Wedding Cake

After arriving here several days and exploring my new home area. I decided that we must have a cake of some sort for our wedding celebration. But not having all my equipment and tools it proved to be a challenge but armed with only the basic tools and my trusty bare hands and a whisk I decided to make a Chocolate Mousse Cake. I do not recommend this as my arms ached from whipping the cream and the egg whites. Recipe for the base I obtained from here and the mousse from Nick Malgieri's also found here which is perfectly light and airy for the flourless base and to E's excitement it's happens to be a Swiss recipe. This can be made over 2 days and also the mousse will need to set for at least 2-3 hours or better yet over night.

Chocolate Flourless Cake for the base - adapted from epicurious.com

12 ounces bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped
3/4 cup or 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter cut into pieces
6 large eggs, separated
12 Tbsp sugar
2 Tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line bottom of a 9" springform pan (preferable as this will provide a mould to pour the mousse in) or cake pan with parchment paper. Wrap outside of springform pan with foil to prevent batter leakage. Stir chocolate and butter in a water bath until melted and smooth. Set aside to cool.

Using an electric mixer, beat egg yolks and 6 Tbsp sugar until mixture is thick and pale, about 3 minutes. Fold in the cooled chocolate mixture into the egg mixture, then fold in vanilla extract. With clean dry beaters, beat egg whites in another large bowl until soft peaks form and to this gradually add the remaining 6 Tbsp sugar, beating until medium-firm peaks form. Fold whites into chocolate mixture lightly then pour into prepared pan.

Bake cake about 45-50 mins and skewer or cake tester comes out with some crumbs. Top will be cracked and the cake will be double in size. Cool cake in pan on rack. Don't panic as the cake will start falling immediately after coming out of the oven.

After cake is cooled, pat the top down and remove cake from pan. I trimmed and leveled the top of the cake and E got to eat the crackly top and trimmings. If using a springform pan place the cake back into the springform pan with sides lined with acetate ( you can find these in cake or baking stores) or since I didn't have any with me I successfully formed a ring with wax paper. Line the top of the cake with raspberries (1 pint just about covers the surface nicely). Place in refrigerator and prepare mousse.


Swiss Chocolate Mousse - adapted from Nick Malgieri

The original recipe from Nick Malgieri's makes too much mousse so the quantity below is half which is perfect for assembling the cake.

1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 envelope unflavored gelatin or 2 sheets
1/4 cup cold water
1/2 cup egg white (about 3-4 large egg whites)
1/2 cup sugar
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled

Whip cream until it holds a soft peak and refrigerate while preparing other ingredients.

Sprinkle gelatin over the water to soften about 5 minutes. Strain the water out before adding into the egg whites below.

Combine the egg whites and sugar in the bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water. Whisk vigorously with a hand mixer until egg whites are hot and the sugar is dissolved—about 3 minutes. Test a little with your fingers, if it feels gritty continue to heat and whisk until all the sugar is dissolved then remove from heat.

Strain the softened gelatin and whisk into the hot egg whites using the hand mixer then whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form and feels somewhat cooled and creamy in appearance. Do not overbeat or the meringue will become dry. Bring meringue to cool to room temperature, stirring every so often. When it is cool, whisk by hand about a third of the meringue into the chocolate, then quickly fold the chocolate mixture back into the remaining meringue.

Pour the mousse over the prepared base with raspberries and place in the refrigerator to set for at least 3 hours. Then unmold and enjoy!



We were certainly blessed with perfect blue skies and gorgeous weather on our wedding day!


Expansive views from the summit of Mt. Audubon



View of Indian Peaks from Brainard Lake after our hike.

Bird Bars yummy!

In preparation for our hike up to Mt. Audobon for our special day, I decided to make some Bird bars aka granola bars. We call them Bird bars because a good friend pf ours made some and gave them to us and they were so delicious I had to ask her for the recipe. The recipe is actually from Emeril Lagasse which can be found here. I had a little trouble forming it into solid bars but then I substituted the corn syrup with maple syrup and with anything else I make I pretty much just added and sub other nuts and dried fruit. It's so simple to make and absolutely delicious and great energy protein to have on the trail or as a snack. I would certainly recommend following the recipe for best results.

Dutch Baby

Hello and Welcome!

I've been thinking of creating a blog for a while now to share some delicious recipes and discoveries with friends and I found the right opportunity when I was stuck in DIA for close to 10 hours coming from NY and waiting for E to arrive from Chicago so we could drive home to start our new lives together.

So I sat and thought about my latest favourite breakfast item The Dutch Baby! which I made for my sister & family visitng a few weeks ago. I came across this puffy delight a few months ago while having brunch at the Original Pancake House in Boulder. When I saw the waiters walking around with this puffy baked and delicious smelling thing I of course had to have some. After scarfing it down I knew it had to be simple to make thus begin my quest for the recipe. I cannot remember where I found the original recipe from but have since modified it and it is very similar to a Yorkshire pudding. All I can say is that my sister's family loves it and it's absolutely delicious and the results is a terrific presentation and even more divine that it doesn't take much effort to make and it does make the house smell gorgeous! I encourage you to try.


Dutch Baby

4 Large Eggs
1/2 C White Spelt Flour or AP Flour
( I've managed to successfully sub a lot of my recipes due to my wheat allergies with Spelt )
Pinch of Salt
1/2 C Milk
3 tbsp butter - can be less - 2 tbsp
1/3 C brown sugar
Sprinkle of Nutmeg and/or cinnamon
2 apples/pears
A cast iron skillet is best but I've been most successful with a pie dish.

Lightly beat eggs and milk and to this add 1 tbsp of the brown sugar.
Stir in flour and salt until smooth
Heat skillet or pie dish and melt butter in 425˚ oven about 5 mins.
Slice apples/pear about 1/4" thick and stir brown sugar in and sprinkle some nutmeg
Heap the sliced pears/apples in the center of the hot skillet/pie dish
Pour batter over sliced apple/pear. Additionally you can sprinkle a tablespoon of brown sugar and spices over.
Immediately bake for 20-25 mins until puffed and golden.