Strawberry-Chocolate Dream Cake

Cakes are perfect for all occasions. Baking one can be one of the most satisfying art forms. Not only is it an enjoyable thing to plan about, but you and your guests get to eat the results of a joyful effort.

People usually depend on a cake book for their cake-making escapades. I too have a good cake book collection but I prefer to make experiments and be creative in my cakes. Try this strawberry-chocolate dream cake and make this your own delicious surprise for any occasion.

You'll need:

• 1 ready prepared deep sandwich cake
• 110g (3 ½ oz) strawberry jam
• 315g (10 oz) milk chocolate
• 13 firm strawberries with stalks, washed and dried
• 110g (3 ½ oz) plain dark chocolate bars
• 12 rose leaves leaves
• 155ml heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon milk
• Piping bag with large star-shaped tube

Procedure

Melt milk chocolate. Spread about 2/3 of the melted chocolate over top and sides of cake with a palette knife. Leave until fully set. Using back of knife, mark top of the cake to form 12 equal portions or slices, but do not slice. Meanwhile, dip 12 of the strawberries into remaining milk chocolate until half-covered. Leave to set or until chocolate is firm.

Melt plain dark chocolate then brush melted chocolate over tops of leaves. Set aside to set or until chocolate is firm. Very carefully pull leaves away from chocolate. Make more chocolate leaves than you need in case of breakages. In a large bowl, whip cream with milk until thick, using a whisk or hand-held mixer.

Transfer to prepared piping bag and pipe 12 swirls around edge of cake. Decorate with the half-dipped strawberries and chocolate leaves. Place the plain strawberry in the center.

Enjoy your new chocolate birthday cakes.

Old-Fashioned Cookies - Why Are They So Much Loved

I want to make some sugary delights, like that of an old-fashioned taste in a cookie. Well, I have flour, eggs, oil, sugar...pecans...almonds...a handful or so of currants...honey, peanut butter, jam...Is there anything I can make that is yummy from any one of the ingredients I have? I was thinking maybe caramel or something, like old fashioned candy made from boiled sugar water with stuff added in. Or pecan bark or something?

Despite the fact that chocolate oatmeal cookies are not much considered a favorite these times, old cookie recipes are still among the best, and the reason why? Traditional cookie recipes carry the emblem of the memorable delicious taste and spirit of long ago. Therefore it is proven that sometimes traditions are best! Even the kids today will want to get savvy to make a treat of this wonderful historical taste in their cookie.

As well as I can remember, every time my youngest Aunt makes a batch of a cookie, she always begin by pairing things that she likes like peanuts and beer, for instance, then she'd find ways to wrap them up together in a neat little package. Chocolate and coffee were a pretty easy one to accomplish, but getting pastis, which I'm wild about, into a cookie, took a little more experimenting.


In addition to her classic combination, she said its her great way to encourage people to be more adventurous gastronomically. She says that combining unexpected flavors and then offer them from the framework of something that’s so comfortable and familiar, guarantees deliciousness in your cookie recipe. Like her, I've also become a big fan of anything baked. So good that when I eat them, I say ‘that's really good!’

Chocolate Covered Potato Chips

Good news! Dark chocolate is healthy.

Did you know that high concentrations of cocoa found in the black chocolate helps improve the vascular function to relax blood vessels? If it reduces the risk of blood clots, then it helps avoid cholesterol accumulation, and if these benefits are able to improve proper cardiac function then it helps decrease high blood pressure!

If this is good news, why continue to be guilty about eating chocolate? For as long as we eat in moderation, perhaps it doesn't hurt that much, don't you think?

Ingredients:

- 8 oz Sweet or milk chocolate, finely chopped
- 24 ridged potato chips, thick-sliced

Procedure:

Melt 6 ounces of chocolate. Remove from heat. While chocolate is still hot,mix the remaining 2 ounces milk chocolate into the melted chocolate, stirring constantly. Dip the potato chips one at a time into the chocolate mixture. Using a small fork, twirl to coat completely. Rap the fork with the coated potato chip at the edge of the bowl to shake off excess chocolate. Remove any drips from the bottom by running the fork across the edge of the bowl. Slide the chips onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment or wax paper. Allow to cool until solid. Let chips sit at room temperature or in the refrigerator. Makes two dozen chips.

Easy French Chocolate Beignets

You don't need to be a good pastry baker to make chocolate beignet treats. Using ordinary ingredients from your kitchen, this beignet recipe from Big Oven is surely a big treat for everyone.

