Chocolate Mousse & Cream Puff Cake

I was inspired to make this cake by a cream puff cake that I purchased at Fortinos - and because I love profiteroles! I made it very basic - only 2 layers of vanilla butter cake, filling is vanilla & lemon zest pastry cream and profiteroles, the top is chocolate whipping cream, profiteroles, and poured chocolate ganache on top.





What you need:

• Vanilla Cake (I used 2 8 inch layers)
• Pastry cream- enough to use as a filling between the cakes, about 1.5 cups for my cake
• Cream Puffs- enough to use as a filling and on top of the cake, I used about 40-50
• Chocolate Icing/Mousse- I used chocolate whipping cream which I think complements this cake the best

For the Cake:

I used the vanilla buttercake recipe that I have previously posted - for this cake I substituted the vanilla extract with vanilla bean! This was my first time experimenting with vanilla beans in a cake (I used the seeds, hence the little black specks in the picture).








Profiteroles & Pastry Cream & Chocolate Ganache:

The profiteroles I used are the Poppies Profiteroles from Costco - I previously made a post of them.

Adding more chocolate to the ganache will give it a richer taste and thicker texture while adding less will have the opposite effect. I made the ganache quite thick as I like the rich chocolate taste although this does tend to overpower the rest of the light refreshing flavours. If you want the cake to look more aesthetically appealing, it is best to make a runnier ganache as it will sit smoother once you pour it on top of the profiteroles. For next time I would make my ganache with less chocolate for this cake.

Let the ganache cool slightly until it is luke warm or room temperature. It will look smoother on the cake if it is not too hot as it will have a runnier consistency. If you place it in the fridge, heat it up a little to get back the runny consistency if you made a thick ganache.

Chocolate Whipping Cream/Mousse: 
The chocolate whipping cream complements the light flavours of this cake, a chocolate buttercream would overpower the rest of the light flavours with the sweetness. The taste is similar to a light chocolate mousse.

• 500 ml whipping cream (If you want to cover the whole cake flawlessly, I used a thinner layer and didn't worry too much about my icing job on this cake so I used less than 500ml)
•  3-4 tbsp icing sugar (or to taste)
• Cocoa powder (to taste)

Make sure the bowl and beaters are free of any water or moisture. Beat the whipping cream using a hand/stand mixer until almost the right consistency then add in the icing sugar and cocoa powder. For best results, use a chilled bowl and beaters. Cool the whipping cream in the fridge for at least 15 minutes.

Assembly: 

The recipe I have previously posted makes enough for 2 8-inch cakes filled almost half way. For the cake I made here, I only made one 8-inch cake and cut it in half with a serrated knife, also make sure to level the cake if it has the dome when baked.

It is easiest to assemble and ice cakes on a turntable so place the cake on a cakeboard then on the turntable if you have one. If not, simply place the first layer on a cake stand or another tray that works.

Make a dome around the edge of the cake with stiff icing. We do this so the cream puff filling doesn't splatter when we add the second later on top. It is best to use a double dome (pipe around the edge then do it again on top) as the filling will be quite tall with the cream puffs inside. This technique is shown here. I will soon be starting a series of "Basic How-to's" and make a post on how to fill a cake.

Use a spatula or a spoon to add the pastry cream. Place the cream puffs densely packed on top of the pastry cream. add more pastry cream on top to level it off.

Place the second layer of cake. Ice the cake with the chocolate whipping cream, you can pipe a border if you would like. Place the cream puffs on top and pour the cooled chocolate ganache on to

Soon I will be starting a Basics How-to section on my blog - my first few posts will be how to fill and ice a cake using different methods

-Bon appetite!

Magnolia Pudding

This is easily my new favourite desert. A twist on a classical vanilla pudding, so so yummy and looks beautiful. The name is inspired by Magnolia Bakery. It can be garnished with many different fruits and flavours, I used strawberries and bananas, along with crushed up tea biscuits and walnuts, yum yum yum!

I found this recipe (in Turkish) here. I translated it below. Enjoy! :)

Strawberry banana Magnolian Pudding

Ingredients

• 1 litre milk (4 cups)
• 1 cup sugar 
• 3 tablespoons corn starch 
• 2 tablespoons flour 
• 2 egg yolks 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla or one pack of vanilla sugar 
• strawberries and bananas (either or, or any other fruit you wish to use)
• tea biscuits 
• 200 ml heavy cream 

Procedure 

1. Pour the milk in a deep non-stick saucepan. Turn up the heat on the stove and slowly mix in the sugar, cornstarch, and flour, making sure not to have any lumps. (In particular, its easy for the flour to form lumps so mix well and add it in little by little). Add the vanilla. 

2. Whisk the egg yolks and add it to the milk mixture. Make sure to mix well so that the egg does not cook and form lumps. 

3. After the mixture thickens to a pudding consistency, remove the saucepan from heat and let cool. After the mixture is mostly cool, add in the heavy cream and mix well. Let completely cool.

