Chocolate Mousse with Raspberry Whipped Cream

 As an opera singer, I receive endless feedback from other musicians. As my coach said to me recently, "Being a singer is like constantly wearing a sign that says, 'Criticize Me!'" It's very easy to get wrapped up in desperate thoughts: They don't like my voice! But my voice is a part of me - that means they don't like who I am! I should just give up and go to medical school instead!
While it's important to simply ignore all this every now and then, it's also essential to recognize that everybody listens for different traits in a voice. One musician may be looking for a high, light soprano, while another may want a dark, dramatic mezzo; and this doesn't make either person wrong. 

 I'm quickly learning that no matter how intently I listen to recordings or how often I practice, there's simply no way to make everyone happy.
 With dessert, however, it's another story. Chocolate mousse is about as crowd-pleasing as you can get; it's rich, creamy, and chocolatey enough to satisfy that craving you've been having all week. Whipped cream is the perfect partner in crime; add in a swirl of puréed raspberries, and you've got a Valentine's Day dessert anyone will fall in love with.
Enjoy!

 Chocolate Mousse

(from David Lebovitz)

  

6 ounces (170g) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped

6 ounces (170g) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1/4 cup (60ml) dark-brewed coffee

4 large eggs, separated

2/3 cup (170g), plus 1 tablespoon sugar

2 tablespoons (30ml) dark rum

1 tablespoon (15ml) water

pinch of salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Heat a saucepan one-third full with hot water, and in a bowl set on top, melt together the chocolate, butter and coffee, stirring over the barely simmering water, until smooth. Remove from heat.
Fill a large bowl with ice water and set aside.
In a bowl large enough to nest securely on the saucepan of simmering water, whisk the yolks of the eggs with the 2/3 cup of sugar, rum, and water for about 3 minutes until the mixture is thick, like runny mayonnaise. (You can also use a handheld electric mixer.) This took me closer to 10 minutes.
Remove from heat and place the bowl of whipped egg yolks within the bowl of ice water and beat until cool and thick. Then fold the chocolate mixture into the egg yolks.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites with the salt until frothy. Continue to beat until they start to hold their shape. Whip in the tablespoon of sugar and continue to beat until thick and shiny, but not completely stiff, then the vanilla.
Fold one-third of the beaten egg whites into the chocolate mixture, then fold in the remainder of the whites just until incorporated, but don’t overdo it or the mousse will lose volume.
Transfer the mousse to a serving bowl or divide into serving dishes, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, until firm.

 Raspberry Whipped Cream

(from Martha Stewart)

1/2 pint (about 1 cup) fresh raspberries, plus more for garnish 

1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar, plus more to sweeten  

1 cup heavy cream 

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Place raspberries in the bowl of a food processor; process until smooth. Pass through a fine strainer; discard seeds. Sweeten with sugar, if desired.
Combine cream, 1 tablespoon sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl; whisk together until soft peaks form. Gently fold in raspberry puree to form swirls.

Top servings of mousse with dollops of whipped cream; garnish as desired.

French Apple Custard Cake

 Describing anything with the word "French" adds a certain connotation to the phrase. This varies depending on the situation; French fashion is considered chic, French music is much admired (deservedly so), and let's not forget the beauty of France itself. When it comes to food, French cuisine is often thought of as not only delicious, but also fancy and super complicated to prepare. French pastry chefs have the reputation of being... exacting, to put it mildly.

 This French apple cake goes against everything you probably think of at the mention of French desserts. You won't spend hours folding egg whites or piping frosting, and this doesn't involve an ingredient list as long as the history textbook sitting on your desk (or maybe that's just me...)
  This batter is whipped up in a matter of minutes, and the most work you'll have is the quick chopping of some apples. The thin batter and abundance of fruit create a super moist cake that is almost custard-like, making this perfectly acceptable either as an afternoon snack or as an impressing dessert. If you're going with the latter, I like to add a drizzle of salted caramel sauce and a scoop of this earl grey ice cream. Because let's be honest, doesn't that make everything better?
  Enjoy!

