[Jamestown1630]

This week: Fancy Desserts.

(If you would like to be on or off of this weekly cooking thread, please send a private message.)

-JT

[NormsRevenge]

Aren’t alligators in the endangered species list?

Oh wait . it was a cake.

Never mind.

IMmkillingoff 4day BBQ .. Somebody call 399 and ask mfor antacid.

[trisham]

Chocolate Truffle Loaf with Raspberry Sauce

**********************

I feel faint. :)

[outofsalt]

Oops, worked the second time...

[ken5050]

Allow me to do the linkees for ya:

One

Two

[Ditter]

MrD is the chef around this house, I am just the vegetable chopper and clean up crew. He made a fabulous Shrimp and Crawfish Bisque from a new recipe last weekend. YUMYUM,

Our gas is off after a tree fell on our garage a few weeks ago. Our son brought over an Induction Cooktop for us to use until the gas stove is back on. It works!!!

[NorthstarMom]

Pavlova is about as “fancy” as I get for desserts. My kids love it and I have to restrain myself from eating the whole thing! It’s so good.

With six kids I’ve done a few of the fun cakes. The biggest hits were Angry Bird cupcakes and a campfire cake. Both were pretty easy and turned out really cute. I’ve done the campfire cake a few times as different kids have wanted it, it’s a pretty cool looking cake. Pound cakes make the logs, doughnut holes are the embers and you cut up fruit roll ups to make the flames.

[Stand Watch Listen]

A divinely decadent cake

HEAVEN & HELL CAKE (W. PEANUT BUTTER GANACHE) Stephan Pyles

INGREDIENTS: ANGEL FOOD CAKE
2/3 cup cake flour
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup egg white (about seven or eight)
1 pinch salt
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

INGREDIENTS: DEVILS FOOD CAKE
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 cup strong coffee
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups cake flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda

INGREDIENTS: PEANUT BUTTER MOUSSE
12 ounces cream cheese
1 3/4 cups powdered sugar
2 cups peanut butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup heavy cream

INGREDIENTS: GANACHE (FROSTING)
2 lbs milk chocolate, chopped
2 cups cream

DIRECTIONS:ANGEL FOOD CAKE
1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Cut a circle of parchment paper or wax paper to fit the bottom of a 9" cake pan.
3. Do not grease the pan or paper.
4. Sift together the flour and powdered sugar and set aside.
5 Place the egg whites in the bowl of a heavy duty mixer.
6 Beat slowly while adding the salt and cream of tartar and continue beating for 1 minute or until soft peaks form.
7 Increase speed to medium, add sugar into whites by tablespoons until all is incorporated, then beat about 1-1/2 minutes longer.
8 When egg whites have stiff peaks, add vanilla and almond extract.
9 Remove bowl from mixer and sprinkle half of the powdered sugar-flour mixture and fold in again, using a minimum number of strokes so the egg whites do not deflate.
10 Gently spoon the mixture into the pan and bake for 40-50 minutes or until golden brown.
11 Do not over bake or the cake will sink in the center.

DIRECTIONS: DEVIL’S FOOD CAKE
1 Preheat oven to 350°F.
2 Oil and flour a round 9-inch cake pan.
3 Sift the cocoa powder into the mixing bowl, then drizzle in the coffee while whisking to make a smooth paste. Set aside.
4 (Might be more liquid than paste) Combine shortening, sugar, vanilla, and eggs and beat for 2 minutes on medium speed.
5 In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
6 add the cocoa-coffee mixture and the flour mixture to the sugar-egg mixture and continue beating until incorporated.
7 Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes. Test for doneness.

DIRECTIONS; PEANUT BUTTER MOUSSE
1 In the bowl of an electric mixer, whip the cream cheese until light and creamy.
2 Gradually beat in the powdered sugar, then the peanut butter.
3 If mixture looks lumpy, add 2 tablespoons of heavy cream.
4 Continue beating until thoroughly incorporated and fluffy.
5 Transfer mixture to another bowl and set aside.
6 Place heavy cream in the electric mixer bowl and whip until stiff.
7 Carefully, but thoroughly, combine both mixtures; set aside

DIRECTION: ASSEMBLY
1 Using a serrated-blade knife, slice each cake horizontally into 2 layers. Place 1 layer of the devil’s food cake on a cake stand and spread 1/3 of the peanut butter mousse over the top. Top mousse with a layer of the angel food cake and spread with half of the remaining mousse. Repeat with the remaining devil’s food cake, mousse, and angel food cake. Wrap cake in plastic wrap and freeze for 2 hours.

