Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake

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If you have a holiday party that you want to "WOW" everyone at, I suggest this tasty dessert from America's Test Kitchen (I've never been disappointed with one of their recipes).  Warning, while the dessert is not super challenging, it does take all morning to get it prepped and then it will need to refrigerate the rest of the day (or overnight).

Ingredients

 

Bottom Layer

• 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter , cut into 6 pieces, plus extra for greasing pan
• 7 ounces bittersweet chocolate , chopped fine
• 3/4 teaspoon instant espresso powder (I didn't use this)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs , separated
• Pinch table salt
• 1/3 cup packed (about 2 1/2 ounces) light brown sugar , crumbled with fingers to remove lumps 


Middle Layer

2 tablespoons cocoa powder , preferably Dutch-processed

5 tablespoons hot water

7 ounces bittersweet chocolate , chopped fine

1 1/2 cups cold heavy cream

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1/8 teaspoon table salt

Top Layer

3/4 teaspoon powdered gelatin

1 tablespoon water

6 ounces white chocolate chips

1 1/2 cups cold heavy cream

Shaved chocolate or cocoa powder for serving, optional

Directions

1. FOR THE BOTTOM LAYER: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Butter bottom and sides of 9 1/2-inch springform pan. Melt butter, chocolate, and espresso powder in large heatproof bowl set over saucepan filled with 1 inch of barely simmering water, stirring occasionally until smooth. Remove from heat and cool mixture slightly, about 5 minutes. Whisk in vanilla and egg yolks; set aside.



 
2. In stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, beat egg whites and salt at medium speed until frothy, about 30 seconds. Add half of brown sugar and beat until combined, about 15 seconds. Add remaining brown sugar and beat at high speed until soft peaks form when whisk is lifted, about 1 minute longer, scraping down sides halfway through. Using whisk, fold one-third of beaten egg whites into chocolate mixture to lighten. Using rubber spatula, fold in remaining egg whites until no white streaks remain. Carefully transfer batter to prepared springform pan, gently smoothing top with offset spatula


 
 
3. Bake until cake has risen, is firm around edges, and center has just set but is still soft (center of cake will spring back after pressing gently with finger), 13 to 18 minutes. Transfer cake to wire rack to cool completely, about 1 hour. (Cake will collapse as it cools.) Do not remove cake from pan.
 

 



4. FOR THE MIDDLE LAYER: Combine cocoa powder and hot water in small bowl; set aside. Melt chocolate in large heatproof bowl set over saucepan filled with 1 inch of barely simmering water, stirring occasionally until smooth. Remove from heat and cool slightly, 2 to 5 minutes.
 



5. In clean bowl of stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, whip cream, granulated sugar, and salt at medium speed until mixture begins to thicken, about 30 seconds. Increase speed to high and whip until soft peaks form when whisk is lifted, 15 to 60 seconds.
6. Whisk cocoa powder mixture into melted chocolate until smooth. Using whisk, fold one-third of whipped cream into chocolate mixture to lighten. Using rubber spatula, fold in remaining whipped cream until no white streaks remain. Spoon mousse into springform pan over cooled cake and gently tap pan on counter 3 times to remove any large air bubbles; gently smooth top with offset spatula. Wipe inside edge of pan with damp cloth to remove any drips. Refrigerate cake at least 15 minutes while preparing top layer.
7. FOR THE TOP LAYER: In small bowl, sprinkle gelatin over water; let stand at least 5 minutes. Place white chocolate in medium bowl. Bring 1/2 cup cream to simmer in small saucepan over medium-high heat. Remove from heat; add gelatin mixture and stir until fully dissolved. Pour cream mixture over white chocolate and whisk until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth, about 30 seconds. Cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally, 5 to 8 minutes (mixture will thicken slightly).
8. In clean bowl of stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, whip remaining cup cream at medium speed until it begins to thicken, about 30 seconds. Increase speed to high and whip until soft peaks form when whisk is lifted, 15 to 60 seconds. Using whisk, fold one-third of whipped cream into white chocolate mixture to lighten. Using rubber spatula, fold remaining whipped cream into white chocolate mixture until no white streaks remain. Spoon white chocolate mousse into pan over middle layer. Smooth top with offset spatula. Return cake to refrigerator and chill until set, at least 2 1/2 hours.

 


9. TO SERVE: If using, garnish top of cake with chocolate curls or dust with cocoa. Run thin knife between cake and side of springform pan; remove side of pan. Run cleaned knife along outside of cake to smooth sides. Cut into slices and serve.

