Chocolate Tower Torte

We all love chocolate! Right? Come on! Don't deny it! Well, I am not gonna deny it! I LOVE CHOCOLATE! Milk, Semi Sweet, Dark, and White! What I have created here is amazing! It is of course chocolate cake, with white buttercream, and chocoalte buttercream, decorated, sinfully with dark chocolate shavings and broken pieces. Talk about trying to put the fork down and not get another slice!  

Your My Best Friend

Not many people get to share a very special day with their best friend, but I do! My and my best friend share the best thing ever! Our birthday! It's almost here again! We always have to make a big compromise on what to do for a cake! Sometimes we have one cake, and lots of other times I am making two cakes! Just cause we share the same birthday, doesn't mean we have the same likes all the time! Well, This cake was super yummy! It is a chocolate cake with real coffee in it! Give's ya a lil kick in the butt to have a great birthday! It is loaded with yummy white chocolate and dark chocolate shavings! The inside had a yummy chocolate mousse! It was amazing!

I wonder what we will agree on for this years birthday celebration! I enjoy sharing this very special day with my best friend! This year it will be our 7th birthday celebration together! I look forward to many, many more!!!

Hope and Harmony

The weather here in Florida has been getting pretty hot! It has also been booming with weddings! One of my favorite things to do as a cake decorator is a wedding cake! I love the beauty and the elegance that a wedding cake can give! I also love knowing that I made that pesons day special. Everone always wants to know what the cake looks like! Right?!?! I know I do! Decorating wedding cakes brings out my true passion and my true love for the art! The cake I made here is very simple, but also very delecate and soft. To me it kind of does bring out harmony! I think so far it is one of my favorites! I love the white roses and the light olive green color, and the clear acrylic tube is something else! Who would have thought that someone would do a wedding cake in olive green? Well, you'd be surprised! Here it is guys and gals! The little one is a mini wedding cake to compliment the big one! Cute idea!

Brownie or fudge?

My sister came to visit me the other day! She told me she wanted to make brownies! So out came the good ol' recipe book. In this case it was the internet! We found such a yummy recipe! It is Bobby Flays recipe! Fudge Peanut Butter Caramel Brownies! These are sooo fudgey and chewy, that they need to stay in the fridge so they don't get all sticky and melt on you!  I tell ya, it is hard to eat just one!

The most requested part is the recipe! So here it is for all you die hard brownie lovers! Enjoy!

Ingredients

1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1 tablespoon corn syrup
Pinch sea salt
1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into chunks
6 ounces high-quality unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped, plus 4 ounces
1 teaspoon espresso powder
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown muscavado sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

Directions

Bring the cream to a simmer over low heat in a small saucepan. Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan over high heat and cook, without stirring until amber brown. Slowly whisk in the warm cream until smooth and let cook for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and whisk in the peanut butter, corn syrup, sea salt and 1/8 teaspoon of vanilla extract until smooth. Transfer to a bowl and let cool until thickened at room temperature, about 30 minutes.

Put a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line a 9 by 13-inch baking pan with foil, leaving an overhang on the narrow ends. Spray the foil and pan with nonstick spray.

Combine the butter, unsweetened chocolate, 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate and espresso powder in a medium bowl set over a pot of simmering water. Let the chocolate melt over low heat, stirring frequently until smooth. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly, about 5 minutes.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, both sugars, vanilla and salt until smooth. Whisk in the melted chocolate mixture until combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Beat in the flour in 2 additions (the batter will be thick). Stir in the remaining 4 ounces of chopped bittersweet chocolate.

Scrape half of the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Using a tablespoon, drop dollops of half of the peanut butter caramel every 2 inches over the top of the batter. Carefully add the remaining batter and smooth over the caramel. Smooth the top and dollop the remaining caramel over the top. Use a butter knife to swirl through the batter to get a marbleized effect.


Bake until the top is set but still soft and the edges are puffed and just beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan, about 23 to 35 minutes. A toothpick inserted in the center will come out still gooey (be brave!--underbaking the brownies is one of the secrets to their fudgy texture). Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the neatest cuts, refrigerate the pan for about 20 minutes before cutting the brownies. Using the foil, lift the brownie slab out of the pan. Carefully peel off the foil and put the brownie on a large cutting board. With a large sharp knife, cut the brownies into 48 squares. (The brownies can be stored in an airtight container, at room temperature, for up to 3 days; they can also be frozen, well wrapped, for up to 2 weeks.) I like to keep mine in the fridge! The stay in tact and are super yummy cold!