espresso espresso espresso cheesecake

My favorite recipe, my speciality, my pièce de résistance, is my chocolate cookie covered chocolate mocha cake.   Who knew that I would find another gem of a recipe from the same source?  The recipe for this espresso cheesecake comes from the same chapter in the same baking cookbook titled, The Essential Baker by Carole Bloom.  I adore this recipe because it has such a strong coffee flavor and it is complemented well by the chocolate cookie crust on the bottom.  The texture of the cheesecake is rich, velvety, and smooth with a nice crunchy contrast from the crust.  Honestly, one slice of this just isn't enough.

For the recipe, click here.  

VLOG: cake on hand, cake in stick

There are so many ways to eat cake.  I know I'm behind on the cake ball/cake pop craze, but I after trying to find out what it was all about, I realized I needed to make a video all about technique.  I've made cake balls and cake pops way to many times for research.  There are so many key elements to making the quintessential cake ball and pop.  For example, how much frosting to use or how to dip the cake into the candy coating.  I talk about these methods and more in my latest video blog.

There's no recipe for this vlog.  It's about as simple as you see it.  You can use as much or as little cake as you want.  Just refer to the technique I mentioned in the video to check for moisture in the cake, which will help to determine how much or little frosting to use! If you have any comments or questions, they deserve answers and I'll do that!  I hope this vlog explains it all.  I've also included some video footage towards the end, so you'll see exactly what I did!  

do-it-yourself chocolates

One of my favorite candies growing up were Nestle Chunky Bars.  It's essentially milk chocolate with peanuts and raisins.  Now why would any child like that?  Well to be honest, chunky bars were a combination of my two all-time favorites: Peanut M&Ms and Raisinets.  

my version of a chunky

The recipe is so simple.  I changed the "recipe" for a chunky by making it more in tune to my current tastes.  I used dark chocolate and walnuts.  You can make your own combinations.

Do-It-Yourself Chocolates
Ingredients for 16 bite-sized chocolates
1 cup dark chocolate chips
1/4 cup crushed walnuts
1/8 cup raisins

Directions
1) Line your mini-cupcake pan with liners.
2) Melt your chocolate in a microwave at 30 second intervals, stirring after each interval until completely melted
3) Add a spoonful of melted chocolate into the mini-cupcake liner.  Immediately top with walnuts and raisins.  Repeat until all the chocolate is used.
4) Set aside at room temperature until solidified.  Store in a container.  Enjoy!

VLOG: chocolate cake two delicious ways

Faux Hostess Chocolate Creme Filled Cupcakes

There's always a simple and easy way to do something and a more laborious and complex way to do the something.  In this case, the something is chocolate cake.  I absolutely adore chocolate cake.  My favorite recipe is a layered chocolate cake with mocha French Mousseline buttercream covered in chocolate oreo cookie crumbs.  In this video blog, I'm discussing two different recipes - Hershey's Black Magic Chocolate Cake and Cooks Illustrated Old-Fashioned Chocolate Cake.  Both recipes are delicious and each have their own pros and cons.  I tend to bake Hershey's recipe more often because of its simpicity but the Cooks Illustrated recipe is my go-to for special ocassions.  You cannot go wrong with either recipe!  Take a look at my newest vlog and I hope you bake up these chocolate cakes!