I won the chocolate challenge...well, almost

17 years ago

I came in second...but first place was a nice restaurant with a pastry chef, so I feel pretty good.

I doated three items for an American Cancer Society chocolate fundraiser. One was my favorite brownie recipe topped with a bittersweet chocolate ganache, one was little cups of chocolate mousse, and one was a Kahlua cake with chocolate mousse and covered in edible flowers.

My Kahlua cake came in second overall, but came in first for most beautiful presentation!

I just used my favorite chocolate cake recipe, and instead of water, used 3/4 cup coffee and 1/2 cup Kahlua. then the mousse filling was my very favorite mousse recipe. It's not as light as most mousses, but it rich and has real depth of flavor. I planeed to top it with chocolate covered strawberries and whipping cream, but ran out of time, so I just added some edible flowers I had on hand...and it still won for prettiest presentation, LOL.

Now I am eager to make it again, for home, so I can taste it!

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (15)

mustangs81
17 years ago
Yea Sherry!! It certainly sounds worthy of an award.

You didn't get to taste it? Okay, here's the plan, you replicate it, I'll come up and critique it with you for taste.
wizardnm
17 years ago
Sherry, your cake sounds yummy. I'm not surprised at all that you created a winner!

Just let me know when you need a taste tester....

Nancy
Related Discussions
ot: potd: ooops with the game going i almost forgot the potd lol
Q
Comments (13)
Beautiful Amaryllis, mine got too tall this year also. Brrrrrrrrrr is right! Here in San Antonio we are expecting the coldest weather in 40 years. We might not get above freezing on Friday! Many of the plants I brought in a few weeks ago are sprouting new leaves. The first hard freeze snuck up on us and I accidentally left the Duranta out and thought it was dead, but now it's sprouting new leaves. Even one small Brug cutting that got left out is now sprouting from the bottom even though the top is shriveled. We'll be moving the Christmas lights over to the plants that are too big to bring in.
...See More
My Chocolate Mint is diseased (I think)
Q
Comments (8)
If this were my plant, this is what I would do. First I would look under one of those leaves for something that looks like very small particles of white sand within the pockets between the veins. The stipling on the leaf looks like something is feeding on it, possibly spider mites. You might not see any webbing but for that, look at the leaf nodes at the stem. The spots look like leaf spot to me. Though it is a little hard to tell from the photo, it seems some spots are developing lighter coloring within the spot. I won't guess what type of leaf spot it is, but below is one source that lists types of leaf spot that might affect mint. Here are two pictures of phosphorus deficiency that look similar to your damage. They are shown by other plants types and compared to most pics representing phosphorus deficiency, yours really doesn't match. Are these pics incorrect? Who knows but it is interesting that the clover site mentions it is caused by cold roots that cannot uptake the phosphorus and wasn't your plant stationed at the window? http://www.windowbox.com/tomatoes/tomatosolutioncenter.html http://www.luminet.net/~wenonah/min-def/clover.htm As Ken writes, the temps drop next to the window especially at night - radiant heat loss and such- many of my plants can't take that position. The leaves crisp and drop in my house. The roots will rot. My plants do a little better if they are a foot or so away. They do even better under lights in the basement. Plants reaching for light do seem to loose the bottom leaves, don't they? If it were my plant, I would cut off anything that looks damaged. I would throw out the soil and change the pot. I would prefer a clay pot that breaths to a plastic pot. Though they dry out faster, they don't promote fungal rot as much. You don't have the same damp water lingering in one place as long, growing mold and fungi. I would examine the size of the root and choose my pot accordingly. If it ends up being spidermites or such, I would cut the tops off all together, rinse the white roots - they should be white in mint - and spread them out in a new pot. They will grow. I do this every year when I refresh my pots of mint. I leave them outdoors in pots all winter. Most of it dies but a few bits of root live and are obvious by being white. I take these bits, lay them out, throw out the old withered, pieces and the mints refresh themselves. Finally, if you still have problems keeping them indoors, divide the root, create a new pot and bury one outside where it won't sit in water and ice over. In the end, as long as you can somehow keep them going for the winter, it will refresh come spring when you can bring it outdoor and trim the roots if needed and the top. Here is a link that might be useful: APS - Diseases of Mint
...See More
I won't call this Chicken Dinner.....yet
Q
Comments (23)
I grew up on a farm, and we had chickens also - just for the eggs. It was scary sometimes collecting eggs because I would frequently find cottonmouth snakes in the barn, and they are very dangerous. I liked the chickens when I was very young and used to chase them around to pet them. Of course they didn't like being caught, but I would chase them until they got tired and gave up. I didn't name them because they were all white, and I couldn't tell them apart. After we no longer had chickens, a couple of wild (or loose) peacocks (one peacock and one peahen) decided to move into the empty chicken coop. The peacock moved in first and was a bit neurotic because he wasn't getting enough attention, and so he would strut for anything with a pair of eyes, including my agoraphobic cat, whom he terrorized whenever I took him outside. The cat was named Tina, but that was before I found out he was a male. He was married to my other cat Eichendorff, whom I called "Ike" for short, although I had to have the marriage annulled. Lars
...See More
Chocolate covered dates with walnuts or almonds
Q
Comments (4)
I think you're right about chilling them, but freezing is probably too cold for the chocolate process. Chilling doesn't really bother dates. They go back to normal on the counter. Dehydrating while chilling is another story, but they can also be rehydrated, but that would be for use in something rather than straight. Still, I'm not sure I agree with your basic premise that chocolate will unsweet them. It's it's just balancing the sweet perception on your tongue, that could work. For me, sweet isn't just the flavor, but that *pow* of all that sugar. For that, cutting them up and rolling them in chopped nuts might be more to the point, cutting down on date per bite.
...See More
doucanoe
17 years ago
Oh YUM! I am pretty sure if I were entering a chocolate contest all of my entries would arrive with a bite out of them! LOL

