Dark Chocolate 'Fondue' Ball

• Tempered Dark Chocolate Sphere
• Filled with Salted Almond Crumb
• Spiced Poached Pear
• Citrus Cake
• Vanilla Cream
• Chocolate Filigree
• Warm Caramel Sauce

The idea of this dessert is to have the warm caramel sauce separate, then pour it over the chocolate balls at the table to the chocolate begins to melt, showcasing the filling and creating a chocolate sauce for the plate. 

Birthday Cake #2

Birthday cake number two actually came on the same day as birthday cake number one. Well, kind of. They were close to twenty four hours apart anyway. Number one I ate late at night technically the evening before my birthday where I was but actually my birthday back home. Cake number two I ate in the evening on my actual birthday where I was (but the next day back home). Confused yet? Doesn't matter, they were both delicious! This one isn't technically a cake, but when it's got a candle and a "Happy Birthday" inscription, does it matter?

I got this cake at a restaurant when my brother and his girlfriend sneakily mentioned to the waiter it was my birthday and I love chocolate! This is actually a  CHOCOLATE FEUILLETINE BAR: Chocolate Crumble, Peanut Butter, Salted Caramel, Vanilla Crème Fraiche. As well as fresh strawberries, chocolate piping, and a candle waxed directly onto the plate. Or as I like to call it, delicious!

Dulce de Leche

Dulce de leche is a creamy caramel sauce, tradiationally made by cooking milk and sugar until caramelized. The slow heating of sweetened milk changed the color and flavor by a Maillard reaction. The easiest and most popular way this is made at home today is by cooking a can of sweetened condensed milk. However, there are several methods of doing this. You can cook the milk in the can, or take it out. Use the stove, oven or the microwave. In my opinion, the darker the milk is, the better (as long as it isn't burnt) but you can make a lighter caramel if desired.

1. In the can, on the stove: Peel any paper labels off the can and place in a pot of water, ensuring the can is submerged. Boil for 2-4 hours. Several cans can be cooked at a time this way, limited only by the size of the pot. Ensure the water level remains so that the cans are submerged. If kept at a rolling boil, it will take closer to two hours. If simmering, it will take longer. However, the milk is not likely to burn quickly, so always cook longer rather than shorter. You can also always pop open the can to check the color.
2. In the can, in the oven: Peel any paper labels off the can and place in a pot or pan of water, ensuring the can is submerged. Place in the oven and cook a few hours. A higher oven temperature will actually cook in less time than boiling.
3. Out of the can, on the stove: Pour milk into a pot and cook over medium-low heat, stirring often until of desired color.
4. Out of the can, in the microwave: Pour milk into a bowl, cook in one minute intervals on medium (50%) power, stirring each time until of desired color.
   

Caramel Apple Oat Frangipane Tart

Caramel Apple Oat Frangipane Tart
one freshly baked nine inch pie crust
one can or jar dulce de leche
6 medium cooking apples, peeled and cut into eighths
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 Tablespoon water
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
one recipe oatmeal frangipane (see tomorrow's post)

Preheat oven to 320◦F.
Spread the dulce de leche over the crust bottom.
Place the apples, sugar, water and cinnamon in a wide pot. Bring to a simmer and cook until apples are just beginning to soften. They will continue to cook in the oven. Drain well.

Arrange the apples over the dulce de leche.
Spread with oatmeal frangipane.

Bake for about 40 minutes until frangipane is golden and set and a toothpick inserted in the frangipane comes out clean.

Serve hot, warm, cooled, or even cold. If reheated, the oven is much better used than the microwave.

S'mores

S'mores was another action station at the golf club tournament. It consisted of marshmallow roasted on site in a smoker, warm milk chocolate sauce, warm caramel sauce, and graham cracker crumbs. Delicious and sweet! This was certainly a popular station.

Trio Of Desserts

Shellfish festival gala dinner dessert plate. That's three desserts per plate times 450 people equals 1350 mini desserts by three amazing pastry chefs.

Top: Lemon macaroon with lemon cream filling
Right: raspberry swirled cheesecake on graham crust with raspberry buttercream and fresh raspberry
Left: blueberry tartlet with white chocolate ganache, chantilly cream, and chocolate garnish
Salted caramel sauce.

Super Rich Cookie Brownies

These brownie cookie bars may be super rich and super sweet, but they are also completely vegan! It just goes to show vegans can eat rich and decadent treats as well.

Brownie Base
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups granulated (white) sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup oil
1 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Caramel Hazelnut Filling
Maple Cookie Mix
1/3 cup flaked almonds

Preheat oven to 350◦F. Mix all brownie ingredients together and spread in a 9x9 inch pan.
Heat together hazelnut paste and sugar to a boil. Spread over brownie as evenly as possible.
Top with spoonfuls of cookie batter, which will spread out during baking.
Top with almonds.
Bake for 25 minutes until set.