A-Mazing Chocolate Chip Cookies

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I have the best neighbors ever.  Over the course of 3 days, I got well over 2 feet of snow-and two of my neighbors made sure that my driveway and sidewalks were snowblowed!  As a thank you, I decided some warm, homemade cookies were in order.  I do love cookies, especially chocolate chip ones, and I had heard about a recipe that used melted butter instead of creaming it together with the sugar and eggs.  I wanted to give it a try-so glad I did. 

Some searching found me the recipe from America's Test Kitchen for their cookies on another blog.  Everything I've ever made from that show/website has turned out great--and this recipe is no exception.  If you are a fan of Paradise Bakery cookies, you'll love this recipe.  Seriously, I had to take the cookies over right away because they were way too yummy.

Tips:
The browned butter is the most important part of this recipe--you can really taste the nutty/caramelly flavor, so don't skip that step.  Use real butter! I followed the recipe exactly.  Don't overmix the sugar or the flour, just slowly incorporate.  Chewy, golden, crunchy on the edges...so good.  Try it.  

These cookies would be amazing with other types of add-ins like white chips and craisens, or nuts.  Just make sure you've got cold milk on hand!

Cook’s Illustrated/America’s Test Kitchen Presents:
Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated and America’s Test Kitchen
Ingredients
1 ¾ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
 ½ tsp. baking soda
10 + 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter (1 3/4 sticks)
½ cup granulated sugar
¾ cups packed dark brown sugar
1 tsp. table salt
2 tsps. vanilla extract
1 large egg + 1 large egg yolk
1 ¼ cups semisweet chocolate chips or chunks
¾ cup chopped pecans or walnuts, toasted (optional)

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and place the oven rack in the middle position.  Line 2 large (18×12 inch) baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
• Whisk flour and baking soda together in medium bowl and set aside.
• Heat 10 tablespoons of the butter in 10-inch skillet (if possible, do not use nonstick) over medium-high heat until melted, about 2 minutes.  Continue cooking, swirling pan constantly until butter is dark golden brown and has nutty aroma, 1 to 3 minutes.
• Remove skillet from heat and, using heatproof spatula, transfer browned butter to large heatproof bowl.  Stir remaining 4 tablespoons butter into hot butter until completely melted.
• Add both sugars, salt, and vanilla to bowl with butter and whisk until fully incorporated.  Add egg and yolk and whisk until mixture is smooth with no sugar lumps remaining, about 30 seconds.  Let mixture stand 3 minutes, then whisk for 30 seconds.  Repeat process of resting and whisking 2 more times until mixture is thick, smooth, and shiny. 
• Using rubber spatula or wooden spoon, stir in flour mixture until just combined, about 1 minute.  Stir in chocolate chips and nuts (if using), giving dough final stir to ensure no flour pockets remain.
• Divide dough into 16 portions, each about 3 tablespoons ( I used a cookie scoop and ended up with 18 cookies, although I may have eaten a couple cookies worth of raw dough).  Arrange 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets, 8 dough balls per sheet.  Smaller baking sheets can be used, but will require 3 batches.
• Bake cookies 1 tray at a time until cookies are golden brown and still puffy, and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft, 10 to 14 minutes (mine took 14 minutes), rotating baking sheet halfway through baking.  
• Transfer baking sheet to wire rack; cool cookies completely before serving (yeah, good luck with that).

Black and White Cookies

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I have a good friend who works in a bakery, and sometimes she brings me home a black and white cookie--so delicious!  I don't often make cookies that require frosting, but when I saw these on the cover of Cook's Country magazine, I knew I'd be trying them out.  So glad I did!

According to the magazine,the traditional B/W cookie is lemon flavored, but they did a vanilla version and I really loved it (because as much as I like chocolate frosting, I don't love lemon/chocolate).  So, here is the recipe

Cook's Country, March 2012, pg 22

Cookies
1 3/4 C. all purpose flour
1/2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. baking soda
1/8 t. salt
10 T. unsalted butter, softened
1 C. sugar
1 lg egg
2 t. vanilla (the good stuff)
1/3 C. sour cream

Glaze (I made half a batch of glaze and it was just enough for a full batch of cookies)

5 C. powdered sugar, sifted
7 T. whole milk (divided)
2 T. corn syrup
1 t. vanilla
1/2 t. salt
3 T. cocoa powder

For the cookies:  Preheat to 350.  In a bowl, sift the dry ingredients together.  In a stand mixer, use the paddle to cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, the add the egg and vanilla.  Alternate adding some of the dry mix then the sour cream to the mixer.