4. In a wine glass, pour in some of the pudding. Next, break the tea biscuits and walnuts into small pieces (easiest with a food processor), and sprinkle a thick layer on top of the pudding layer. Layer the strawberries and bananas and repeat. Once the pudding reaches the top of the glass, finish with the biscuit and walnut mixture. 

Coffee Cake with Crumble Topping and Brown Sugar Glaze

I made these the other day, delicious! 

http://damndelicious.net/2012/12/30/coffee-cake-with-crumble-topping-and-brown-sugar-glaze/

Belgian Waffles

This recipe was posted on food.com. I thought I would share because these are sooo tasty, really light and moist on the inside. Enjoy!

http://www.food.com/recipe/the-bestest-belgian-waffles-63071

Amazing Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are super delicious and rich chocolate chip cookies! They are nice and chewy when baked properly.

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups oatmeal, blended to a fine powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 cups chocolate chips

Directions

1. Cream the butter and sugars together. 

2. Add the eggs and vanilla. 

3. Stir in the chocolate chips. (You can also put it in after the next step but I think this is much easier).

4. In a bowl, mix the flour, oatmeal, baking powder, and baking soda together and slowly mix into the wet ingredients. 

5. Roll into balls or drop with a spoon on to a baking sheet with parchment paper or whatever you want to use to make the cookies not stick. Place the cookies 2 inches apart. 

6. Bake at 375 degrees for 8 minutes. 

Profiteroles

This is my favourite desert of all time. :) Enjoy! 

Usually, I make them from scratch, but I found some frozen ones at Costco. At the end I'll include my favourite profiterol recipe!

Poppies Profiteroles (100), Top right shows them right out of the box (Before Thawing)
Photos on the Bottom are the Final Products! I topped them with chocolate ganache.

While these were delicious, they were much lighter than the profiteroles I make from scratch. Whipping cream, pastry filling, and ice cream filling can be used in profiteroles or cream puffs. I use a rich pastry filling and these were filled with whipping cream which gave it the lighter taste. However, I was very impressed with the look and taste of these!
Now, here is the homemade recipe :). Keep in mind these are time consuming to make.

Profiteroles (Pastry Filling & Chocolate Ganache)

Makes about 30 puffs. Mine turn out bigger than the frozen puffs shown above.

For the Pastry:

• 100g unsalted butter
• 4/5 cup SIFTED flour
• 2 tbsp. white sugar
• 4 eggs
• 4/5 cup water (200 ml)
• pinch of salt
• 2 tsp vanilla extract (or one package of vanilla sugar)
• Lemon zest (Grate half of a lemon)

In a non-stick pot or saucepan, bring the water, sugar, salt, and butter to a boil. Once the mixture comes to a boil, rapidly mix in the sifted flour. You should have a dough consistency. Put the stove on a very low heat setting and cook the dough for 10 minutes. Make sure to keep turning the dough as it is easy to burn.
After cooking, let the dough cool. Once cooled, add in the lemon zest and vanilla. Cover baking sheets with parchment paper. Use a spoon to drop the dough. (Do not worry if you do not have perfect balls, bumps will mostly disappear once the puffs are baked) Bake at 300 degrees for about 10 minutes. (This depends on your oven, but make sure your oven is at a low temperature and that you cook until they are slightly golden and puffy). The tricky part is maintaining the puffiness of the profiteroles.  If you simply take them out of the oven, they will slowly sink. The puffs need to be cooled down quickly. If you have an oven that cools down quickly, just turn the oven off and let the puffs sit in the oven until they are mostly cool then put them in the fridge. Option 2 is a little less professional, but it is the one I use. Take the puffs out of the oven and use  a blow dryer on a cool setting to quickly cool the puffs and place them in the fridge.

For the Pastry Cream:

• 1 egg
• 100 g flour (Approximately 1/2 cuo)
• 150g white sugar (2/3 cup)
• 500ml milk (2 cups or half a litre)
• 1 tsp lemon zest (This can be put to taste, I like to put more)
• 2 tsp vanilla or 1 package vanilla sugar
• 1 tbsp. unsalted butter 

In a non-stick pot or saucepan, add the milk. As the milk is heating, slowly stir in the sugar and flour making sure to dissolve both. (This will happen as the milk's temperature increases and as you keep stirring) Beat the egg and stir rapidly while adding the egg to the mixture. Be careful as if the mixture is too hot at this point, the egg might cook in lumps. This is why it is important to stir rapidly. Cook and stir the cream until it is a thicker consistency. (It is not necessary to bring to a boil). Once it is the right consistency, remove the cream from heat and stir in the vanilla, lemon zest, and butter. Let cool.

For the Chocolate Ganache:

• 3/4 cup heavy cream 
• 2 tbsp. unsalted butter
• Chocolate chips to taste

In a saucepan, bring heavy cream and butter to a boil and quickly remove from heat. Be very careful not to burn the mixture. Add in chocolate chips and stir until the chocolate melts. Let cool. 