Deconstructed Banoffee Pie

This random dessert creation is the result of me being given four ingredients: chocolate, sugar, bananas, and sweetened condensed milk. My first thought was - banoffee pie! But to make it quicker, easier, and more interesting I made a deconstructed version. 

Components
Chocolate banana mousse
Dark chocolate sand
Dulce de leche ganache
Coconut cream
Chocolate caramel salted pretzels
Chocolate caramel candies

I chose to plate it in a shallow bowl, with a base of chocolate banana mousse, dulce de leche ganache swirled in a circle, dark chocolate sand sprinkled in the center of the bowl, coconut cream on top, and chocolate caramel salted pretzels and candies randomly around.

Chocolate Caramel Oat Cookies

These are some cookies I came uo with on the spot when I had some leftover ingredients kicking around. This is what I came up with. They are quite tasty - plenty of chocolate and caramel with some texture from the oats, but they stay soft too. You can also detect a hint of coffee and cinnamon flavor.

Chocolate Caramel Oat Cookies
100 grams dark chocolate
1 cup light brown sugar
1 can (300mL) caramel flavored sweetened condensed milk
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon instant coffee powder
1 large egg
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups all-purpose (plain) flour
1 cup rolled oats

Preheat oven to 350◦F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Melt chocolate. Stir in brown sugar. Stir in milk, then vanilla, cinnamon, coffee, and egg. Stir in remaining ingredients. Drop by tablespoons onto prepared baking sheets, spaced a few inches apart. Bake for ten minutes. Let cookies stand for two minutes to set before removing from baking sheet.

Brown Sugar Brandy Caramel Sauce

Brown Sugar Brandy Caramel Sauce

Heat together brown sugar and brandy until golden brown and caramelized and sugar is dissolved. Add a dab of butter and a splash of cream. Reheat if needed to adjust consistency.

The amount of sugar and brandy depends how strong and thin you would like the sauce to be. You can always add a splash of brandy at the end of cooking for more flavor.

Caramelized White Chocolate

If you have never tried such a thing you are seriously missing out. It's not your fault, it has not become mainstream yet. I myself only tried it a few months ago; but one spoonful and I was hooked! Caramelized white chocolate is just as it sounds - you heat some white chocolate either in the oven or in a frying pan over low heat, stirring occasionally, until it turns golden brown. It should look like the color of peanut butter. When the chocolate melts like this is does become somewhat chalky or lumpy but it can simply be blended smooth. The first time I made it I did not bother blending and I ended up with something like caramel with skor bits in it. The mixture will harden but if you blend in some cream it stays fairly smooth. Blended in cream cheese is really good too, and a little sea salt really helps to balance out the flavor.

I used to say I didn't like white chocolate, that it wasn't even true chocolate. But now, I'm a convert. Like, why do they not sell this in bar form??

My first attempt - kinda lumpy but so tasty

My second attempt was much smoother

Caramelized Whey Cheese

Many people do not realize this, but the leftover whey from making cheese (the liquid, whereas the solids are the curds that are pressed into cheese) can be utilized as well - do not just throw it out! So if you have made ricotta or another easy cheese recently, use the byproduct to make another easy and very tasty cheese product.

This caramelized whey cheese is a very common Norweigan product, and is sometimes referred to as a fudge. It is quite sweet with a smooth, almost buttery texture. It is easy to do but does take some time.
Simply reduce the whey over low heat until it caramelizes and turns brown. For a super smooth, not gritty, texture, add a little sugar to the whey as well. Reduce it until it is caramel-colored; it will not burn easily, just watch so it does not boil over. Then pour into a pan and chill to firm it up, then cut into pieces.

Quick Apple Tarts For Two

The inspiration for this treat just came along one day while trying a rum. Though there was nothing wrong with the rum, it wasn't all that pleasant to drink straight. The flavor did, however; spark my imagination as to all the great thing sit could pear with. I found an apple in the fridge, cinnamon and almonds in the cupboard, and went to work. Rum in an apple tart with rum caramel sauce? One of the best ways to 'drink' some rum!

Quick Apple Tarts For Two
1/2 cup almonds
1 Tablespoon syrup (honey, maple, agave)
1 green apple, thinly sliced (I left the peel on)
rum of choice
ground cinnamon
rum caramel sauce (recipe to follow tomorrow)

Preheat oven to 400°F.
Grind the almonds in a small food processor. Add the syrup until it forms into a clump. Press this mixture into the bottom of two mini casserole dishes or ramekins. Bake while preparing the topping (until the crust is golden and firm).
Meanwhile, saute the apples in enough rum to cover, add cinnamon and cook until apples are just softened and some rum has evaporated. Arrange the apple slices artistically over the crust.
Drizzle with rum caramel sauce all over and serve immediately! 