Use a 1/4 c. measure to make drop cookies (note:  I did not use that big a scoop, I used my regular cookie scoop, which is about 1 1/2 T.) onto a parchment lined cookie sheet.  Bake 15-18 minutes until the edges are lightly golden (turn the cookie sheet around after about 7 minutes).  Cool on a rack.

For the glaze:  In a bowl, whisk the sugar, 6 T. of the milk, corn syrup, vanilla and salt until smooth.  Transfer 1 C. of the mix to another bowl.  In the remaining glaze, add the rest of the milk and the cocoa powder.  Now you have both the vanilla and the chocolate glaze.

To glaze the cookie:  Frost with the vanilla first using an offset spatula to smooth it to the edge.  Place in the fridge or freezer for a few minute to set the glaze, then frost with the chocolate.

I froze some of the leftovers, and while they tasted delicious, the chocolate glaze changed color-so keep that in mind if you are making them in advance. 

Peanut Butter Filled Cupcakes

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I love getting cupcakes from those adorable cupcake bakeries that are all over--and now I know why they cost $3 each. It takes a lot of love to get cupcake to look that cute, but...if you are in charge of bringing the dessert to a birthday party, these babies will make you the most popular girl in the room.

So, I started out with the blog Your Cup of Cake. Everything on the site looks yummy, so how can you go wrong. I loved that the recipe starts with a cake mix. What I wished I'd found on the blog were just some of the basic recipes so that you could mix/match your own concoction. I knew that my version would need chocolate icing instead of vanilla.

So, to begin...chocolate cupcakes. First, mix up the peanut butter filling--I knew that the recipe was going to make more filling than I needed, so I should have just made 1/2, oh well, next time. I mixed up the doctored cake mix recipe, here, and got to filling the cupcake liners. I used my cookie scoop to get the very stiff batter into the bottom of each liner. I smoothed the batter down and then used a teaspoon to put a bit of the peanut butter filling on top. Then I scooped a bit more chocolate batter on top and smoothed again. Total, the liner was 3/4 full...maybe next time I'll fill just shy of 3/4.



The frosting is a take on the chocolate butter cream recipe on Your Cup of Cake. I used 1 c. butter, 2 oz. of cream cheese (left over from the peanut butter filling), 3 C. powdered sugar and 1 T of milk and 1 tsp of vanilla. I used about 2/3 C. of cocoa powder-but it tasted pretty good without the cocoa. I whipped it up for about 6 minutes in the Kitchen Aid so it would get nice and fluffy.

After the cupcakes were cooled, I used a Wilton Star #21 tip on some of them and the Wilton Round #12 tip on the others to get piles of fluffy frosting on each treat. I topped them with some Reece's cups. Yeah, these are good.

Homemade Hostess Cupcakes

Pin It Have you got a favorite childhood treat that you still love? I do, its the Hostess Cupcake. I never buy them though (hello, it would be me eating the whole box, so I can't bring them home). I was watching Cook's Country on PBS this weekend, and what do you know, they are making homemade Hostess! Score. I have a work lunch tomorrow that I signed up to bring the dessert, so this seemed perfect. I'll admit that I took a shortcut. I made the cupcakes from a box mix, but the rest I followed the recipe. Give it a try! I'll list the stuff you'll need to gather up, but you can find the recipe here.

1 box chocolate cake mix (or if you want to go completely Martha Stewart, make them using the recipe)

Filling:
1 container marshmallow fluff or cream
3/4 tsp unflavored gelatin
3 T water
4 T butter, room temp
1 tsp vanilla

Glaze:
1/2 c. semi sweet chocolate chips
3 more T of butter


Cut a cone of cake out of the top, then trim the point off the cone so there is a space for filling.
Use a couple of spoons to get the sticky filling into the hole. (keep the tops next to the cupcake they belong to so that getting them put back together is easy)

Spoon the glaze over the cupcakes and let firm up. Use some of the reserved filling to pipe the curly-Q top (I just used a small zipper bag that I cut the tip off instead of a frosting bag).

How to make the filling: soften the gelatin by putting the gelatin and water in a medium size bowl for about 5 min. (you'll be using this bowl to eventually mix in the marshmallow, so make it a good size). Then put the bowl in the microwave for about 30 seconds til the edges of liquid bubble. Mix in the 4 T butter and vanilla. Let cool on the counter for about 5 minutes then mix in the marshmallow until smooth. Refrigerate filling for 30 minutes so that it firms up. Keep about 1/3 c. of the filling aside to use for the decoration.

How to make the glaze: Put the 3 T of butter in a microwave bowl and melt until bubbly. Immediately mix in the chocolate chips and stir until smooth. Spoon it onto the cupcakes. Let cool before decorating the tops.