French Apple Custard Cake

(from Around My French Table)

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

Pinch of salt

4 large apples (if you can, choose 4 different kinds)

2 large eggs

3/4 cup sugar

3 tablespoons dark rum

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Generously butter an 8-inch springform pan and put it on a baking sheet lined with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper and put the springform on it.
Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in small bowl.
Peel the apples, cut them in half and remove the cores. Cut the apples into 1- to 2-inch chunks.
In a medium bowl, beat the eggs with a whisk until they’re foamy. Pour in the sugar and whisk for a minute or so to blend. Whisk in the rum and vanilla. Whisk in half the flour and when it is incorporated, add half the melted butter, followed by the rest of the flour and the remaining butter, mixing gently after each addition so that you have a smooth, rather thick batter. Switch to a rubber spatula and fold in the apples, turning the fruit so that it's coated with batter. Scrape the mixture into the pan and poke it around a little with the spatula so that it's evenish.
Slide the pan into the oven and bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until the top of the cake is golden brown and a knife inserted deep into the center comes out clean; the cake may pull away from the sides of the pan. Transfer to a cooling rack and let rest for 5 minutes.
Carefully run a blunt knife around the edges of the cake and remove the sides of the springform pan. (Open the springform slowly, and before it’s fully opened, make sure there aren't any apples stuck to it.) Allow the cake to cool until it is just slightly warm or at room temperature. If you want to remove the cake from the bottom of the springform pan, wait until the cake is almost cooled, then run a long spatula between the cake and the pan, cover the top of the cake with a piece of parchment or wax paper, and invert it onto a rack. Carefully remove the bottom of the pan and turn the cake over onto a serving dish.
Serve with caramel sauce, ice cream, whipped cream... or all on its own. Whatever floats your boat.

Flourless Corn Coconut Pudding-Cake

My mom and I came home a few days ago, tired from walking around the Brazilian malls (hard life, huh? You must hate me right now... Trust me, I wish this were my year-round life too!) to find my grandma in the kitchen. My grandma doesn't often cook or bake (although when she does, whatever she makes is always delicious), so I knew something special was going to come out of there.She said she was making a gluten-free cake for my mom. This "cake" takes just a couple of ingredients: sweetened condensed milk, eggs, dried coconut, coconut milk, and canned corn. That's it. No flour or thickener of any kind. You would expect something like this to fall apart, but somehow, maybe magically, it doesn't. Straight out of the oven, it's almost like a pudding. Once cooled, it's a very moist cake- I decided to all it a pudding cake. It's not overly sweet, the perfect afternoon snack with a cup of creamy coffee or tea. Although I still have no idea how these ingredients come together into a cake, I guess that's simply the kind of magic that comes out of a grandma's kitchen. I just hope it happens in my kitchen once I get home, too- this pudding-cake is so delicious, you can bet it's going to be in my house very often. Enjoy! <3Flourless Corn Pudding-Cake

3 eggs
1 14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1 14-oz. can corn kernels, drained
1 200-ml. bottle or can coconut milk (can be light)
100 grams dried coconut, preferably unsweetened

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a 6-cup bundt pan (or double the recipe for a regular-sized pan).
Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend to desired consistency- I like a few pieces of corn in there, but you can blend it until totally smooth if you like.
Pour into greased pan and bake for 40-50 minutes, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Eat warm or let cool for a firmer dessert.

Creamy Brazilian-Style Flan (Pudim de Leite Condensado)

My parents and I recently had dinner at a Cuban restaurant near our house. The food was great, but the dessert was what stuck in our minds. We ordered the Cuban-style flan, and it was the creamiest flan we had ever tasted. It was almost like eating a thick pastry cream, only so much better. After the first bite, my mom and I knew we had to recreate it.
We asked the waitress what was in it, and she mentioned evaporated milk. The flan was very much like the custard we eat all the time in Brazil, but creamier, so we decided to use a traditional Brazilian recipe but swap in evaporated milk for regular. Although it is not traditional, we also added in a little bit of vanilla, which you can't make out distinctly but adds to the overall flavor.