Blueberry White Chocolate Cake

White Chocolate Cake Batter + Blueberries + Raspberry Pastry Cream + Sugared Ginger Crunch + Dark Chocolate Sauce + Caramel Spiral

The cake is a simple white chocolate cake batter poured into a ramekin, sprinkled with blueberries, and then baked until firm on the outside but still soft and moist on the inside.

The raspberry pastry cream is just as it sounds and lends a pretty pink color. It is underneath the cake.

The sugared ginger crunch is candied ginger stirred into a basic caramel brittle.

The dark chocolate sauce consists simply of dark chocolate and cream, melted together until silky and smooth.

And the caramel spiral is one of my signature pastry garnishes.

Lemon Meringue Pie Fix

The other day a friend came to me with a lemon meringue pie that didn't set up quite properly. It was strange, because the crust was delicious and perfectly baked and the filling was firm and tasty. Then the meringue was spread on and torched. I think the issue either came with not letting the filling set and cool long enough before being put in the pie shell, or before the meringue was put on. Also the meringue was not cooked or baked - only the top was torched so it weeped.

This causes a very yummy lemon meringue, well soup. It was liquidy and didn't stay together but the flavor was there. I suggested transforming it into a mousse, parfait, or trifle-type dessert. But then the pie was left with me to fix and I decided to try fixing it into a pie again. 

Lemon pie, take #2

I scraped the meringue off the top and put it into a bowl to set aside.
I scraped all the lemon filling out and put it in a pot, added some cornstarch and boiled it to thicken. Then transferred it to a bowl and cooled it to set.
I popped the crust in the oven briefly to crisp up and not turn out soggy from the lemon filling.
Then the meringue. I knew I couldn't rewhip it to form a nice meringue, so I decided to do something completely different with it. I put it in a saucepan, added some brown sugar for flavor and some cornstarch to thicken. I cooked it, then cooled it. This formed a 'burnt' (toasted from the meringue) caramel sauce that didn't harden because the cooked egg whites kept it soft and not overly sweet. It also enriched it without the use of butter.

To assemble, I spread the thick lemon filling into the crust, then since I didn't have a lot of the caramel, I piped it around the pie. The result? A really good lemon caramel pie that held together, and you would never know it had been a failure. The lesson? Learn from your mistakes, don't throw anything (that isn't spoiled) out, and get creative to use up leftovers.

It may not be the prettiest, but it is tasty considering what it came from!

Ultimate Brownie Skillet

Ultimate Brownie Skillet
1/2 cup oil of choice (canola, coconut, vegetable)
3/4 cup sugar of choice (granulated, coconut, brown, date)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt (or less if you use salted caramel)
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup flour of choice (all-purpose, whole wheat, oat, spelt)
2 large flax eggs (2 Tablespoons ground flaxseed mixed with 1/3 cup water, let stand a few minutes)
1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
1/4 cup chips of choice (semisweet, peanut butter, white chocolate)
Other optional add-ins (about 1/4 cup): chopped nuts, nutella, peanut butter, chopped chocolates or candies

Peanut butter caramel
Dark chocolate sauce
Maple caramel sauce
Ice cream of choice (vanilla, chocolate, non-dairy)

Preheat oven to 325◦F. Generously oil a ten inch cast iron skillet.
In a large bowl, mix together the oil, sugar, vanilla, baking powder, and salt. Add the cocoa, flour, and eggs, and mix all together. Then stir in the chips and add-ins.
This will not seem like very much batter, but spoon it into the prepared pan, then press it out with the palm of your hand so it forms a thin layer covering the entire bottom of the pan. Bake for 20 minutes until the edges seem a bit dry and firm. The brownie will still appear to be very soft.

Place the brownie on the stovetop, and let it sit for at least ten minutes. Carryover cooking will occur and the brownie will firm up a bit. If you don't mind a really ooey-gooey soft brownie that will not hold its shape in nice pieces when cut from the pan, and you don't mind burning your tongue, you can dig in straight away! If you want a brownie with more of a baked brownie texture and a piece you can actually slice, wait up to twenty minutes, the brownie will stay plenty warm. Don't leave the brownie in the pan much longer than forty minutes if you have any leftovers (leftovers, good one!), as the brownie will continue cooking and if you plan to reheat leftovers, it will overbake. 

Use a plastic or rubber or wooden utensil to cut pieces of the brownie and serve it - the brownie is very soft anyway, and a knife or metal utensil will scratch the pan. Serve the brownie with peanut butter caramel (recipe will follow), dark chocolate sauce (recipe will follow), maple caramel sauce (recipe will follow), and ice cream, or desired toppings.

