Heavenly Chocolate Mousse Cake

All's well

that ends well.

The sponge cake, 

which I was dreading,

turned out fine.

Filled with confidence

I started melting chocolate 

with cream for the mousse.

Simple enough

except

an hour later 

it still wasn't 

up to 77C degrees.

I gave up at 74C

and popped it in the frig

to chill.

But wait...

why was there a bowl of egg yolks

sitting on the counter?

Retrieving the chocolate soup

I whisked in the yolks,

all twelve of them,

and tried to bring it up to 77C degrees.

All seemed to be going right,

the chocolate was thickening nicely

and then

the most peculiar thing happened;

oil started seeping out of a 

chocolate-y congealed mass.

 I "calmly" asked myself

what would the Alpha Bakers do?

Whisk it back to life!

Miraculously

the KitchenAid

did just that.

Tackling the

sponge was another thing.

My too large loaf pan

completely out witted

 the template geometry.

The ends 

pieced together

like brick walls.

Spackling the 

rather thick mousse 

neatly

inside the cake lined

loaf pan

was a bit tricky.

Wrapped in plastic

and back to the frig

since by

now it was late into the night.

It flipped out okay

but looks can be deceiving. 

Mousse is a bit dense

straight out of the frig

It isn't symmetrical like

Orin's.

Still it made for a mighty

tasty breakfast.

The chocolate mousse

is definitely worth

the stirring.

The hardest part

is waiting for it

to come back

to room temperature

(or 6-8 seconds per slice in the microwave for the impatient moi)

but once it does

the airy chocolate

is amazing

with the tender sponge cake.

~

The Baking Bible

by

Rose Levy Beranbaum

Lemon Curd and Raspberry Pielets

Rose's Lemon Curd and Raspberry 

Pie and Pielets

are truly luscious.

Regular raspberry season is over

but

I came across these

golden raspberries.

They are sweeter than the darker ones.

I made two mini pies

and one eight inch.

Perfect for this holiday

weekend.

~

The Baking Bible

by

Rose Levy Beranbaum

Frozen Lime Meringue Pie

This pie!

Delicious!

Fudgy Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

These are probably the best

plain chocolate cookies

I've ever had.

Turning them into

ice cream sandwiches

with Haagan Dazs

vanilla ice cream

 takes them over the top

in a very good way.

The batter was so fluffy.

I resisted the urge to

pour it all into a pan

turning it

into brownies.

Or grabbing a spoon 

and diving right in.

Making these into

brownies 

is now on my bucket list.

Rose really nailed this recipe.

~

The Baking Bible

by

Rose Levy Beranbaum

Coconut Crisps

Marie

wasn't kidding when she

said these Coconut Crisps

were quick and easy.

These cookies

must require the least amount

of effort

in all of Rose's recipes.

For coconut lover moi,

that's good news.

Living with a coconut phobic spouse,

it's not.

These are perfect

along side

a cup of tea or coffee.

Fortunately, 

my brother likes 

coconut.

Being raised

within a cookie dunking

family,

he will be more than happy

to have 

one or two or three

with coffee.

~

The Baking Bible

by

Rose Levy Beranbaum

Gooseberry Crisp

Never once in my life

have I tasted gooseberries.

Apparently they aren't

big in California

these days.

Not one store had 

fresh, frozen or canned.

My daughter sent me 

two cans via Amazon.

Have no idea why this is sideways

I wasn't really sure how to adapt Rose's recipe

using canned gooseberries

so I winged it.

I followed the recipe

except for softening the fruit.

The juices bubbled up 

which was a great sign!

I like the flavor.

It seems similar to rhubarb

in that sort of sweet-sour 

kind of way.

I would make this again

only double the topping.

That topping is good!

~

The Baking Bible

by

Rose Levy Beranbaum

Coffee Crumb Cake Muffins

These coffee cake-like muffins with streusel

swirled into the batter

with a bite of apple

make for 

a fancier than usual muffin.

They are scrumptious.

Next time the recipe will be 

definitely doubled.

~

The Baking Bible

by

Rose Levy Beranbaum