DIRECTIONS: CHOCOLATE GANACHE
1 Place chocolate pieces in a large bowl. Heat heavy cream on medium high until it comes to a boil. (heat it in the microwave, if necessary, at 10 second intervals Remove from heat and immediately pour cream over chocolate and stir until completely mixed and glossy. Allow ganache to cool before pouring over cakes as a glaze. The longer you allow the ganache to cool, the thicker it will set. Typically I stick mine in the refrigerator so it is slightly cold before whipping. For piping or frosting, allow the ganache to completely cool and set up. When you are able to spoon the ganache and it can hold its texture, it is ready for piping.. Refrigerate the cake for 2 hours before slicing.

[Stand Watch Listen]

CARAMEL APPLE PIE

INGREDIENTS:
• 1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie (glass pie pan to avoid spillage)
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup water (less 1 tsp because of added vanilla)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp nutmeg
• pinch cloves
• 1/4 cup water (less 1 tsp because of added vanillla)
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup packed LIGHT brown sugar
• 5 Granny Smith, 3 Honeycrisp (medium sized) apples - peeled, cored and all thinly sliced

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F’. Place the bottom crust in your pan. Use eggs whites to coat bottom...bake for 5-8 minutes (to prevent soggy crust). .
2. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add water, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, white sugar and brown sugar, and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer. Use 2/3 of caramel syrup to coat apples. mounded slightly. Cover with prepared strips for lattice work crust. Use remaining 1/3 syrup to brush on lattice crust.
3. Place middle of oven…Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F’. Continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes, until apples are soft When pie is almost done lightly sprinkle lattice with sugar
Hints/Options:
• keep syrup warm otherwise will thicken up too much Work quick and/or have someone stir syrup
• Alternative: Substitute 1 cup of apples with one cup of reconstituted ‘Craisins’
• When baking, make sure to cover the edge of the crust with aluminum foil so that it doesn't burn (it tends to with this recipe for some reason).

[Aliska]

Hello Kitty cupcakes for me :-)

In the "queue" is a burnt sugar cake which really isn't elegant, or would you rather have a flan cake with very firm flan that doesn't have cream cheese to stiffen it up but 8 egg yolks?

The winners when I ever get to it would be these Pavlovas (and I have plenty of egg whites). My mother used to make the lemon angel one for her club and sometimes special occasions, and I learned it from her. But now the chocolate one looks delish like Silk Pie filling.

I have not cooked for guests for years, and I miss it. The best I've managed was cooking the usually pumpkin pies for family gatherings (mine are to die for if I do say so myself and my mom got the recipe from an older BH&G cookbook which I very slightly adjusted) :-). I am relearning how to make pie crust the old way and roll to perfection. I'm aiming for an all Crisco crust that rolls nice and large and doesn't crack, am getting there. They changed the Crisco formula so it doesn't taste as good as it used to imo (transfats and flavor taken out).

Oooooh, I missed this one: Raspberry Curd Pavlova:

WSJ - Raspberry Curd Pavlova

I had to go in the back door by googling because was blocked by subscription. I have these all saved in my recipe folder.

WSJ - Lemon Angel Pie and Others

Also Meringue Shell with Mixed Tropical Sorbets
Chocolate Merinque Angel Pie with gorgeous curlz lol
Mixed Berry Pavlova
Classic Meringue Shell
Pavlova Shell

Recipes and pictures for all at links. The Angel Pie I sometimes take a shortcut and use Jello Lemon Cooked Pudding and Pie Filling and fold real whipped cream into that or could use Cool Whip (I have discovered the Extra Creamy which is nice).

Now to see what others have been up to while I labored over my post!

[CARDINALRULES]

Here is my favorite pound cake recipe. It is a dense cake the way I like pound cake to be. And it isn’t too sweet.

http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/winning-cream-cheese-pound-cake

I like to slice, spread butter on it and then put on the griddle. Can make a glaze for it. Made it for Father’s Day and had with strawberries and whipped cream. Can vary the extracts. I like pure Almond.

It also freezes fairly good.

[Grammy]

Oooo...... fancy desserts is right up my alley! I am a cake decorator, mostly wedding cakes, the kind you see done on all the fancy cake shows. I love spending days making gum paste flowers and decorations that look almost real. You always know who my friends are...... they are the ones who go up to the cake and touch the flowers to see if they are real or mine.

