Week 12 - Lanie's Chocolate Mousse

Hey everyone....
So this week was my former roommate and colleague, Melissa's birthday. I asked her what she wanted me to bake and gave her some options.  She picked Lanie's Chocolate Mousse which was an excellent pick...

So, Lanie's chocolate mousse is iconic in our household.  If she hasn't made it for you, you are missing out.  Also, I am not going to share the recipe because she has been offered the option to bake it for commercial uses...And, we are always secretly wanting to open a mousse retail store.  To my siblings...The Mousse is Loose...

Anyway, I started out and made the crust and chocolate mousse portion of the cake and then it had to refrigerate overnight. 

The mouse, cake part can be seen here...

I thought it only appropriate to let you see what the kitchen looks like after I bake... Please note the glass of wine that usually accompanies my creations.

At 5:30AM I whipped up some cream for the topping and added it on! And it looked pretty!

After hauling it on the train to work with NO accidents, I removed the springform pan (only after a panicked call to Lanie about the appropriate temperature for this action!) and it didn't fall apart!

Now I got RAVE reviews from my colleagues.  Each week, they get a treat and are excited to try what I made, but I knew this would be a winner..
Lou - "It's Killer"
Melissa (the birthday girl) "Lan - it's so good"
David  - a thumbs up
and too many more to count....

Proving once again, that Lanie is the BEST baker.  After another 40 weeks, I hope to be in the same ballpark as she.  Have a couple more of her recipes that I sprinkle in later in the year.

And Happy B-day Melissa!

Also, I am getting to the point, where I am ready to solicite ideas of what to bake from the masses....Let me know if you think of anything.  Some things I am saving for more appropriate timeframes, such as key lime pie is only good in the summer, Apple Pie in November, etc.  Next week is Angel Food Cake with a berry topping.

Week 11 - Holy Cannoli! Italian Feast Part 1

Okay wowzer, do I love cannoli cream.  At one point in my life, I insisted that I would have a cannoli cream wedding cake.....I did not end up with that, but it was a representation of how much I love cannoli! Nor, do I share cannoli with anyone...If you want one, get your own!

Artuso's Bakery was right down the block from me growing up and we knew the family who worked there.  I have never, in all my travels had a cannoli that was better than this place does them.  I thought I would give it a whirl, knowing that I would come up short.  If you want to follow them on facebook, here you go! http://www.facebook.com/Anna.Artuso.Pastry.Shop

So I found a recipe that sounded somewhat interesting from Bella Online...I liked the almonds and chocolate chips....
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art39125.asp

And I looked everywhere for cannoli shells.  I don't have a deep fryer so I thought it would just be easier to buy them.  I have seen them before in Costco but no dice.  So, today I was downtown and went to DiBruno Brothers in Center City and bought six cannoli shells.....

And here are the results!

Thanks to Kate for the flowers! And the last picture is Mike's Bad A>> Beans.  The recipe comes from Alex Keddie Sr. and I love them....I haven't tried the cannoli yet but I tried the filling and I am pretty sure they are going to be awesome....Unfortunately, only sharing with Mike, not the office - see first paragraph!

Week 10 - Red Velvet Cake...oh wait.But I did it!

So I have been trying for weeks to make a Red Velvet Cake for Mike. 

I have even skipped a week for those who are REALLY paying attention.  So I was ready yesterday for a comeback...this is it! Going to catch up and make two things!

Red Velvet Cake and Cannolis....Went to the supermarket, got everything I needed except cannoli shells.  So I drove over to Costco to see if they sold them (I know I have seen them there). Alas, a Costco seasonal item....so no Cannoli shells. Going to have to check a specialty food store downtown today at work....

I no sooner walked in the door that I recalled I forgot cream cheese to make the cream cheese frosting for the cake. So, Mike offered to go out to the store for me.  He asked "do you need anything else???" - NOPE all set. He returns, two packages of cream cheese in tow!

Well - I start to make my cake and realize, NO unsalted butter. I Always have a stash of both regular and unsalted butter.

At this point, I realize that the universe is telling me not to make the cake and instead I decide to make cupcakes from a box with store-bought icing. I realize that is "outside the scope" of this project...but just didn't work out yesterday!

Here they are - I did put green sprinkles for St. Patty's Day.

Going to try to make the Red Velvet this week!

Okay - I got myself together on Thursday night and made the red velvet cake! It was pretty actually. I wasn't sure if it was red enough....But people seemed to enjoy it! I only tasted the batter, not the cake once it was done.

I was worried that the icing was too gloppy.  As a result of my cream cheese distaste, I wasn't sure that I spent enough time beating the icing to get it to the right consistency.  But I kept asking everyone who ate it if it was ok, and I got positive feedback...So either everyone was being nice, in the hopes of continuing to get good eats or it really was ok!

Mike was happy with the outcome and my co-workers got two desserts this week!

This was a Southern Red Velvet Cake...not sure what that means but it was tasty!

Here is the recipe from the Food Network: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sara-moulton/southern-red-velvet-cake-recipe/index.html

See what I mean about gloppy below!!!

Trying to catch up this weekend.....