Fresh Strawberry Tart

Simple, sweet, and to-the-point. Nothing says summer like a fresh strawberry tart and it's been so beautiful here in LA that it's close enough!

Fluffly Lemon Cloud Cake

This fluffy lemon cloud cake is the first thing I always want to eat at the end of Passover (and it was my birthday cake from a few years ago). 

This lovely, 2-tiered cake was so much fun to make and not nearly as tricky to decorate as it looks.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffles

Another gluten free/Passover friendly dessert that requires no substitutions: chocolate peanut butter truffles.

If there's anything bad about chocolate and peanut butter together, I haven't figured it out...except that maybe they're better with an extra pinch of sea salt.

Step 1: Make peanut mixer filling using ingredients you probably already have in your pantry and an electric mixer--easy peasy.

I used a basic peanut butter truffle recipe for these. Super simple, seriously.

Flourless Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake

So, as is not uncommon, this year my birthday fell on Passover. The first night, to be exact. So, of course, I made cake. Flourless chocolate cake "crust," raspberry cheesecake layer, and classic vanilla bean cheesecake layer. I made this cake the last time my birthday fell on Passover, too, decorating with chocolate curls. This year, I went all-out with chocolate ganache and shiny glazed raspberries.

 

Alright, so we start with the chocolate "cake" base. Bake it in whatever size spring form pan you're using for your cheesecake and use whatever recipe you love or your Bubbe has passed down. Splurge on a really rich recipe, like this, and bake it up according to the directions.

Pouring the vanilla cheesecake batter over the chocolate. Bake it again, and meanwhile...

Take a whole bunch of raspberries (fresh or frozen work fine, but I find fresh to have a stronger flavor) and puree them.

Simmer for about 20 minutes--we're reducing them to concentrate the flavor because when you add too much liquid to the cheesecake batter it messes with the texture. Reducing the mixture evaporates some of the excess liquid while leaving the tasty flavor.

Combine the raspberry sauce with the other half of the cheesecake batter. 

And pour over the baked vanilla cheesecake later, baking again until it's done. 

 

We seem to have skipped a few steps, but I covered the top of the cake in my beloved chocolate ganache and dressed this gluten free cake up with chocolate curls. 

 

 Yumm... Rich, creamy, and gluten free/Passover friendly birthday cake.

 This treat is incredibly rich, so serve it in small slices.

 This year's cake used tons of fresh, juicy raspberries.

 

I covered the cake in chocolate ganache, topping with fresh raspberries and brushing a honey glaze onto the raspberries to give them that extra shine. 

 

Happy Passover, and happy birthday to me!

Purple Ombre Sprinkle Cake

 

Alright, we're making sprinkle cake today. You'll need ingredients for your favorite vanilla cake recipe, a round cake pan (I used a 7 inch), and whole lot of sprinkles.

Mix up the vanilla recipe and evenly divide the batter into however many bowls you like. I used 5 colors so I can get a true ombre effect from white to dark purple. Each color will be a layer of cake. Tint each batter with increasingly more purple, or whatever color you're using. I start light and then move to the darker colors so if I mess up (say, I add too much purple to the lightest purple) I still have enough batter to mix up another lightest purple and use the other one as a middle color.

Okay, so we skipped a few steps. Bake the cakes, stack them with your favorite frosting recipe (I used this creamy buttercream). Ice the outside of the cake, throw some sprinkles at it (yes, literally). I promise you a better tutorial sometime in the future...

 Ta da! I used fresh strawberries between the layers as well. Doesn't cut as clean, but the taste is great and really, when you're making cake that's what counts. Very impressive and, if you have some patience, really not much harder than a traditional layer cake (except for the mess!).

Every year, my mom asks for a sprinkle cake for her birthday. This year's sprinkle cake (on the bunny stand, far right) was a smaller affair, but very sweet nonetheless.

Salty Nutty Crunchy Caramel Chocolate Matzah

As Passover quickly approaches, I've started thinking about desserts (of course). Here's my classic chocolate caramel matzah. 

Make sure to sprinkle your favorite nut (toasted and chopped) and some sea salt over the chocolate before it sets for an extra something special. It's crunchy and chocolatey and rich, but the saltiness makes it (way too) easy to eat.

I like to use good quality dark chocolate to give the dessert a more grown-up friendly twist. Prefect to bring to a party or a seder--just make sure there's plenty to go around!  Try bagging a few pieces up in little plastic candy bags and tying each up with a ribbon for a lovely gift. This recipe keeps for a few days after you make it, so I can make a big batch at the beginning of the holiday and, as long as it doesn't get eaten right away, I can serve it at the first two seders no problem.

Ganache Magic!

Chocolate ganache is magical. Is really is the most magical food you can make and every time I whip a batch up, I'm enchanted. A very forgixving recipe, even if you mess up the proportions it'll probably still come out okay. Part of what's so magical is how easy it is to whip up and how versatile this concoction is. It's my single most-made recipe. Observe:

Chocolate (8 oz, chopped, ish) in a bowl with a lump of butter (say maybe a tablespoon). Heat heavy cream in a saucepan (3/4 cup give or take, basically enough to cover the chocolate in the bowl completely), pour hot cream over chocolate. LEAVE IT ALONE FOR 5 MINUTES. Seriously, don't rush this part or the magic won't happen.

One your timer goes off, whisk.

And keep whisking gently.

Have faith - it'll come together. Just keep whisking.

There we go! It's starting to get beautiful and shiny.

And all of the sudden we have a beautiful bowl of shiny rich versatile chocolate. If your cream wasn't hot enough or you didn't wait long enough before whisking (tsk tsk), just toss the bowl in the microwave for a few seconds and then try whisking again. It'll come together.

Chill it and turn it into truffle filling. Pour it over a cake or pastry or cheesecake. Swirl it into ice cream. Use it to fill a tart or  a macaron. Dip cupcakes in the glaze before frosting them.  Pour it over anything you want to make look fancy. Spread it on some toast. Whip it up and use it for frosting. Eating it with a spoon. 

You know you want to and I promise, I won't judge. It's ganache, just go with it.


By the way, this is a great vase for a bunch of other yummy treats. Add fruit sauces, peanut butter, flavored extracts, or anything else yummy to make fabulous fancy flavored ganache. Use it in anything. Scratch that - use it in everything.