I made this as part of my brother's Christmas present - at his request - and I really jazzed it up for him. He loved it! I began with a vegan brownie recipe, even subbing oil for the margarine because the only margarine I could find contains whey powder. Then I discovered the chocolate chips also contain milk ingredients. So everything else is vegan (the brownie batter without the add-ins, the peanut butter caramel, the chocolate sauce, and the maple caramel), but then I served it with vanilla ice cream for him since he isn't vegan.

Black Cake Coconut Custard Trifle

Black Cake Coconut Custard Trifle = leftover black cake + leftover rum-soaked fruit + leftover coconut caramel custard.

Steps
1. Tear the cake into bite-sized pieces
2. Place in bottom of a small decorative bowl.'
3. Drizzle with dark rum and sprinkle with rum-soaked fruit.
4. Top with coconut caramel custard.
5. Garnish with additional rum-soaked fruit and macadamia nuts.
6. Serve!

Caramel Coconut Custard

Caramel Coconut Custard
400mL coconut milk
2 cups dulche de leche 
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
1 Tablespoon water
1/4 cup finely chopped pistachios
1/4 cup shredded coconut


In a small saucepan over medium heat, heat the milk, dulche de leche, and vanilla until lightly boiling and thickened. Whisk together the cornstarch and water to make a slurry, then add in. Heat until thickened, then remove from heat, stir in the nuts, and cool. Chill until firm.

For a really interesting presentation, pour warm custard into a large, flat tray, then freeze briefly. Once semi-solid, but not hard as a rock, cut out unique shapes using a metal cookie cutter, place on a flat tray and freeze again to firm up. use to garnish desserts, allow the custard to reach room temperature to eat.

Maple Pecan Brownie Bomb

Maple Pecan Brownie
1/4 cup unsalted butter
scant 1/4 cup dark cocoa powder
1 large egg
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1 Tablespoon maple syrup

Spiced Dark Chocolate Mousse
85 grams dark chocolate chips
1 Tablespoon dark cocoa powder
37 grams unsalted butter
3 large eggs, separated
37 grams granulated (white) sugar
2 teaspoons chocolate chili powder

Caramel Crunch Candy
1/4 cup granulated (white) sugar
1/4 cup water

Caramel Web
2 Tablespoons granulated (white) sugar

White Chocolate Maple Ganache
1/4 cup white chocolate chips
scant 1/4 cup whipping cream
1 Tablespoon maple syrup

Begin with the BROWNIE. Preheat oven to 350◦F. Grease two small (four inch) fluted tart pan or similar mold.
Melt the butter and cocoa over low heat. Beat the egg, then beat in the maple syrup. Whisk in the cocoa mixture, then the flour and nuts. Spoon batter into prepared pans. Bake for 15 minutes, cool slightly, unmold, then poke lightly with the tines of a fork. Pour a little extra maple syrup over top and allow the brownies to absorb it. Cool completely.

Move on to the MOUSSE. Melt the chocolate, cocoa, and butter in a bowl over a pan of just simmering water. Meanwhile, whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form, then whisk in the sugar until stiff peaks form. Gently whisk in the egg yolks. Mix the chili into the chocolate mixture, then whisk this into the eggs. Chill until set, or chill in the freezer to speed up the process.

Next make up the CARAMEL CRUNCH CANDY. Put the sugar and water into a small saucepan over low heat until mixture hardens. Stir it to form separate chunks, then set it aside to cool slightly.

For the CARAMEL WEB heat the sugar over very low heat until it is melted and golden. Set aside to cool slightly until barely cool enough to handle. Once cool, pull off long, thing strands. 

Meanwhile, make the WHITE CHOCOLATE MAPLE GANACHE by heating the chocolate and cream in a bowl over a pot of barely simmering water until melted and smooth. Stir in the maple syrup, then set aside to cool and thicken slightly.

To assemble: Spread some chocolate mousse on a plate in the shape of a star. Place the brownie in the center. Drizzle the entire plate with the ganache. Garnish with the candy. Place the caramel web strands on top of the brownie to form a nest. Garnish with additional pecans if desired.

Fudge Marble Caramel Swirl Cake

Chocolate and caramel are a match made in heaven - especially in a cake. This marble cake has three marblings; white cake, chocolate cake, and sweet caramel. There is caramel inside and on top, making the cake pretty as well as moist and tasty.

Fudge Marble Caramel Swirl Cake
1 box (two layer size) or one recipe marble cake
caramel sauce (such as caramel sundae sauce)

Prepare the cake as usual. Then give a good squirt of caramel, in a random pattern, all over the cake and swirl in, just as the chocolate was swirled on. Bake as directed.
Once baked, immediately poke the cake with a skewer, then pour more caramel sauce over the cake immediately, allowing it to melt into the cake. Cool completely, then serve. This moist and sweet cake needs no frosting.