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.

Hogwarts

Last summer, a few friends and I hosted a 24 hour Harry Potter Movie marathon. Yes, the same friends who co-hosted the Indiana Jones party and the James Bond Extravaganza. It was just as dorky - and just as much fun! - as it sounds. We watched all 8 movies in a weekend filled with snacks, games, costumes, and general goofiness. The only problem we have now is figuring out what we can do to top this crazy party.

 

The guests came in costume and we had a number of activities - a triwizard tournament including apple bobbing and puzzeles, paper mache dragon eggs, patronus balloons, a magical felted critters, and, of course, elavorately relevant decorations. Think golden snitches hanging from the ceilings, Azkaban escapee posters on the walls for each guest, hanging (electric!) candles everywhere, and a dark castley vibe.

The bathroom was super creepy with a homemade moaning myrtle CD and a giant picture of a troll. Each framed photograph in the house was replaced with pictures of knights and other mythical people and streamers in house colors decorated the ceiling. In the corner was a giant spider.

I wish I had more pictures of the decorations - they really were fabulous.

 The patronus balloons were really fun - ahead of time, we blew up baloons and drew a magical creature on them in sharpie. We deflated the balloons before tossing them out to guests so that their patronus was a surprise when they blew them up (at the same time in the series that Harry was learning the patronus charm, of course).

 

We had all sorts of coloring pages and puzzles (unscramble the words, crosswords, word search, make your own latin spells, etc) to keep the guests occupied at all times.

Of course, I made plenty of magical snacks as treats. There aren't any pics of them, but I also made chocolate frogs stuffed with peanut butter, marshmallow, or raspberry cream using chocolate molds. A Pensive Punch has swirls of luster dust shimmering and glittering with gem-shaped ice cubes and there was plenty of butterbeer to go around. 

In labeled and distressed-looking mason jars we also served:

Bertie Botts every flavor beans (jellybeans)

Luna Lovegood Loves Pudding (chocolate pudding)

Floo powder (pixie sticks)

Mandrake carrots

Dragon Scale (chips)

Newt’s Eyes (grapes)           

Wands (pretzel wands dipped in chocolate and sprinkles)
sorcerer’s stones: chocolate rocks

Let's start with my favorite: an epic Hogwarts Express cake!

My dad made the stand for me and my co-hosts painted it beautifully. I didn't love the coal car, but the engine was awesome!

Checkerboard cookies for each house.

Golden snitch cake pops (I know I know, too much cake. But I couldn't let the scraps from the Hogwards Express cake go to waste).

Sorting hat cupcakes. We used these to "sort" our guests into houses when they arrived. Each cupcake had cake/pastry cream filling in colors representing a house. The guests had to pick a cupcake, take a big bite, and reveal which house they were in!

The sorting hat figurines on top were hand sculpted using homemade modeling chocolate. A royal pain, but I think it was worth it.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, I ditched my guests and went to bed around 3. All this baking can really wear a gal out!

High Heel Fashion Cookies

These cookies are ready for a night on the town! I made a set of purple high-heeled sugar cookies for my friend's mother's birthday.

I didn't have a heel cookie cutter and it was too short-notice to buy one, so I cut the basic shape by hand.

The heel shape got piped onto the cookie and I left the background blank. I wasn't sure how it'd look, but I like the way it came out. Really lets the shoe shine. Next time, I'll be more careful to keep the sparkle on just the icing, not the cookie base!

Everything was covered in luster dust and glitter dust for an extra sparkle and shine.

Simple, but sweet.

This one here was one of my favorites.

Fashionable and fun! I'd totally wear that purple shoe with the teal bow.

All lined up and ready to go out for a walk.

Some of the shoes came out rather funny-shaped, so I think I need to give these another go so I can really perfect them. Perhaps a high heel cookie cutter is in order.

Patriotic Sugar Cookies

Every heart beats true for the red white and blue! These cookies were actually sent to a congressman's office back in November during the election campaign, but I figured that with all the craziness going on in DC, now was as good a time as any to post them.