It ended up working out so well. The flan was delicious, very much like the one we had at the restaurant. It combined the creaminess of the Cuban flan with the burnt-sugar taste and slightly spongy texture of the Brazilian, and was just what we had hoped for.
We cooked ours in a special Brazilian flan pan, which is a flan mold over a saucepan of the same size, which has simmering water in it. The instructions I have included are for baking it, but if you have a pan that fits over one of your saucepans and has a lid, by all means, do use it.
Enjoy! <3

Creamy Brazilian-Style Flan (Pudim de Leite Condensado)

6 tablespoons granulated sugar
6 tablespoons water
2 14-oz cans sweetened condensed milk
2 14-oz cans evaporated milk
6 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 F.
In a very clean standard tube/bundt cake pan (one without a design or pattern), mix together the water and granulated sugar. Place the pan over a direct flame and stir the mixture until it darkens into a honey-colored caramel. Remove from heat and tilt the pan so that the caramel covers the sides as well as the bottom of the pan.
In a blender or food processor, combine the sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, eggs, and vanilla. Blend only until no streaks remain.
Pour the mixture into the caramel-lined tube pan. Place the tube pan into roasting pan with a dishcloth in the bottom (to prevent the pans from rattling against each other in the oven). Place the two pans into the oven and pour in about two inches of warm water.
Bake for about 40 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the custard comes out with only a few streaks and it still jiggles slightly when moved. Refrigerate for at least two hours before unmolding onto a plate. Refrigerate until serving.

Raspberry Clafoutis

Sometimes you can try a dessert at a nice restaurant, and think it's so great that you would probably never be able to make it at home. We have a restaurant nearby our house that made amazing raspberry clafoutis, and we all loved it. It was like a thin, soft cake with raspberries, but it had a bit of a custard texture as well. They renovated the restaurant a while ago and stopped making the clafoutis the way it was, so this week I decided I had to try to make it myself.

I went to Food and Wine for the recipe, figuring that they were probably a good a source as any. This is a super simple recipe and is quick for a last-minute dessert. I did adapt this to make it gluten-free, but I think the flour affected the texture and made it a bit too custardy. It was delicious anyway, but I recommend trying it the regular way if you can. I also used slightly less raspberries than listed below, because they were about to overflow in my pie dish! Enjoy! <3

Raspberry Clafoutis
(from Food and Wine)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
Salt
3 large eggs
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk
1 1/2 pints raspberries (3 cups)
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Preheat the oven to 350°. Butter a 9-inch gratin dish.
In a bowl, whisk the flour, sugar and a pinch of salt. Whisk in the eggs, butter and lemon zest until smooth. Add the milk and whisk until light and very smooth, about 3 minutes. Pour the batter into the gratin dish and top with the raspberries.
Bake for about 30 minutes, until the clafoutis is set and golden. Let cool slightly. Dust with confectioners' sugar, cut into wedges and serve.

A new sort of TWD

Okay, sorry, no pictures here - my camera isn't working right now. I've recently realized how much there still is for me to bake from "the book", and how since I really don't have all that much time, there's no way I can finish with the rest of the group, however much I would like to. So, I've decided. I'm not giving up on the book - I've done too much to do that. But I am going to just bake whatever I want from it, whenever I want, until I'm done. And I'll try to post on here more often :)
Recently, I've made three things from Baking from My Home to Yours. The first two were actually made the weeks that twd chose them, and they were both delicious. The first was the Cream Scones. These come together quickly and easily, and are best right out of the oven. I used a mixture of currants and raisins, and they were so good.



