White Chocolate Mousse Cherry Pie

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! November has been a very busy month at our household, let me tell ya! Between birthdays and Thanksgiving, most weekends had something special planned with family and friends. I am not complaining though! It's a wonderful thing to celebrate special events with those you love. :)
One of them is my dear husband's birthday! I had been asking for a while what he wanted on his birthday... he will eat anything dessert-y that I make, but when it comes to that special treat, he had to think for a bit. Then I brought this magazine home:

And he was sold by the cover picture! White Chocolate Mousse Cherry Pie. Wow! Just the title made my mouth water (not to mention the picture itself). 
So here is the recipe for this bad boy, because I know I'll have to make it again someday. Birthday boy enjoyed it!!!

Ingredients:
CRUST:
-16 cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies (aka Oreos)
-3/4 cup chopped macadamia nuts
-2 Tbsp butter, melted
FILLING:
-1 Tbsp cornstarch
-2 Tbsp water
-1 can (21oz) cherry pie filling
-1/2 tsp almond extract
WHITE CHOCOLATE MOUSSE:
-1 cup cold milk
-1 package (3.3oz) instant white chocolate pudding mix
-1 envelope unflavored gelatin
-3 cups heavy whipping cream, divided
-1/4 cup sugar
-1/4 tsp almond extract
GARNISH:
-chocolate curls and drizzle, optional

Directions:
CRUST: 
1. Preheat oven to 350F.  In a food processor, combine the cookies and nuts; cover and process until cookies are finely chopped. Add butter; cover and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
2. Press onto bottom and up the sides of ungreased 9-in deep dish pie plate. Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes or until set. Cool completely on wire rack.
FILLING:
1. Combine the cornstarch and water in a small saucepan until smooth. Stir in pie filling. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for one minute or until slightly thickened. Remove from the heat; stir in the extract. Cool completely.
MOUSSE:
1. In a large bowl, whisk milk and pudding mix for 2 minutes. let stand for 2 minutes or until soft-set; set aside. In a small saucepan, sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup cream; let stand for one minute. Heat over low heat; stirring until gelatin is completely dissolved. Remove from the heat.
2. In a large bowl, beat remaining cream until it begins to thicken. Add sugar and extract; beat until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in gelatin mixture. Fold into pudding. Refrigerate until slightly firm, about 30 minutes.
ASSEMBLY:
Spread cooled filling onto crust; top with mousse. Refrigerate for 2 hours or until firm. Garnish with chocolate curls and drizzle if desired.

Recipe from Taste of Home (Special Editions) - Cooking School Cookbook, Fall 2012

Black Forest Cake

Happy fall to everyone! Had a small hiatus on posting, but have some fun recipes to share with you all :)
Last weekend, the husband of my very good friend from dental school turned the big 3-0 (I know, old right? haha). Since we were going to visit them for his birthday, I offered to make his birthday cake. I asked if he had any requests on cake flavor/idea, and my friend (his wife) said that the combination of cherry and chocolate is one of his favorite flavors. 
So I went on my search for a good black forest cake. I have made a cherry cordial cupcake before, which is a similar combination of the requested cherry and chocolate flavor, but it did not use actual cherries, so I wanted something different. I have seen many promising black forest cupcake recipes, but when I came across this great recipe at the Brown Eyed Baker, I knew my search was over. Her recipe seemed simple enough to make at my friend's kitchen, but still with all the requested flavors.

The cake from the Brown Eyed Baker makes a 9-inch double layer cake. Since this was going to be for a bigger group of people, I chose to double this recipe and make 2 layers of a 9x13in cake pan. After the cake was filled and covered, it made for a pretty big cake, but the birthday "boy" was very pleased :)

I don't have a picture of what the cake looks like on the inside, but I tell you it was yummy!