I had fun with a basic red, white a blue starts & stripes theme.

That one up there reminds me of Captain America a tad too much.

I added a touch of white luster dust to smooth out the details. Working with bold colors is very unforgiving and the dust helps soften them.

I like the diagonal ones the best. The stars were tricky to pipe freehand but I finally got the hang of it.

Oreo Red Velvet Brownies

Will someone please just tell all the other brownies that they've lost and they should just go home? Because these oreo red velvet cheescake brownies will win every single time.

 
 Red velvet brownies. Why? Just do it, okay.  Start off with a dense, red velvet base.

Generous cheesecake swirl on top. 

 Oreos. Oreos, Oreo crumbs, Oreo pieces. Everywhere. These brownies are incredibly decadent but you'll keep going back for more. Guaranteed crowd pleaser!

Baseball Cake

Take me out to the ballgame! This baseball cake was commissioned as a birthday surprise. A three-tired cake with a baseball on top. The biggest layer, the bottom one, was only 6 inches across. Think miniature.

The birthday boy's girlfriend wanted a Giant's colored baseball themed cake and left the designing up to me (my favorite kind of order!). Well, baseballs aren't orange, so I did the best I could to keep tried to the theme and stick to the basics of the game.

Everything is fondant-free, of course. I just used swiss meringue buttercream for everything. It's nice because it hardens up in the fridge so it's easy to work with.

My first time using the grass piping tip, can you believe it? I like the added texture.I had some trouble with the orange/white seam, as you can see, but I learned enough that the next time I make a cake like this, it'll be even better. Not everything I make is perfect, especially not the first time around, but I try to make each project into a learning experience.

I got lucky with the dome shape at the top  - the carving could have gone horribly wrong but it worked out great! Overall, not a perfect cake but definitely a fun one! Raspberry chocolate cake on the inside, by the way. Yummy!

Surfing Cookies

It took long enough, but let's celebrate the sun FINALLY coming out after a long winter.

These were actually Christmas/Holiday cookies for some of my dad's surfing pals, but I didn't think my East Coast readers would appreciate the bragging about SoCal weather had I posted them back in December.

Hawaiian shirt cookies and edible surfboards. 

The floral print on the Hawaiian shirt cookies was done using a marbling technique. I put icing drops of one color onto the still wet base and used a toothpick to draw each dot in to make a petal. I always want to make a tutorial, but you have to work fast with this technique and I never have enough hands to keep the camera frosting-free!

The little pocket on the breast of the shirt is my favorite. 

I had fun with the surfboard designs. I just piped wavy lines and filled them in what whatever color pastry bag I was holding.  I was running out of royal icing at the end so I eeked out whatever was left and I just made it!

Don't they make you want to head to the beach and lay out in the sunshine?

Here's to springtime and summer!

Raspberry Brownie Bites

Let's dress up a classic dessert - brownies - and get them all ready to go to a party, shall we?

 

I baked my favorite brownie recipe, by Smitten Kitchen, of course, into this awesome brownie bite pan.  It's basically a mini cupcake pan, but with squares. It's pretty shallow, which makes for perfect, bite-sized desserts.

After baking, I melted some dark chocolate and thinned it a bit with vegetable oil so it's be nice and runny. I dunked some of the squares into the chocolate, lets the extra drip, and let them set on a piece of wax paper.  Not only does the chocolate coating taste great, but it also helps to seal in the freshness and moisture. You can see the chocolate covered ones below; they look like petit fours.

Some got chocolate ganache heaped on top of the brownie bites instead of a complete coating. 

And the white cloud of deliciousness you see is marshmallow fluff.  I was in a hurry so I didn't have time to make frosting, plus the brownies were being served at a dairy-free event and I didn't want to mess with margarine frosting, but I'm really happy with how the fluff looked and tasted.

They were topped off with fresh raspberries. 

The little squares looked like perfectly delicious gems. Next time, I think I'll try a light glaze on top of the berries to make them really shine. Chocolatey, fruity, sweet and chewy.

And they're so small that you can try one or two [every time you walk by the fridge].