mini chocolate cream tarts

Every year before Thanksgiving, my kids' school has a "Harvest Potluck" to celebrate, where parents sign up to bring food and desserts and have a nice luncheon with their kids. It's a really nice event and I love going every year! Last year, I signed up to make dessert, and decided that I wanted to make little mini chocolate cream tarts.

 

Upon searching for mini chocolate cream pie recipes, I ended up using this one at Flour Arrangements and thought they were so darn cute! I loved the scalloped shape of the mini pie crusts! They're made by rolling out what is essentially a chocolate sugar cookie dough, and then using a flower shaped cookie cutter to cut out the shapes, before fitting them into a cupcake tin to bake.

Two things that I learned while making these - a) the chocolate sugar cookie dough was much to wet for me to roll out, so I ended up adding more flour. But the end result was a not-so-tender crust, and lacked the chocolate flavor that I was craving, so next time I think I'll try using Thomas Keller's homemade oreo (TKO) cookie dough recipe. And, b) it's easiest to roll out the cookie dough while the dough is sandwiched between two sheets of parchment paper, otherwise you will need to add flour to the rolling pin and this will leave white splotches all over your beautiful dark brown cookie crusts!

After the cookie crusts were baked and cooled, I filled them with the chocolate cream (essentially a chocolate pudding). Again, I thought the chocolate cream lacked the chocolate "punch" that I was craving, so next time I'll go back to my dark chocolate pudding recipe instead.

After letting the chocolate pudding set in the fridge, I piped little dollops of freshly whipped cream on top, in a cute little pattern to resemble the inside of a flower.

And finally, I dusted each tart with a rich unsweetened cocoa powder.

I thought they turned out super cute!

Even though I thought these could have used a more chocolatey crust and filling, they were a hit at the potluck!

These little treats are perfect for any potluck, or even Thanksgiving dessert itself! Enjoy!

pink ruffle flower chocolate mousse layer cake for a baby shower

My best friend Sue is expecting a baby girl, so when we were planning her baby shower, I knew I wanted to make her some sort of pink girly cake! I thought maybe I'd make another piped rose cake, perhaps in ombre, but then I decided I wanted to make a ruffle flower cake instead!

I asked Sue if she wanted a chocolate cake filled with chocolate mousse, or a vanilla cake filled with fresh fruit and whipped cream, and she immediately chose the chocolate. Then she thought, well maybe her mom would like a lighter, less rich cake, but I told her "this baby shower is for YOU, and since you want a chocolate cake, that's what you're going to get!"

So I baked up two 8-inch chocolate cakes, and sliced them in half horizontally, giving me four layers. Then I whipped up a rich bittersweet chocolate mousse (no raw eggs of course), to fill between each cake layer.

For the frosting, I made a cream cheese buttercream and tinted it pink, and used an offset spatula to cover the sides and top of the cake.

For the ruffles, I used a Wilton #104 tip to pipe vertical ruffle "petals" all the way around the sides of the cake.

Then I used the same tip to pipe petals all over the top of the cake as well.

I actually ran out of frosting by the time I reached the center of the "flower", so I had to use a bit of strawberry cream cheese filling that I had leftover from the strawberry macarons I was making for her baby shower dessert table. (More to come on the dessert table!)

For the final touch, I carefully dropped a few white sugar pearls onto the middle of the cake, for the center of the "flower".

I loved the way the cake turned out! And I'm actually really glad that I ran out of frosting, because having the center petals piped with a paler pink gave it a nice touch!

Happy Baby Shower, Sue!

Stay tuned for the rest of the baby shower dessert table!

two triple chocolate mousse cakes with raspberries

I made these two triple chocolate mousse cakes two summers ago (where does the time go?!), but never had a chance to blog about them until now! The first one was an 8-inch version, which I made for a co-worker who was leaving the company (he went to work for Google - so jealous!).

And then second one was a smaller 6-inch version, which I made for a casual dinner/playdate with my good friend Cecila. Our kids get along so well, which works out great because then the adults can catch up while the kids play!

I've made this particular cake many, many times, and I always love it each time. I've decorated it simply with just a bit of whipped cream. Or I've made them into individual cakes like these, for a fun and elegant dessert. I've decorated the rim with fresh raspberries or halved strawberries like with this cake, which adds a nice colorful decoration as well as a nice tang of fruit to go with the rich chocolate cake. I've done a piped decoration on top, in this case a cute wreath mousse cake for Christmas. I've even made them in different shaped molds, such as this Hello Kitty triple chocolate mousse cake. So versatile! And the cake components themselves are pretty simple to make, you just need the time to be able to let each layer set before adding the next.

The cake starts with a rich chocolate cake for the bottom layer. The original recipe from America's Test Kitchen uses a flourless chocolate cake, but I prefer to use a regular chocolate cake recipe instead. Then the middle layer is a rich chocolate mousse, made with melted bittersweet chocolate and cocoa powder which is folded into freshly whipped cream. And finally, the top layer is a simple white chocolate mousse, with a bit of gelatin to help it set properly.

