cakes turned out. So far, my favorite way to serve quail is with this sauce and steak fries. I saute the quail in butter for a few minutes, then bake them for 30 minutes at 350 degrees F, brushing them with sauce every 5 minutes.


Sauce Recipe

Note – I only use the first 6 ingredients for the sauce. I do not add the chicken broth or cornstarch when I make this dish and only use green onions to garnish.