Black Forest Cake
Makes double layered 9x13in cake


Ingredients
For the cake:
4 cups sugar
3 1/2 cups AP flour
1 1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 Tbsp baking soda
2 tsp salt
4 eggs
2 cups whole milk
1 cup vegetable oil
4 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups boiling water


For the cherries:
2 cans (40 ounces total) cherries, drained (I used dark cherries)
1/2 cup cherry-flavored brandy


For the whipped cream:
3 cups heavy cream, chilled
1 cup powdered sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla extract


Directions:
1. Preheat the oven 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 9x13in rectangular baking pans.
2. Whisk together the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer for 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be very thin). Divide batter between the two prepared pans.
3. Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until a thin knife or toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely.
4. Reserve 12 cherries (or so) for decorating. Combine the remaining cherries and the cherry flavored brandy; set aside.
5. To make the whipped cream, combine the heavy cream, powdered sugar and vanilla extract and whip until soft to almost-stiff peaks form. Refrigerate whipped cream until ready to use.
5. Once the cakes are cool, level the tops and place one layer on a serving platter. Using a slotted spoon, remove the cherries and place on the cake layer. Top with about 1 cup whipped cream, spreading over cherries (that’s an estimation, as I didn’t measure, just covered the cherries and spread into an even layer). Place the second layer on top. Here is an optional step: poke holes on the top of the top layer to spread some of the cherry-flavored brandy and let it soak through the cake (this made for a more moist and cherry-flavored chocolate cake). Frost the entire cake with the remaining whipped cream. Decorate as desired: I used some of the cherries that I had set aside on top of the cake, and then lined the sides of the cake with chocolate shavings.


* Note: To make the chocolate shavings, I used a cheese grater (the bigger side of the grater) to "grate" a block of chocolate. To attach them to the cake, I lifted them with an offset spatula and gently touched them to the sides of the cake.

Happy birthday Mike!

Recipe adapted from Brown Eyed Baker
Original chocolate cake recipe adapted from Hershey’s

Cherry Cordial Cupcake

Happy greetings everyone! Hope all the tryptophan-induced comas are gone and everyone is working towards the next holiday :) 
Here is one of my latest cupcake adventures. One of the doctors I work with happens to L-O-V-E cherry cordial candies! That nice combination of chocolate and cherries is just to die for... So, I thought I could try my hand at replicating this little piece of heaven in cupcake form. The result? Something A-mazing! Well, and by replicating, I mean sticking a frozen cherry cordial into a nice and moist cupcake prior to baking, and voila! The resulting cupcake came out wonderfully: moist chocolaty cupcake that had an added moistness bonus from the cordial itself. I only froze my candies for about 10 minutes, but I think next time I will try to freeze them for longer (maybe 30 minutes or so?) and hope the candy stays whole during the baking process. If it seems that the cherry cordial chocolate shell did melt during baking, then let the cupcake cool completely before eating, so that the chocolate has a little bit of time to harden again.
So onto the recipe: the chocolate cupcake batter is the same from my  chocolate mint cupcake, just without the mint chips. The frosting is an invention of mine that turned out pretty good! Hope you enjoy these yummies!


Cherry Cordial Cupcakes - serves 20-22 cupcakes


Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups AP flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 sticks (12 Tbsp) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup lightly packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract
20-22 Cherry cordial candies, frozen


Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Line the muffin cups with paper lines.
2. Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. in another medium bowl, with an electric mixer on high, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
3. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the melted chocolate. Beat in the vanilla. Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk in batches, beginning and ending with the flour mixture and beating just until blended. 
4. Fill the paper liners 1/2 full. Place one cherry cordial candy into each filled liner until the candy is completely submerged. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean 15-20 minutes. Remove the cupcakes from the baking pan, place on a wire rack, and allow to cool completely.


Cherry Buttercream Frosting


Ingredients:
2 sticks (16 Tbsp) butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
10-15 Maraschino cherries, finely chopped
2 Tbsp liquid from Maraschino cherries
1 Tbsp heavy cream
3.5-4 cups powdered sugar


Directions:
With an electric mixer with the whisk attachment, beat the butter until soft and smooth, about 3 minutes. Add vanilla extract, liquid from cherries, and heavy cream into butter and beat until well blended. Start to add powdered sugar and mix after everyone cup or so of measurement. If the buttercream has too much of a stiff consistency, add a little more heavy cream, and if it is too runny, add more powdered sugar.

Originally adapted from: Hello, Cupcake!: Irresistibly Playful Creations Anyone Can Make