Chocolate Mousse Cheesecake

Guess who's still on winter break? This girl. And this is what I've been doing!

This ridiculously rich cheesecake has four layers: an Oreo crust, creamy cheesecake, chocolate mousse, and chocolate ganache. It requires some time to put together, but you will find it totally worth it because the combination of flavors and textures are incredible. The slightly tart and smooth cheesecake balances out all the fluffy chocolate mousse and the heavy ganache.

Okay, get ready for tons of pics...this cake has lots of steps, but it's not too difficult to make.

To make the crust, add Oreos and melted butter to a food processor and blend well until you have fine crumbs.

Press into a springform pan, and bring the crust up the sides a bit. Bake about 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

And layer two: make the cheesecake! Beat the softened cream cheese...mine wasn't soft enough, hence all the cream cheese on the mixers.

Add sugar. Beat.

Sugar. Beat.

Add eggs one at a time. Beat till smooth.

Beat in the sour cream.

Pour it into the spring form pan.

Bake at 325 F. The recipe said 30 minutes, but I found it needed 35-40. And if you get cracks, no worries! We'll be putting stuff on top of it. Now, let this cool, and then put in the fridge.

And now for layer 3: the chocolate mousse! Melt the chocolate and butter. Mix well. I apologize in advance for the crappy quality of the following pictures. I had to do this part at night.

 Beat in the egg yolks one at a time.

Beat the heavy cream until it form soft peaks, and set it aside in the fridge.

You're not tired of beating things yet, are you? Beat the egg whites, add the cream of tartar, gradually add the sugar. And then beat it some more.

Add about a quarter of the egg white mixture to the chocolate mixture. Now, the recipe says the fold it in, but the chocolate is kind of hard, so I'd suggest...yep, beating it. Then fold in the rest of the egg whites.

 Fold in the heavy cream.

Ta-da!

Now, the cheesecake must be COMPLETELY cool before you put the mousse on it. Or else the mousse will get all melty and sad. And that would be tragic.

Let the cheesecake chill in the fridge for a couple hours before making the ganache, or stick the cheesecake in the freezer for about 20 minutes.

And finally, layer 4: the chocolate ganache! Heat the cream until it is just below boiling, and mix in the instant coffee and vanilla extract.

Add the chocolate and stir as it melts.

Working quickly, pour the ganache on the cake, and spread it smoothly with a spatula.  And we're done! If you want to show off the pretty layers, cut it with a very sharp knife.

Enjoy!

-Caroline

Printable recipe of Chocolate Mousse Cheesecake.

Chocolate Mousse Cheesecake

Smooth, creamy, and rich chocolate mousse cheesecake.
Adapted from The Flour Sack
Yields: one 9-inch cake

Ingredients
For the Oreo Crust:
20 Oreos
4 tablespoons butter, melted

For the cheesecake:
16 ounces cream cheese, softened
½ cup sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
⅔ cup sour cream

For the chocolate mousse
6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed
3 eggs, separated
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream, cold
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

For the chocolate ganache
1/2 cup heavy cream
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon instant coffee

Directions
For the crust:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Finely crush Oreos and melted butter in the food processor. Press into a greased 9-inch springform pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Let cool completely.

For the cheesecake layer

1. Lower oven to 325 F.
2. Beat cream cheese, with the mixer on medium speed. Add sugar and vanilla. Beat well.
3. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each.
4. Beat in sour cream on low speed.
5. Pour the batter in springform pan over the Oreo crust. Bake for about 30 - 35 minutes.
6. Let the cheesecake cool completely, and refrigerate at least 4 hours.

For the chocolate mousse layer (make after the cheesecake has completely cooled):

1. With the microwave at 50% power, microwave the chocolate for about 1 ½ - 2 minutes, stopping every 30 seconds to stir the chocolate. After 1 minute, stir in the butter before returning the chocolate to the microwave.
2. In another bowl, beat the egg whites until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and continue to beat. Gradually add in 1/4 cup sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form. Set aside.
3. In another bowl, beat the heavy cream until it begins to foam. Add the vanilla and remaining 2 tablespoons  sugar. Continue to whip the cream until it holds soft peaks. Set aside.
4. Gently beat in 1/4 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture to lighten it. Fold in the remaining egg whites. Then, fold in the whipped cream. Take care to not over -work the mousse, but make sure the cream is blended in well.
5. Using a rubber spatula, spread the mousse on top of the cooled cheesecake while still in the springform pan. Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate.

For the chocolate ganache layer:

1. Place the cheesecake in the refrigerator for several hours before making the ganache, or firm up the cheesecake by placing it in the freezer while making the ganache (don’t leave it in there for more the 30 minutes).
2. Heat the heavy cream until it is just below boiling.
3. Stir in instant coffee and vanilla.
4. Stir in chocolate, and mix until smooth.
5. Let cool for about 15 minutes, mixing it occasionally.
6. Remove mousse cheesecake from the freezer or refrigerator. Pour the ganache over the cake and spread it over the cake with a spatula. The cold temperature of the cake will cause the ganache to firm up, so work fairly quickly.
7. Release from the pan and serve!

