Gotta love it when experiments in the kitchen turn out great. I’ve always wanted to do some sort of ice cream cake. With the chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream recipes featured in this month’s Daring Bakers challenge, I came up with this idea. From top to bottom:
Flourless chocolate cake moistened with Kirschwasser (German “cherry [...]
View Chocolate Cherry Vanilla Ice Cream Cake Recipe »
Flavors don’t have to be big and bold all the time. Subtlety has its merits but when using rose essence, a light hand is very necessary. It can easily turn the simplest desserts into a mouthful of potpourri — you don’t want to end up with food more appropriate in the bathroom than on a [...]
View Chocolate Rose Water Tart Recipe »
This contemporary version of Bûche de Noël is the perfect opportunity to make something extra festive for Christmas. Instead of a roulade and buttercream icing in the traditional French yule log, this modern take is composed of a silky mousse layered with crème brûlée and crispy chocolate praline.
I decided to set the entire mousse cake [...]
Pierre Hermé’s hot chocolate recipe calls for milk sweetened with cinnamon-infused caramel. A mug of spiced hot chocolate in the dead of winter sounds tough to resist, doesn’t it? I usually skip drinks unless there’s caffeine or booze involved, but this definitely counts as an exception.
Which is not to say that this hot chocolate drink [...]
It wasn’t easy growing up the youngest of five siblings. My three older man-brothers took it upon themselves to toughen up my prepubescent self when I got too good at Donkey Kong and Super Mario Bros. Sore thumbs abruptly turned into sore everything when boxing gloves and elbows in the solar plexus during intense games [...]
View Lenguas de Gato Recipe - "Cat's Tongue" Cookies »
These cookies were originally dubbed “Chocolate Indulgence” before I decided to call it something less cryptic. Whatever you choose to call it, it’s sure to satisfy the worst cravings for chocolate.
The cookies somehow combine the best qualities of brownies and french macarons into one. The center remains soft, moist, and chewy like brownies but the [...]
This cake reminds me of Iron Chef: Battle Apple and Chocolate. I kept thinking that apples and chocolate can’t possibly pair well because I couldn’t think of any recipes that highlight both ingredients. Think of apple desserts and caramel likely comes to mind. As far as chocolate desserts go, even if many fruits taste great [...]
View Apple Hazelnut Chocolate Cake - Valrhona Recipe
Sachertorte is the cake for chocolate lovers — a layered chocolate cake filled with apricot jam is coated in chocolate ganache and finished with a chocolate glaze. In this recipe, you can easily tweak the chocolate bittersweetness by using the cacao percentages of your choice in the cake, ganache, and glaze.
Unfortunately, I can’t say how [...]
Chocolate pot de crème is my dessert of choice for intimate gatherings because it is easily scalable and can be made a day in advance. A silky custard baked in single-serving portions, pots de crème can be topped with fresh fruits, whipped cream, or chocolate shavings to make a dainty-looking but unfussy dessert.
You may already [...]
I grinned like an idiot as I lifted the dark brown loaves from the charred baking stone with bare hands. The soft crust smiled back with its wide open slashes, a sight that every bread maker hopes for upon opening the oven door. It didn’t matter that my calloused fingertips started to burn or that [...]
View Pane al Cioccolato - Italian Chocolate Bread recipe »
Making pâte à choux has always been intimidating but now that I’ve tried it once, I can’t wait to use it again. Gazing at the colorful options behind glass display cases in local pastry shops, I’m thinking, “I can’t make any of this.” Now I can proudly cross out éclairs, cream puffs, profiteroles, and Paris-Brest [...]
View Pierre Hermé's Chocolate Éclairs recipe »