The second was the Chocolate Chunk Muffins. I had high expectations for these, and although they were great right out of the oven, I didn't find them all that good after they had cooled. They were fine, but for the amount of chocolate in them, you would expect them to taste more chocolate-y.
Earlier this week, I made a recipe that was chosen a while back: the Split-Level Pudding. These were actually really good, although I must have done something wrong with the ganache, because it was still pretty liquid when we ate it. Oh well, it was delicious either way! We served them with whipped cream and raspberries.
So, what's going to happen with this blog? I don't know, but I'm going to try my best to post more often (and with pictures!), especially with all of the Dorie recipes I bake. Strangely, it motivates me to bake more knowing that I can choose anything I want - there's no reminder that I still have to bake this week's TWD. So, maybe there will be more posts on here than I think.

Update: I was able to find a picture of the muffins! (Obviously....)

TWD Rewind: Creme Brulee

I am SO sorry. I've completely neglected this blog, which is not okay. I've been super busy with a show I was in and then the end of school, which was crazy. This summer I'm attempting to get ready for my switch to a new school, but I hope I have time to post some more. I really haven't done any TWD, so I'm trying to get started on that again. My mom recently discovered that she has Celiac disease, making it harder to bake often, since our family is small and having one less person to eat wheat doesn't help.
This recipe is one that I actually made a while ago. It was simple and I had lots of fun caramelizing the sugar! I loved it and will make it again for sure!

Daring Bakers: Traditional British Pudding

The April 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Esther of The Lilac Kitchen. She challenged everyone to make a traditional British pudding using, if possible, a very traditional British ingredient: suet.

Okay, so here's the deal. I'm vegetarian. That means I don't come near suet (although even before I was vegetarian, I had issues with the idea of using parts of an animal besides the meat). So I decided that I wanted to use shortening or butter instead. The recipe in the DB forum didn't look so interesting to me, but Esther posted a link to another recipe that looked really yummy. It was for a rhubarb steamed pudding (part of the challenge was to steam or boil the pudding). This challenge ended up being two firsts for me - the first time I made a steamed British pudding (and the first time I even heard of one!), and the first time I baked/cooked with rhubarb.



This pudding starts off with cooked rhubarb (cooked in sugar and ginger). Then it gets put in the pudding bowl (I decided to use four small ones instead - I should have used five, because they overflowed).




The rhubarb gets topped with a cake batter made of butter, sugar, vanilla, eggs, and self-rising flour. Then you steam the puddings. I used the slow cooker, but the water wouldn't simmer, so it took longer than it was supposed to.




You take them out when they spring back when touched. Mine were barely springing back, but it was late and I was getting impatient, so I took them out.
They tasted fine. The contrast of the sour rhubarb and sweet cake was good, but the cake itself tasted a bit too much like butter and eggs and wasn't cooked enough (although the cooking part was my fault). All in all, it was a fun experience, but I won't be making this recipe again. However, I might try other steamed pudding recipes. If you want to try it for yourself, the recipe I used is below. Enjoy!


Rhubarb Steamed Pudding

350g fresh rhubarb , cut into 4cm lengths
200g caster sugar
1 tsp ground ginger
125g unsalted butter
few drops natural vanilla extract
2 medium eggs , beaten
175g self-raising flour


Cook the rhubarb with 75g/2¾oz of the sugar and the ginger over a gentle heat for 2-3 mins until just starting to soften. Remove from heat.
Grease a 900ml pudding basin. Put butter and remaining sugar in a bowl and cream together. Stir in vanilla extract, then beat in eggs, a little at a time. Sift in flour and carefully fold into the mixture.
Spoon rhubarb into the bottom of the basin, then spoon the sponge mixture on top and level off surface.
Butter a piece of greaseproof paper slightly bigger than the top of the pudding basin. Make a pleat in the centre and secure over the top of basin. Repeat with a piece of foil, then secure the whole thing with string. Place in a pan half filled with simmering water. Cover and cook for 1½ hrs, checking regularly that the pan does not boil dry. Remove cover, invert the pudding onto a plate, then carefully lift off the pudding basin. Serve with crème fraîche or single cream.