Mousse!

This past weekend my church group had our annual Christmas Banquet! This year I was in charge of most of the food for the event, which was a bit of a step up from last year when I just did the desserts.

But of course, this being me, I did still put a lot of emphasis on making sure the desserts looked and tasted fantastic.

Wanting a change from last year, but still wanting something individual and elegant, I went with mousse this year. And since not everyone likes pure chocolate, we did a mixture of Chocolate and White Chocolate Mousse.

Dark Chocolate Mousse

2 tbsp cold water
1 envelope unflavoured gelatin
1/4 cup boiling water

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
2 cups whipping (heavy) cream
2 tsp vanilla

In a small bowl with lots of surface area combine cold water and gelatin. Let stand for 2-5 min, then stir in boiling water until gelatin has dissolved. Allow to cool while you prepare the rest of the mousse.

Stir together cocoa and sugar. Add 2 whipping cream and vanilla and whip until stiff peaks form. Blend in gelatin until well combined.

Spoon into dessert dishes and chill for at least 30 minutes. Garnish as desired.

White Chocolate Mousse

12 oz white chocolate (I cheated and used chocolate chips)
1 envelope gelatin powder
1/2 cup milk
1 cup whipping cream

Melt white chocolate in a double boiler (or the microwave if you are super careful).

Stir gelatin into milk and let sit for a few minutes. Microwave the gelatin-milk until it is almost boiling. Stir milk mixture into white chocolate. Allow to cool.

Whip whipping cream until soft peaks form, fold in cooled chocolate mixture.

Spoon into dessert cups and chill for at least 1 hour. Garnish as desired.

As you can (kind of) see in the pictures we had different kinds of garnishes. Plain white chocolate with white chocolate chips on top, plain chocolate with candy cane, white chocolate with raspberries on the bottom and the top of the mousse, with raspberry syrup on top, chocolate with raspberries, white chocolate with blueberries and blueberry syrup and chocolate with blueberries. Again, I was a little busy this year and kind of forgot to bring a camera, not that I really would have had time to take photos anyway.

Spanish Birthday Cake

I made this cake last weekend for a good friend who's spent time doing missionary work in the Dominican Republic (as well as some other places) and who is hoping to go back there soon.

There is a map of the Dominican Republic, along with their flag. And also a donkey, which was supposed to be an inside joke that no one (not even the birthday girl) understood, except for the person who told me to put it on the cake.

Flowery Birthday Cake

Sometimes simple is the best way to go. I needed to do a birthday cake for a good friend this past weekend and I didn't have enough time to make something really epic or elaborate. So I just made this really simple flower design, and I love how it turned out.

The flowers are made from melting chocolate wafers, with yellow sprinkle-like things for centers.

Celebration Cake!

This past week we had a combination celebration for my parent's 25th wedding anniversary, my Dad's 50th birthday and my brothers 16th birthday, so naturally I had to make a cake.

So I decided on a three tiered monstrosity with one tier representing each event. Unfortunately in all of the insanity of the party this is the only picture I have of just the cake.
The top tier is supposed to be a replica of my parent's wedding cake. The second tier is characters from Minecraft and on the other side there is an illustration of the Angry Birds game. The bottom is guitars and bicycles for my dad.

Overall I was not happy with this cake. As you can see the second tier was not exactly structurally stable, (hey, I'm an Electrical, not a Civil) which meant that the top tier didn't stay on for much longer than it took for a few pictures. Then we took it off to prevent it from falling on the floor.

Also, I wasn't really impressed with my piping job, although the front of the cake (which I don't have a good picture of) looked a lot better than this side. And I just was overall not happy with this project.

However, I also made another cake for a family friend who turns 50 the day before my dad, and I was quite happy with how it turned out!
Well... except for the corner where I squished the icing when I was trying to put a lid over it...

Chocolate Ice Cream

I haven't posted in ages... and I can't really say I've been busy either, I've just been playing way to much Minecraft. But I've also been creating some tasty creations, and then forgetting to photograph them. Anyway, one of the things I've been making a lot of lately is ice cream. I was given and ice cream maker for my birthday and I love it. This is my favourite recipe so far, its a chocolate base which you can then turn into whatever you like!

Chocolate Ice Cream

1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup cocoa
2 cups whipping/heavy cream
1 cup light cream (Creamo, or half & half)
1 tbsp vanilla
Whatever mix-ins you like! (I've done rocky road, which is marshmallows, peanuts and chocolate chips and also caramel-pecan, which is pecans and caramel sauce)

Mix together sweetened condensed milk and cocoa in a saucepan. Cook over low heat until smooth and slightly thickened. Allow to cool slightly. In another bowl, combine whipping cream, light cream and vanilla. Stir in cocoa mixture until well combined, this works best if you whisk it in, or if you wait a few minutes so that most of it can dissolve into the mixture and then stir in the rest. Chill for several hours until cold. Then freeze in ice cream maker using manufacturer's directions. Mix in your extras according to the directions for your ice cream maker.

Pretty much, this is the best ice cream I've ever tasted. Also, the recipe is super flexible and so you could make a ton of different flavours from the same chocolate base!

The Journey of A Cake

This is a cake I made for my friend's birthday two weeks ago. I realized I had posted the photos on Facebook, but not on here. This is the story of one cake's epic journey, 5 hours by car, 1.5 hours by ferry, 1 hour by transit and up 3 flights of stairs to the Flat for Wayward Adults.

The Cake's Journey begins in the my refrigerator. Ready for the travels ahead.The Cake is then snugly secured in the trunk of my car for the first leg of it's Journey.The Cake prepares to board the "Spirit Of British Columbia"The Cake relaxes on the ferry boat and eagerly anticipates the journey ahead.The Cake waves hello to the passing ferry boat in the Gulf Islands.
The Cake is ready to do all of the touristy things that Victoria has to offer.
The Cake enjoys it's time on the wonderful Victoria public transit system.
The Cake reads (and signs) the guidelines for the Flat For Wayward Adults.

The Cake is ready for a PAR-TAY!

But, you might be wondering, how is the cake dressed for the party?
...with some fishies...

...and a crab or two......a lobster and a squid join in the fun...
...along with a sea turtle and a jellyfish.......an orca and an octopus....
...and a whole gang of other friendly sea critters!


I was really, really happy with how this cake turned out, decorating wise. I was also especially happy that it managed to survive the trip.

Because the friend I made it for is on a sugar-restricted diet, the cake itself was made from a sugarfree yellow cake box mix and the chocolate icing was also a store bought sugarfree icing. The decorations, however, were done with my regular icing. Personally, I can't stand the taste of Splenda, so I was pretty much unable to eat my own cake, but everyone who can't tell/doesn't mind the taste of Splenda thought that it was great!

Mario Cake: Take Two

So this cake was for my brother's birthday last week. So far I'd only ever made him one cake before, it was the first cake I decorated and it was kind of really lame.

I knew I had to do better this time. I had a few ideas, but then my Mom and I found him a copy of Super Mario 64 for his birthday. Then his girlfriend found him Mario Kart for N64. Then my grandmother bought him a Mario t-shirt. So I figured we should do a retro-mid-90s Mario Birthday. And I made him this cake.
Here it is with the game box in the background. And his copy of Mario Kart as well.
Oh, and the cake was chocolate, with chocolate icing, as usual. :)