Chocolate dessert sushi

 

Really just pictures here... not much more that needs to be said. 

 

For those who do care... 

The little guys are modeling chocolate (google it for many many recipes & info!) with rice (white rice, creamed coconut, lime juice & sugar), strawberries and kiwi.  

The big chocolatey rolls are chocolate cake wrapped around cream cheese icing with coconut, lime and ginger rolled around strawberries and kiwi -- then covered in a chocolate caramel & wrapped with modeling chocolate. 

The white are the chocolate cake with icing, strawberry and kiwi like above in between and covered in a white candy ganache. 

 

Mango Sorbet

A great treat that would have been great for hot summer days.  Just enough spice to be a little tangy and keep the palate interesting; not too sweet but just enough to take down the tartness of the mango a little for my taste.

 

Makes: 3 Cups

55 cal per 1/2 cup serving

Ingredients:

2 mangos (450g)

1/2 cup splenda or white sugar

1 cup unsweetened almond milk

1 tsp ground ginger

1/8 tsp ground cumin

Directions: 

- Peel and remove core from 2 mangos. I left some pieces of the peel behind because I like the red and greed speckles in the sorbet.  Chop into approximately 1" pieces. 

- Place all ingredients in blender or mix with immersion blender until smooth

- Pour into freezer safe container and place in freezer.  

- Remove from freezer and mix every 30 minutes until firm

Pumpkin Spice Cake with Maple Frosting

This week I'm having fun with pumpkin.  This one was made for our resident potluck dinner this Sunday.  Overall this was great.

Serves: 12 (One 9 inch layer cake)
Calories: 466/slice

 Ingredients:

Cake
1 box spice cake mix
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin puree
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup sour cream
4 large eggs
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground clove

Frosting
1 can (14oz) white whipped frosting
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 tsp maple extract
1 cup powdered sugar

Directions:

- Preheat oven to 325F.  Grease or use non-stick spray to coat the bottom of 4 9-inch baking pans.

- Mix all cake ingredients as above.  Combine wet ingredients first and finish by sifting in dry ingredients.  Mix just until well blended.


- Divide batter equally among 4 pans


- Bake at 325F for 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean


- Remove from oven and place on rack to cool

- Once completely cooled level cake and coat with simple syrup (I use 1 part sugar dissolved in 1 part boiling water and allowed to cool).

- Place frosting ingredients in bowl and mix thoroughly by hand or with electric mixer.  You may add additional or less powdered sugar to your desired consistency.  This will also have a very strong maple flavor.  If you want something a little more subtle I would omit the maple extract. I mixed until I had formed peaks.

 
- Assemble cake.  Start by placing one layer of cake on stand, top with icing & repeat.  Frost cake including sides and decorate as desired.  I just added a little texture to the icing and sprinkled with pumpkin pie spice and halved pecans. 

Nutritional Information:
Calories 466
Carbs: 90g
Sugar 68g
Protein 4g
Fat 15g

Pumpkin Ice Cream

Makes 3.5 cups
100 calories per 1/2 cup

Ingredients:
1 pound vanilla ice cream (about 1 quart) (I used Breyer's fat free vanilla)
1 cup pumpkin puree
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Directions:
- Soften ice cream in refrigerator for 15 minutes or until soft

- Mix ice cream with pumpkin and spice until blended

- Place in freezer safe container and return to freezer

- After two hours remove from freezer and mix to blend

- Return to freezer and freeze until hardened

Cake Week

It was a full week of birthdays meaning birthday baking. I have two cakes here.  Both what I call "semi-homemade".  Based off of boxed mixes for speed and ease but doctored up a bit.  Still pretty simple but delicious.  First is a chocolate peanut butter pretzel cake.  Second is a white cake with strawberries and cream cheese frosting.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Cake (aka. The Don Juan)

Ingredients:
Crust
1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
8 oz crushed pretzels
3 T brown sugar

Peanut Butter layer:
7 oz creamy peanut butter
2 T powdered sugar

Cake:
Chocolate cake of choice (I used Devil's Food cake mix)

Frosting:
16 oz vanilla frosting
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk (other milk would work as well, this is just what I had on hand)
1/4 cup powdered sugar

Directions
- Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease or spray bottom of two 8 or 9-inch cake pans (I used 9 inch pans)
- Crush pretzels and mix with butter and brown sugar.  Divide between the two pans and press to the bottom of the pan

















- Mix peanut butter and powdered sugar in a small sauce pan over low heat.  Stir frequently heating just until the mixture has softened to allow easier spreading.  Divide and spread a thin layer over the pretzel crusts.













- Prepare cake batter as directed.  Divide evenly between the two pans and pour over the pretzel crust. Bake at 350F for 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

- Remove pans from oven and place on rack to cool.  Once cooled completely level cakes and brush with a simple syrup (for simple syrup I dissolved 1/2 cup sugar in 1/2 cup boiling water and allowed to cool).

- Prepare frosting by mixing ingredients with hand mixer until blended.  You can also mix by hand or use stand mixer as desired.  Add additional powdered sugar if needed for desired consistency. 

- Apply crumb coat to cakes prior to frosting.  Frost bottom layer of cake with frosting and sprinkle with crushed pretzels.  These pretzels will soften quickly so I would omit these if you are not going to serve the cake within 24 hours.













- Repeat for additional layers.  










- Decorate as desired.  I used additional twist pretzels and chocolate covered pretzels as well as a chocolate drizzle on top made from melted chocolate chips and paraffin. 

The Strawberry Juice

Not much to this recipe.  It's just pretty.
I used a standard white cake mix as directed.
Cream cheese frosting.
Chocolate covered strawberries and sliced strawberries for garnish.
In between the layers is the cream cheese frosting and sliced strawberries.