Golden Blueberry Vanilla Cake

You know how they say a picture is worth a thousand words? Well, let me tell you -- there is a whole story to be told about this blueberry vanilla cake you see in this photo above. It started out as a simple idea. My friend Henry suggested that since Caroline's birthday is coming up on January 5, we buy a cake from Marsh or Costco to celebrate. But I thought, "Well, Caroline is my co-chef, and it doesn't feel quite right to buy a cake for her when we can make one from scratch!" And so, it became our mission to make the ultimate golden blueberry vanilla cake for Caroline's 19th birthday.

As in any mission, Henry and I needed to recruit some people to help out and make it a success (but actually, it's because it's more fun this way). So Nikhil, Katie, and Nimisha were invited to lend their expertise.

I did some research on my own before baking day and found this promising recipe from

Bakerella

, espousing this glorious cake dubbed, "Moist Yellow Cake." We didn't end up following the instructions exactly from first letter to period--we even added a few of our own innovations--but the cake still turned out tasting and smelling delicious, which is all that mattered. The funny thing about this recipe is that it uses sugar water spray to keep the cake ultra moist throughout the entire process. I don't know about you, but that's the fanciest thing I'd ever heard of. Nikhil, for one, was

fascinated

with the sugar water trick, and we would've done it too, if it weren't for the fact that we didn't actually end up with a layered cake as the directions called for (you'll see, read below).

First alteration came along right before we poured the cake batter into the pan. We wanted to add a little twist to the recipe so that it's not just plain ol' vanilla cake. Nikhil highly recommended blueberries, so blueberry it is.

Next alteration is quite a bit more impacting on the final result. This might be an amateur mistake, but we ended up using a springform pan that's typically used for making cheesecake. You see, there's a huge problem with this decision. Springform pans naturally bake from outside to inside, while regular pans bake from bottom to top. Needless to say, when we took the cake out of the oven after 50 minutes, the outside was golden and definitely done, but the center was still pudding-like -- pretty much done, but not really done. Which is a problem.

Solution?

Take out the center and make it a donut cake! Well, what a waste, right? How can we just throw away perfectly delicious-looking cake that's pretty much cooked (but not quite)? There's only one thing to do...eat it. Yay! Yummy.

So...now, we have this gaping hole in our perfectly delicious blueberry vanilla cake. What to do?

Frosting time!

Our idea was to frost the inside of the cake, and ideally everywhere on the cake, to cover the crumbs. Except, the frosting didn't work for whatever reason. It tasted okay, but something seemed to be off. It was kind of sad, actually. Which is why I'm not going to post the frosting recipe we used. :P

So that didn't work. But then Nimisha suggested instead that we fill the inside with bananas! It's perfect. It's simple. It's delicious. It's beautiful.

Our final step was to add chocolate garnish to the top, along with powdered sugar. What we did was melt chocolate and pipe abstract swirlies, stars, hearts, and other designs onto wax/aluminum foil. At this point, we've been winging it in many respects, so we decided to use this exotic African milk chocolate my dad brought back for me because he knows I love chocolate (he knows me so well). But this chocolate...it had the scent of rose germanium flowers. I'm not kidding. That chocolate literally smelled

fragrant

. Which I find absolutely mind-blowing. But hey, it works, and it tastes decent (:

Let the chocolate designs cool and harden in the freezer for 1 minute, and then take apart and place onto cake before dusting with powdered sugar. All in all, I'm extremely pleased with the final result. Doesn't look half-bad, and it tastes more than amazing.

Happy birthday, Caroline!

Love,

Monica

Printer-friendly recipe of Golden Vanilla Cake

.

Golden Blueberry Vanilla Cake

Moist, golden, delicious vanilla cake with blueberries (and banana center).

Adapted from

Bakerella

Time: at least 2 hours

Yield: 3 layer cake, or 1 big cake

Ingredients

2 sticks butter, room temp

2 cups sugar

4 eggs, room temp

3 cups self-rising flour*

1 cup whole milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1-2 cups blueberries

some bananas (if you choose to have a donut center)

*Note: You may substitute with 3 cups all-purpose flour, 1 tablespoon baking powder, and 1 teaspoon salt.

Directions

1. Cream butter until fluffy. Add sugar and mix until completely incorporated. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each one.

2. Add flour and milk (alternating to creamed mixture), beginning and ending with flour.

3. Add vanilla and mix until just incorporated. Don’t overmix!

4. Wash the blueberries and coat lightly in flour. Carefully incorporate blueberries manually into the batter to make sure the blueberries don’t break and leave blue streaks across the batter.

5. Grease three 8-inch cake pans. Divide batter equally. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 25-30 minutes (if in 3 separate pans), or 40-50 minutes (if 1 giant pan), until done.

6. Cool in pans for 5-10 minutes. Remove and completely wrap each layer in plastic wrap to seal in the moisture. Cool completely and then assemble the three-layer cake. Or, if you made the cake in one giant pan like us, you’re done!