Assembly

After puffs are completely cooled, make slits in each with a knife. (Cut half way) Fill puffs with completely cooled pastry cream. Top with the chocolate ganache. 

VOILA! Super delicious cream puffs :)

Vanilla Buttercake

This cake is a perfect happy medium. It isn't as dense as a regular buttercake, but isn't too soft either. Super tasty!

Ingredients

• 1.5 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup milk

Preparation

1. Sift together flour, salt, and baking powder. 
2. Cream the butter and blend in the white sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Beat until light and fluffy. 
3. Add dry mixture alternately with milk. 
4. Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown, 

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies are super soft and sooo yummy! I'm not a huge fan of pumpkin, but in this recipe it works and doesn't have a strong pumpkin taste like a pie would.

Ingredients

• 1.5 cup sugar
• 1.5 cup pumpkin (You can use canned pumpkin)
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 cups flour
• 3 tbsp. baking powder
• 1.5 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1.5 tsp cinnamon
• 12 oz chocolate chips (2 cups)

Preparation

Combine wet ingredients. (Including pumpkin and chocolate chips) Mix dry ingredients in a seperate bowl. Slowly mix in dry ingredients.

Vanila Cupcakes!

These are just some pictures from the cupcakes I made for a charity event.
The cake recipe I used is the Vanilla Buttercake that I uploaded earlier and the icing is a recipe I will be posting soon after some revising. :)

Biscotti

This is one of my favourite deserts ever.  The biscotti I made has walnuts, zest of lemon and orange, and vanilla.

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour (I like to use cake and pastry flour, the person that originally gave me this recipe said she liked to use unbleached flour because it blends quickly, or just use all purpose flour :)
• 1/8 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tbsp. zest from 1 large orange and/or lemon
• 1/2 cup vegetable or sunflower oil
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract or powder
• 1/2 tsp almond extract or some other flavourful liqueur of your preference
• 1 cup chopped toasted almonds (toasted almonds have more flavour)
• 1/2 cup chopped milk or dark chocolate (chocolate chips are fine)
• Parchment paper (this is important because it prevents the cookies from burning)

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir together and set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs and sugar on high speed until they are thick and light in colour. This takes about 3 minutes on my mixer.
3. With the mixer on medium add the oil and extract flavours.
4. With the mixer on very low (or just use a wooden spoon, this is what I do), start to add about 1/2 the flour mixture and then turn off the mixer.
5. Now add the zest of orange, the zest of lemon, the nuts and chocolate and stir with a wooden spoon. The dough will be pretty sticky and stiff. Set aside and let rest for about 5 to 10 minutes.
6. Line 1 flat baking sheet with parchment paper. Using a flat spatula pick up about half the dough in the bowl and drop it on one half of the cookie tray. Star to shape it into a long skinny log which is about 2 inches thick. Use the spatula to shape and smooth the dough.
7. Now make the second log on the other half of the tray.
8. If you like, you can sprinkle some sugar or sprinkle decoration on top of the logs.
9. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 20-25 minutes in the centre rack.
10. When baked to a golden colour, take biscotti out of the oven and slice the logs to create biscuits. Put back in the oven for a few minutes to let the biscuits harden.

There are many other flavours you can make with this recipe. Here are some other flavour ideas:

-To make chocolate biscotti, use 1/2 cup less flour and add about 1/3 cup of cocoa.
-You can also add dried cranberries instead of almonds and chocolate.
-Hazelnut and chocolate is also very good
-A splash of dark coffee for flavouring
-They are also still very tasty with just plain vanilla.

Fluffy Buns

Ingredients

• A little over 2 tbsp. or 10g active dry yeast
• 200 ml. oil (vegetable or sunflower)
• 2 eggs
• 100g white sugar
• 400ml warm water
• As much flour as needed for the dough to lose its stickiness

Preparation
1. In a bowl, dissolve the warm water, sugar, and dry yeast.
2. Separate the eggs and put the egg whites in the dough. Mix in all other ingredients, adding the flour in last. Knead and add flour until the dough isn't sticking to your fingers.
3. Cover the top of the bowl with a towel and wait 2-3 hours for the dough to rise.
4. Uncover the dough and make desired bun shapes. Let the buns sit for another half hour.
5. Bake at 300 degrees Fahrenheit until golden brown.

Taco Dip

Ingredients

• 1 package Taco Seasoning
• 258oz. cream cheese
• 1 small creamed cottage cheese
• 1/2 cup chopped green pepper
• 1/2 chopped onion 

Preparation

Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Put shredded lettuce and diced tomatoes on top as garnish. 

Guacamole Dip

So yummy!

Ingredients

• 2 ripe avocados peeled
• 2 tomatoes finely chopped
• 6 green onions finely chopped
• 2 tbsp fresh lime or lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon fresh coriander chopped
• 1-2 fresh chilly seeded and finely chopped
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation
Mash avocados and add remaining ingredients. Serve with taco chips.