But, fancy doesn’t have to be complicated. One of my favorite easy peasy desserts is the Nabisco Famous Chocolate wafer cake.

Take the wafers, and slather some freshly whipped, sweetened (and vanilla) cream on them. Stack them on their sides so you have a tube running down your serving plate. Cover the outside with more cream and stick in the fridge overnight. When serving cut on a 45 degree angle, and you will see vertical white and chocolate stripes.

The cookies absorb the moisture from the cream, which firms the cream and softens the cookies. My mom always took a few leaves from the inside of celery and several maraschino cherries to decorate the top. It takes maybe 15 minutes to make, and even though it is an old old recipe people love it.

[Stand Watch Listen]

Chocolate Cavity Maker Cake

INGREDIENTS:
1 (18.25 ounce) package dark chocolate cake mix
1 (3.9 ounce) package instant choc pudding mix
1 (16 ounce) container sour cream
3 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup coffee flavored liqueur

(OR….substituted with 1 3/4 TBSP raspberry flavoring with water to make the 1/2 cup) .
(OR... ½ cup very strong coffee)
(OR... Bailey's Irish Cream)

2 cups semisweet MINI chocolate chips

(OR... MINI choc mint chips)
(OR... chopped Andies mints)
OR... ...SAMPLE COMBOS:

Fudge cake/choc pudding/choc mint chips.
Carmel cake/butterscotch pudding/butterscotch chips.
Cherry cake mix/vanilla pudding/cherry chips.
Fudge cake/choc pudding/peanut butter chips (awesome!).

DIRECTIONS 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 10 inch Bundt pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine cake mix, pudding mix, sour cream, eggs, oil and coffee liqueur. Beat until ingredients are well blended. Fold in MINI chocolate chips. Batter will be thick. Spoon into prepared pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour, or until cake springs back when lightly tapped. Cool 10 minutes in pan, then turn out and cool completely on wire rack.

A. ===== SATINY CHOC GLAZE
INGREDIENTS:
• 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
DIRECTIONS
1. In a double boiler over hot, but not boiling water, combine chocolate chips, butter, and corn syrup. Stir until chips are melted and mixture is smooth, then add vanilla.
2. Spread warm glaze over top of cake, letting it drizzle down the sides

OR...

B. ===== PEANUT BUTTER GLAZE
INGREDIENTS
• 4 teaspoons water
• 2/3 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon creamy peanut butter
DIRECTIONS
Stir together the water, sugar, and peanut butter until smooth. (Change the consistency of thickness depending on how much water you add.)

Please note...most recipes I've posted throughout the years set forth Hints /Options /OR.. as I appreciate many flavors, many options, many possibilities...enjoy

[Stand Watch Listen]

COCONUT BARS
consist of a small square (cube) of white cake (sponge, butter, or pound) that is dipped in a sweet chocolate icing (frosting) and then rolled in desiccated (unsweetened) coconut.

Start with a yellow/chocolate swirl/chocolate cake (home made or store bought) that has been cut into two inch (5 cm) squares. The squares of cake are chilled (to make it easier to frost) and then each square of cake is covered in a soft chocolate icing. Although most coconut bar recipes advise you to 'dip' each square of cake into the frosting, I prefer to 'pour', as this prevents crumbs from getting into the bowl of icing. Once the cake is covered in the frosting, then each square of cake is rolled in unsweetened desiccated (dried) coconut. The coconut bar are then placed on a wire rack to dry and can be stored in an airtight container for several days.

INGREDIENTS:

Cake
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temp
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
2 lar1/2 cup milkge eggs
Frosting
4 cups (1 lb.) confectioners' (powdered or icing) sugar, sifted
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup milk
Coating
2 cups unsweetened desiccated coconut, finely ground

DIRECTIONS:
---Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and place oven rack to middle position. Butter, or spray with a nonstick cooking spray, the bottom and sides of an 8 inch square cake pan.

---In a large bowl sift or whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

---In bowl of electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter until soft. Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes). Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and milk, in three additions, beginning and ending with flour.

---Spread the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with an offset spatula. Bake in preheated oven for about 25 - 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

---Cool the cake in its pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Then place a wire rack on top of the cake pan and invert, lifting off the pan. Re-invert. Once the cake has completely cooled cut into 16 two-inch (5 cm) squares. Wrap the cake in plastic wrap and refrigerate (to make them easier to frost) for several hours or even overnight.

