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.....

Week 9 - Orange and Olive Oil Cake

Ok - so we have gone a full seven weeks without an accident.  Today we broke that streak! I decided to make my very last recipe out of the New York Times cookbook, as it is due back next week at the library! So, last week, I made a chocolate cake so I was feeling like something vanilla.  This orange and olive oil cake sounded so different and it was described as "mediterranean". 

The recipe was strange however, in that it asked for a 1/2 cup of baking powder and a 1/4 cup of baking soda.  At the supermarket today, I bought an extra box of baking soda just in case....

I remember thinking it was ALOT of baking soda....Well, I whipped up the recipe, inhaled the orange and olive oil smell and loved it! The batter tasted great, not too baking powder strong at all....

I put the springform in the oven and started washing dishes.  Within 10 minutes or so, I started to smell burning and found that the cake had literally overflowed.  Like one of those science experiments of a volcano, absolutely hilarious....Here was the outcome!

I started yelling, Mike came running and we both had quite a good laugh! After we put the dishes into soak, we headed for Google and found the results...
The cookbook has a typo...1/2 cup baking powder is supposed to be 1/2 TEASPOON...and 1/4 baking soda is to be 1/4 TEASPOON....

According to someone else's blog, she had emailed the author....! They had the EXACT same photo...well, Mike and I were hysterical....
http://madewithatwist.com/2010/02/08/orange-and-olive-oil-cake/

Tonight is Oscar night so I probably won't make the cake the right way until Tuesday....Stay tuned!

I did remake the cake!

Here are the correct photos!

Week 8 - Intense Chocolate Mousse Cake

So it was a birthday week again!!! My mom had a milestone birthday this weekend....So, her birthday wish was that we all go up to the Poconos to be together for her birthday weekend...

So I made my creation up there.  I picked another recipe from the New York Times Cookbook - this one by Nigella Lawson.  For a flourless intense chocolate mousse cake.  Someone else made it and typed out the recipe online - Here it is.  http://en.petitchef.com/recipes/chocolate-mousse-cake-fid-775835

I had to beat egg whites to make this one and use bittersweet chocolate. Of course I needed my mom's help to figure out when the egg whites were whipped enough....Thanks Mom! And it was delicious.  Very light but rich at the same time. And didn't need anything.  But i had ice cream with it anyway...And it was so good, we forgot to take a picture before cutting into it!

Next time - I won't forget the confectioner's sugar on top which would have helped to cut the intense chocolate.  But it was wonderful! And Happy Birthday Mom!!!

Week 7 - Strawberry Shortcake

Ok - The first week I baked for someone in particular! I had a special suggestion from Danielle, who basically keeps the Freight Rail group at AECOM together....And she is one of my favorite people at the office...and most importantly, the one who I complain to and who keeps me in line.....SO I owed her a great birthday treat! And to those who did not see the update on Monday....she wasn't in work yesterday so I had to wait until last night to bake! Here is Danielle - Happy Birthday girlie:

Danielle wanted Strawberry Shortcake.....so I made it for her.  Not a small biscuit type but instead a full cake....more shortcake the better, right!

It was a recipe from the New York times dessert cookbook which I grabbed at the library last week! Was good...It did not call for whipped cream but I thought that was ridiculous...so I made some.

The biscuit was from scratch....and then I made whipped cream and strawberries with sugar!

Here is the biscuit: You were supposed to knead the dough and put two layers into one pan, and then separate them!

I brought it all in separate containers and put it all together at work - Danielle helped! She did the decorative strawberry design on the top of the cake.....

This was super easy....And I  loved it! it was so cute - a great dessert for four people.  A summer dinner party.  The biscuit piece is fun and easy.  It was butter and cream cheese, flour, sugar, egg, and milk!  a cinch....

Try it.  Promise you will like it.  The recipe is here...I just whipped my own heavy cream with confectioner's sugar and some vanilla....
http://homecooking.about.com/od/cakerecipes/r/bldes63.htm

This is a big birthday month. - Mom is next week...Let the research begin! i'm thinking raspberry....

Week 6 - Burnt Almond Torte

First of all, thanks to Melanie for insisting I make this - it was well worth the effort as it is awesome...But let me warn you - it takes a while. This is a Pittsburgh tradition. Prantl's bakery makes this cake and a portion of the recipe was in my "what Pittsburgh Eats" cookbook...

So I made the torte or cake from the recipe here http://www.food.com/recipe/copycat-of-prantls-burnt-almond-torte-389467
Then my cookbook said to make pastry cream and buttercream icing and toasted almonds.  All of which I made from scratch...now you see why this was involved...Lotsa bowls.

First, I made the cake from scratch - the recipe was good. I have never used buttermilk in a cake before but it smelled great in the oven. You only need to use half of the cake for the recipe so I have have an almond torte which I will probably bring in tomorrow with regular buttercream icing for the coworkers!

The pastry cream required that I temper eggs! i have never done that before either.  My cream was slightly lumpy but good nonetheless.  Here is a picture of half the torte with the pastry cream on it...

Then I had to make the buttercream icing and the almonds.  Butterceam icing is good and I am still wowed by the process of icing...silly but cool.

It was delicious! Truly - you can see why this is a tradition. The almonds are slightly salty and the cake is sweet....Definitely a crowd pleasing dessert.

Again - I am so skimpy on the icing...although it was better this time than last time...And to my co-workers, I didn't bring the cake in because Mike was upset about the Steelers loss so I thought I would leave him the torte for comfort today. We'll see what's left over!

And also - I made Steelers game day sausage which also was a wowzer...Had a big day of cooking yesterday.  And thanks to my mom and Tom who gave us a lava mortar and pestle for Christmas, the only way to make guacamole!

Next week...Strawberry shortcake!