Cooking
Today was my in-law's 42nd wedding anniversary. To celebrate, I decided to make them something spectacular (as Matt said when arrived at their house "if you didn't know I was bringing something like this, you haven't been paying attention").
After some searching, I decided on a sixteen-layer chocolate cake.
I will never be comfortable with this sort of recipe...the genoise had me extremely tense. So much so, that after my dissatisfaction with one layer, I declared the cake would now be an 8-layer, and not sixteen...
With that out of the way, and accepting that my cake would never look like Chef Puck's, I made the mousse and ganache.
For a little extra 'oomph', I decorated with chocolate-covered coffee beans.
While it didn't look perfect, it was a success. My MIL said it's her favorite, of everything I've ever made!
So, even though I'll never go pro, I can still make people happy. And after all, isn't that what it's all about?
- Princess Cake
Lee's favorite cake is a Swedish Princess cake. I get him one every year on his birthday. It's layers of fluffy genoise, smooth custard and raspberry jam all topped with whipped cream and then completely covered with a thin layer of marzipan....
- You Could Eat The Whole Box
A few weeks ago, a friend & I decided to make this cake. We were going to go fondant-coated hand to fondant-coated hand, see who made the better cake. This was probably a bad idea, on my part. She's a caker, and I often refer to her as 'The...
- Post-oscar Decadence
Of all the nominations, I've only seen...two?...of the films. Ratatouille and Michael Clayton. Which is probably a higher number than past years. We decided to have a sort of 'decadence' dinner. Nothing too fancy, just foods we really enjoy....
- No Rest For The Wicked
And Matt and I are, apparently, very wicked. We had friends over for dinner...scheduled for Saturday night, rescheduled for Sunday. Seven of us (including Alex), and lots and lots of food. Matt and I spent most of Friday night, a small chunk of Saturday...
- Total Decadence
It was my mother-in-law's birthday this past weekend. She's very good about eating healthy, but she's never said 'no' to something from my oven. Matt drummed it into my head fairly early on that his mom loves chocolate. So, what better...
Cooking
I'll Never Be a Pastry Chef
Today was my in-law's 42nd wedding anniversary. To celebrate, I decided to make them something spectacular (as Matt said when arrived at their house "if you didn't know I was bringing something like this, you haven't been paying attention").
After some searching, I decided on a sixteen-layer chocolate cake.
I will never be comfortable with this sort of recipe...the genoise had me extremely tense. So much so, that after my dissatisfaction with one layer, I declared the cake would now be an 8-layer, and not sixteen...
With that out of the way, and accepting that my cake would never look like Chef Puck's, I made the mousse and ganache.
For a little extra 'oomph', I decorated with chocolate-covered coffee beans.
While it didn't look perfect, it was a success. My MIL said it's her favorite, of everything I've ever made!
So, even though I'll never go pro, I can still make people happy. And after all, isn't that what it's all about?
- Princess Cake
Lee's favorite cake is a Swedish Princess cake. I get him one every year on his birthday. It's layers of fluffy genoise, smooth custard and raspberry jam all topped with whipped cream and then completely covered with a thin layer of marzipan....
- You Could Eat The Whole Box
A few weeks ago, a friend & I decided to make this cake. We were going to go fondant-coated hand to fondant-coated hand, see who made the better cake. This was probably a bad idea, on my part. She's a caker, and I often refer to her as 'The...
- Post-oscar Decadence
Of all the nominations, I've only seen...two?...of the films. Ratatouille and Michael Clayton. Which is probably a higher number than past years. We decided to have a sort of 'decadence' dinner. Nothing too fancy, just foods we really enjoy....
- No Rest For The Wicked
And Matt and I are, apparently, very wicked. We had friends over for dinner...scheduled for Saturday night, rescheduled for Sunday. Seven of us (including Alex), and lots and lots of food. Matt and I spent most of Friday night, a small chunk of Saturday...
- Total Decadence
It was my mother-in-law's birthday this past weekend. She's very good about eating healthy, but she's never said 'no' to something from my oven. Matt drummed it into my head fairly early on that his mom loves chocolate. So, what better...