Frost with any type of frosting, garnish in chocolate, sprinkle powdered sugar, beautify, add bananas, and enjoy!

Zucchini Bread, Part 3

Well, here's our last zucchini bread post! And technically, this recipe isn't even technically zucchini bread. It's a cross between carrot cake and zucchini bread. But let me just say this: 'tis delicious.

This zucchini bread was much, much lighter than the others, which is a huge plus with me, but that's just personal taste. There's also (gasp!) NO FAT ADDED. No oil, no butter. Crazy, right? All the moisture of the bread comes from the grated zucchini and carrot.

I got this recipe from a cake cookbook, which called it, "Spiced Passion Cake."

I made two muffins with some of the batter, just for kicks, but you by no means have to. Enjoy!

-Caroline

Click here for the printer-friendly recipe.

Zucchini Cake

Recipe adapted from the book

Cakes and Cake Decorating, Step by Step

Yields: 1 loaf

Ingredients

1 medium zucchini, grated

1 medium carrot (or ⅔ cup baby carrots), grated

3 eggs, separated

½ cup brown sugar

2 tablespoon ground almonds (optional)

zest of 1 orange (or lemon), grated

1 cup self-rising flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

¼ teaspoon ginger

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
2. Beat the egg yolk with sugar until fluffy and lighter colored.
3. Mix together the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger.
4. Add dry ingredients to the wet. Stir in zucchini, carrots, and zest.
5. Beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Fold into the batter.
6. Pour batter into a greased 9 in. x 5 in. loaf pan.
7. Bake for 55 - 60 minutes.
8. Let cool and enjoy!

Tuxedo Cake

This cake...is the best-tasting dessert I have ever had. I know that doesn't sound like much, considering that I pretty much love all desserts, but this really is a great recipe. I made it for my friend Sara's birthday, and seriously the cake disappeared so quickly. I didn't even have a chance to take a photo of a cake slice so you guys can see the inside! You can use your imagination though.

This Tuxedo Cake is composed of 3 moist chocolate cake layers, filled with generous fluffy white frosting and topped with chocolate ganache and strawberries.

It's not exactly an easy recipe, but the results are so worth it. This mile-high cake is an impressive sight to behold, not to mention perfect for birthdays and special occasions. All of my friends who had a slice of this cake loved it! And you will too!

And the original recipe is from Pastry Queen, which we've adapted according to how it was published on Foodie Bride's website.

Bon apetit,

Caroline & Monica

Photo credit to Katie.

Printer-friendly recipe of tuxedo cake

.

Tuxedo Cake

Mile-high moist chocolate cake with fluffy frosting and topped with chocolate ganache and strawberries

.

Adapted from

Foodie Bride

and originally from Pastry Queen

Yields: 10 – 12 servings

Time: 3 hours

Ingredients

For the Cake

:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

2 cups room temperature water

1 cup canola or vegetable oil

3 cups granulated sugar

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

4 cups all-purpose flour

4 large eggs

1 cup buttermilk (1 cup milk + 1 tbsp vinegar, or substitute with fat-free Greek yogurt)

1 tablespoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

For the Frosting

:

4 cups

cold

heavy whipping cream

1 1/4 cup powdered sugar

For the Chocolate Glaze

:

4 ounces dark chocolate (I used Ghiradelli)

1/2 cup

cold

heavy whipping cream

1/4 cup light corn syrup

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Chocolate-covered strawberries for garnish

Directions

For the Cake

:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease three 9-inch pans (or two 10-inch pans).

2. Combine sugar, flour, and cocoa.

3. In a medium saucepan set over medium heat, combine butter, water, and canola oil. Cook just until butter has melted.

4. Pour the butter mixture into the flour mixture and mix on low speed.

5. Add eggs, one at a time and mixing until each is incorporated. Then add buttermilk, baking soda, salt, and vanilla.

6. Divide the batter evenly between the pans and bake at 350 degrees F for 30 - 40 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean and the top of the cake springs back to the touch. Let cool completely before transferring to a plate. You will not be able to move the cake from this plate after adding frosting, so be sure this is the final location you want.

For the Frosting

:

7. Whip the

cold

heavy cream on high speed until soft peaks form. Add powdered sugar and whip until stiff peaks form. 

Stop beating after achieving stiff peaks, or else the mixture will break down into solid and liquid components.

8. Level the cake layers, if necessary. Evenly spread frosting over the first bottom layer, stack, spread over the second layer, stack, and cover the cake with a crumb coat. Refrigerate the cake for 5 minutes to let the crumb coat set. Then frost the cake with the rest of the frosting.

For the Glaze

:

9. Heat the heavy cream in a small saucepan over medium heat until simmering. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and whisk until the mixture is smooth. Blend in the corn syrup and vanilla. Let cool to room temperature for 1 or 2 minutes, until not piping hot.

10. Pour the glaze directly over the center of the cake, allowing it to drip naturally down the sides of the cake.

Garnish with chocolate-covered strawberries. Serve & enjoy!

Storage note

: Keep in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. This cake tastes even better the next day because the flavors are given the time to really sink in.

Photo credit to Katie.