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!