Dessert
Turtle Cheesecake
Oct 23rd
Ladies and gentlemen, this is my famous Turtle Cheesecake. What makes it so famous, you ask? Not much really, but it’s absolutely delicious. The only negative comment I get when I serve it is that it’s too rich. It’s a standard cheesecake with a solo chocolate layer that is topped with chocolate ganache, caramel, and pecans. The cheesecake recipe I refined myself, by doing tons of research on cream cheese based cakes and through trial and error. I almost don’t want to share the recipe, but there is a lot of finesse and familiarity on my part to get it to come out just perfect. Keep on reading past the break for more information on this delicious Turtle Cheesecake.
Tiramisu
Mar 1st
The Daring Bakers Challenge for the month of February, as hosted by The Daring Kitchen, was Tiramisu. It’s one of my favorite desserts to order after a hearty Italian meal. It comes in a close second to Chocolate Mousse Cake. This was a fairly complex recipe, so now I understand the big price tags that restaurants put on Tiramisu. It will take at least two days and your whole collection of mixing bowls to put this recipe together, but the mouthwatering end result is well worth the effort.
Faux Samoas
Feb 18th
Fact: Girl Scout Cookies are amazing. Everybody has their favorite flavor. Thin Mints are the overwhelming favorite across the globe, my personal favorite as well, and have withstood the test of time. Katrina’s favorite happens to be Samoas, also known as Caramel deLites. However, she recently purchased a box of Thin Mints from a coworker’s daughter, leaving her very sad and unsatisfied. It’s very difficult to find Girl Scouts in the wintertime in Chicago, and we don’t know many daughters, so it was only fair to make our own Faux Samoas at home!
Pumpkin Cheesecake
Jan 3rd
I had intended on making a pumpkin cheesecake for Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, due to the pumpkin shortage, I was unable to find a can of pumpkin puree to use. Shortly after Thanksgiving, the shelves were overflowing with pumpkin puree and I snagged a can to use for this homemade Pumpkin Cheesecake.
French Silk Chocolate Pie
Dec 26th
For our Christmas dinner this year, Katrina and I decided to make a French Silk Pie for dessert. I’ve never heard of French Silk Pie before so she had to explain it to me. Essentially, it’s a chocolate mousse cake… inside of a pie!
Chocolate Ginger Cupcakes
Dec 14th
The first thing I had ever baked with Katrina were Raspberry Coconut Cupcakes topped with cream cheese frosting, toasted coconut, and raspberries. It was one of the first weekends we had spent together in Chicago and was a memorable experience for me. Katrina is typically the baking queen in this household, but this weekend I pulled out her favorite cupcake book and made one that she has never had before. My baking performance was respectable, and the Chocolate Ginger Cupcakes with Dark Chocolate Mousse were lip smacking delicious.
Raspberry Chocolate Gateau
Dec 9th
Katrina enjoys sending me recipes while we’re at work so we can get an idea of what we’re going to eat that week, and plan our grocery shopping accordingly. One such recipe was a flour-less chocolate cake. The idea of not using flour in a chocolate cake intrigued us, and we scoured the web in search of the best proportions to use. Katrina put her French skills to great use, and we developed this Chocolate Gateau layered with a raspberry sauce, and encased with chocolate ganache and Ferrero Rocher chocolates. It’s a wonderful dessert and would be the perfect base for a birthday cake.
/comments