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.

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.