You just need:

• Canned refrigerated biscuits


• Semi-sweet chocolate chips


• peanut oil


• confectioner's sugar

Directions:

Remove regrigerated biscuits from their can. Stretch each biscuit to make a circle of dough. Put a few chocolate chips on the dough. Fold the dough in half, enclosing the chocolate chips. Use your fingers to pinch the edges together, so that you have a crescent of dough that completely encloses the chocolate chips. Make sure there are not holes in the dough or gaps in the edges. Meanwhile, heat about 1 inch of peanut oil in a heavy pot to 350 degrees. When the oil is hot enough, carefully place a chocolate-filled crescent into the hot oil. The dough of the crescent should sizzle. The beignet will cook very quickly. When it is brown on the bottom, let it roll over in the oil to brown the other side. When brown on both sides, remove from oil, and place on paper toweling to drain. Quickly roll the beignet in a container of confectioner's sugar to coat all over. Place them in a pretty serving plate.

Your beignet is ready to eat!

I thought you might like homemade bagels paired with a glass of pure hot chocolate too!

Poached Peaches in Dark Chocolate Sauce

This quick chocolate dessert from Chef Lynne Mullins is real fruit in sugar syrup covered with dark chocolate sauce. I bet this is another wonderful fruity-chocolatey madness we all can go mad of.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup caster sugar
• 4 whole large peaches (peeled)
• 100g dark chocolate (chopped)
• 150ml pouring cream
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp butter (chopped)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Procedure:

• Stir 1 cup caster sugar and 1 cup water in a medium saucepan over low heat until sugar dissolves.
• Add 4 whole large peaches (peeled) and simmer for 3-5 minutes, depending on ripeness, or until tender when pierced with a skewer.
• Remove peaches and cool.
• Stir 100g dark chocolate (chopped) and 150ml pouring cream in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water until chocolate is melted and smooth.
• Remove from heat and add 2 tbsp sugar, 2 tbsp butter (chopped) and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract and stir until smooth and glossy.
• Cool slightly.
• Pour a little of the cooking juices over peaches and drizzle with chocolate sauce.
• Arrange in an elegant glass serving dish.
• Serves 4.
  

Have You Ever Baked One of Simplest But...

Have you ever baked?

One of the simplest but among the most satisfying snacks are my favorite chocolate chip cookies. If you love them too, you most likely will cherish baking this cookie chip recipe that I am sharing. This sweet indulgence has been my family’s favorite. I came from a big family so we almost always make lots of these delicious chips on our gatherings.

This cookie recipe makes more than 4 dozen chocolate chip cookies. You can have fun following it as it is, add your favorite flavor, or modify the recipe to your personal taste. Just a good tip to bear in mind is the more brown sugar you use the chewier chips you will get. Plus, you are discovering my family's secret chocolate chip cookie recipe.

Ingredients:

4 cups of unsweetened chocolate
1 cup real butter (or margarine)
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups yellow cake mix (or your favorite cake mix)
Vanilla
Sour Cream

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
2. Dissolve butter or margarine. Combine with the unsweetened chocolate.
3. Sift flour, and combine with the baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
4. In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla.
5. Mix together melted butter with chocolate into the stiffly beaten mixture.
6. Whisk in the sifted ingredients. Include the sour cream.
7. Mix in chocolate chips.
8. Drop rounded tablespoonfuls, or the size you desire for your cookies in aluminum cookie sheets.
9. Bake until edges are beginning to turn dark brown.

If you love chocolate cookies, you will love these recipe. They make a great pair to a glass of warm, or cold milk which children really love. They serve as a perfect treat to almost any family gathering, great as midnight snack and ideal for outdoors. You will be surprised how fast the cookies will disappear during family events. I consider my chocolate chip cookies as one delectable cookie dessert everybody will keep relishing.

I prefer using the yellow box cake mix. Of course, you can use any of your favorite brands. Just do not forget to select the best cake flour possible, if you like your chocolate chips to have a little more body. You hardly can get this with any of the regular unbleached flour.

If your occasion calls for smaller cookies, remember that baking time also goes down. There are ovens that produces heat from the bottom, so to make sure you do not burn the bottom of the cookies, double pan them before baking.

Spend time experimenting mixes and combinations. Doing so will let you discover the perfect chocolate chip cookies your family will adore. As soon as you get hold of the best version, you too will enjoy the luscious delicacy of chocolate chips you can make a tradition yourself.

Have a chocolatey fun!