I don't know about you, but my mouth is watering just thinking about this cake again!

purple cat baby shower cake with petal sides

Back in December, my good friend Diana threw a baby shower for her sister Leona, and she had asked me to make the cake and cookie favors for the cat-themed event.  Diana and her husband, owners and creators of Bumble Ink, had designed the cat logo for the shower invitations, so we decided I would use the same cat logo for the cake!

The baby shower colors were to be purple and green, but after a few sketches Diana and I decided that the cake would look better with just purple and white.

Diana's sister had requested anything chocolate, so I decided to make a moist chocolate cake, filled with decadent chocolate mousse.  I split each cake layer in half horizontally, giving me four layers of cake, and three layers of mousse (with a cream cheese buttercream border so that the mousse wouldn't ooze out of the cake!).

Then I did a quick crumb coat with cream cheese buttercream, and let it set in the fridge before proceeding with the petal sides.

Once the crumb coat was set, I piped my petal sides, starting with the darkest purple on the bottom, the medium purple in the middle, and white on the top.  To see more of my petal cakes, see here, here, and here (you can also see the original tutorial over at Hungry Housewife).

After piping a congratulations message on the top, I piped the outline of the cat logo, and then filled it in with a Wilton star tip.

I finished it off with a Wilton tip #2 for the details on the cat's face, and then I was done!

At the baby shower, I loved that Diana's daughter spent some time just sitting and staring at the cake ...

... until finally she could finally have a bite!

Congratulations Leona!  We can't wait to meet your new little one!

hello kitty graduation cake

My little boy graduated from preschool last month!  I can't believe how fast time flies!  His school had a graduation ceremony for his class, so I decided to bake the class a graduation cake.  Since I didn't get to use my designs and sketches from the last graduation cake that I made, I decided to use it now, except in blue!  The cake would have Hello Kitty piped on the top, with a graduation cap on her head, and a piped petal frosting on the sides.

I started by making my favorite homemade chocolate cake recipe, baked in two 8-inch pans.  Once the cake layers were baked and cooled, I made my favorite chocolate mousse recipe from America's Test Kitchen.  (Once again, the same chocolate mousse recipe from all the triple chocolate mousse cakes that I've made in the past).

After I piped my chocolate mousse onto the first layer of cake, I used an offset spatula to smooth it out, and then placed my second layer of cake on top.  And then I was ready to frost!

I whipped up a quick batch of cream cheese buttercream, basically a basic buttercream with a stick of cream cheese added to it, colored it light blue, and then did a quick crumb coat of frosting over the entire cake.

Then came the petal piping on the sides.  I first saw this great technique at Hungry Housewife, and since then have used it to make a purple ombre petal cake, as well as a camoflauge petal cake, and I love the effect every time!

The first step is to pipe a vertical row of round circles, using a Wilton #12 tip.  Then using an offset spatula, drag it accross each circle to smear the circles into petals.  Then pipe the next vertical row of circles, drag with the offset spatula, and continue this process until the entire cake is covered.

Then I used black frosting to pipe a Hello Kitty outline on the top of the cake, as well as a black graduation cap on her head, and a yellow nose.

Next I filled in Hello Kitty's face using a star tip and white frosting, and I filled in her bow with royal blue icing.  And the final touch was a yellow tassle coming out of her graduation cap!

By the way, it's no coincidence that I used UCLA colors.  GO BRUINS!!!

I also piped a congratulations message for his class, but I misjudged the spacing and so I had to add a bunch of exclamation marks to even it out!

The teachers served the cake at snack time, right before the graduation ceremony, and even though Matthew usually doesn't like chocolate cake, he ate the whole slice!

Here's a picture of him walking out of the graduation ceremony.

Happy graduation, my Matthew!  I'm so proud of you and can't wait to see you flourish in Kindergarten!

purple ombre roses cake

My friend H introduced me to her friend S a few years ago, the day that the three of us stood in line at Macy's for hours to meet Sarah Jessica Parker at a perfume signing event.  It was so much fun!

After that day, I've bumped into S here and there, and we eventually discovered that we share a love for food and food photography.  Then one day recently, she asked me to make a cake for her birthday.  She specifically requested the rose cake (that I love to make), which uses the rose cake method from I Am Baker.  And since she requested either purple or white, I decided to make it a purple ombre rose cake, similar to my purple ombre petal cake, which would start with purple at the bottom and gradually grow lighter until it became white on the top.

For the cake layers I made my favorite homemade dark chocolate cake.  I only used half the recipe, which filled two 6-inch cake pans.  Then I filled the layers with chocolate mousse (recipe from the Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake from America's Test Kitchen).

Then I whipped up a batch of cream cheese buttercream, and did a quick crumb coat over the entire cake.

And then came the fun part - the piping of the roses.  I divided the rest of the frosting into three parts - I left the first portion white, then the next portion I colored a light purple, and the third portion I colored a darker purple.

Then using a Wilton 1M tip and I Am Baker's rose cake method, I covered the top of my cake with white roses.

Next came the lighter purple roses, and finally the darker purple roses on the bottom.

Isn't it pretty? :)

Happy belated birthday, S!  Hope you enjoyed the cake!