Chocolate Frosting: Place the confectioners' sugar, cocoa powder, butter and milk in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Stir the mixture until it becomes smooth and of pouring consistency.

To assemble Coconut Bars: Make a production line; put the 16 squares of cakes on a wire rack that is placed over a baking sheet (to catch the drips). Have ready the coconut on a large plate and the chocolate frosting. Spoon or ladle the chocolate frosting over each square of cake, making sure you cover all sides. (It is best to do a few squares at a time.) With a small offset spatula or knife transfer the chocolate covered cake to the plate of coconut and roll the cake in the coconut, covering all sides. Gently transfer the Coconut Bars to a clean wire rack to set. Repeat with the rest of the cake squares. Once the Coconut Bars have set, store in an airtight container for several days.

Note: When you ladle the frosting over the cake, some of the frosting will drip onto the baking pan. Pour this frosting back in your bowl and reuse (strain if necessary). If the icing becomes too thick to pour, simply place the frosting back over the saucepan of simmering water and reheat until it is of pouring consistency. (You may have to do this a few times as the frosting has a tendency to thicken over time. Add a little more milk to frosting if necessary to get pouring consistency.) Makes 16 2-inch (5 cm) squares.

[pugmama]

I am asked to bring this to any event:

Pecan Pie Cheesecake

1 store bought 1 lb pecan pie ( I used Trader Joe’s pie)
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
3 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese, softened
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sour cream
1/2 cup half and half (I used whipping cream)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup powdered sugar
2 T. flour
20 pecan halves

Preheat oven to 325F.
Cut pecan pie into 10 pieces. I just used the insides of the pie-left off crust and top hang of the crust.
Stir together graham cracker crumbs and next 3 ingredients; press mixture onto
bottom and 11/2 inches up sides of a 10 inch spring form pan.
Arrange 10 pecan pie wedges in a spoke design in prepared pan, placing 1 cut side of each wedge
on graham crust with narrow end towards center of pan.
Beat cream cheese until smooth; add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition.
Add sour cream, half-and-half, and vanilla; beat until blended. Fold in powdered sugar
and flour. Carefully pour cream cheese mixture evenly around and over pecan pie wedges in pan, making sure wedges remain in place. Arrange pecan halves evenly around edge and center.
Bake at 325F for 50 minutes. Turn off oven, and let cheesecake stand in oven 1 hour.
Remove to a wire rack, and let cool completely. Chill at least 8 hours or
overnight before serving.

I bought candied pecans from Trader Joes and added them on the top of the cheesecake after it was baked.
I also got some store bought caramel sauce, heated it and put in a plastic squeeze top container. I did a design on the top of the cake with this warm sauce and anchored the pecans with this sauce.

[Silentgypsy]

Oh, yum!

[Stand Watch Listen]

FIVE MINUTE HAWAIIAN PIE

INGREDIENTS:
-- 1 (20 oz) can crushed pineapple “UNDRAINED”
-- 2 boxes instant Jello coconut pudding mix (these do not come in small boxes). You can sub 1 large 6 serving size vanilla if you don’t like coconut flavor
-- 8 oz sour c ream
-- 1 Extra sized graham cracker crust (I like to make my own 10” pie or 9” deep dish
-- 1 (8 oz) can pineapple rings ‘DRAINED”
-- 8 maraschino cherries (or more if you prefer)
-- ½ cup sweetened flaked coconut
-- 1 (8 oz) container of Cool Whip, divided

DIRECTIONS:
1. In a large bowl, combine crushed pineapple ‘with’ its syrup, dry pudding mix and sour cream, mix until well combined
2. Fold in ½ of the container of Cool Whip
3. Put mixture unto pie crust
4. Top with remaining ½ of Cool Whip
5. Arrange drained pineapple rings on top of pie
6. Sprinkle flaked coconut on top of pineapple
7. Place cherries in center of pineapple rings.
8. Refrigerate several hours before serving
…Options…can lightly toasted coconut flakes

PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY PIE

INGREDIENTS:
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/3 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1 prepared 9-inch chocolate-flavored pie crust
• 1/2 cup strawberry preserves
• 2 cups frozen whipped topping, thawed (an 8-ounce container is 3-1/2 cups)

DIRECTIONS:
1. In a large bowl, combine cream cheese and peanut butter, mixing until well blended. Add sugar and milk; mix well.
2. Spoon cream cheese mixture into pie crust; chill.
3. Spread with preserves; top with whipped topping.