Congratulations, Sherry! That's pretty cool you are second only to a fancy restaurant's pastry chef! WOW!

One question, tho. How in the world do you have edible flowers "on hand" in the middle of a Midwest winter???

Oh, and I'm all over that tasting party, too! You've got my number...

Linda
pkramer60
17 years ago
I have the most brillant idea. Make it in March, bring it to Chicago and we will "taste test" again!

Congratulations!
annie1992
17 years ago
Oh yeah, I agree with Peppi, I'd be happy to taste test in March.

Oh, and I want that mousse recipe too.

Annie
pat_t
17 years ago
Sherry, please, please, please post the mousse recipe! I have to turn in a decorated cake with a filling THIS COMING FRIDAY in my culinary practical exam class and I need a GREAT filling for my chocolate cake.

Oh yes, and congrats!
User
17 years ago
Congratulations Sherry.

Share those recipes.

Please.

Ann
loves2cook4six
17 years ago
Congratulations!!

But this thread is worthless without pictures!
compumom
17 years ago
Fantastic, congratulations! I can attest first hand after Canny Camp, that you're a great cook with a flair for presentation!
sheshebop
Original Author
17 years ago
This would be a very good filling for a cake, because it is stiffer than most mousses, so it should take the weight of a layer on top of it without it squishing out. I used a Maryann cake pan, with the recess in the top of the pan used for a filling.
Here is the mousse recipe:

Bittersweet Mousse

8 oz. bittersweet chocolate coarsely chopped ( I used Scharffenberger)
2 egg yolks beaten
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1-1/2 cup whipping cream, separated

1. In a small sauce pan, combine chopped chocolate, egg yolks, sugar, water, and 1/2 cup of the whipping cream. Cook over medium heat until mixture starts to bubble around edges * I hate chopping chocolate, so I just melted the whole mess in a double boiler or it could scorch the milk before the 1 oz. chunks of chocolate melted. After it was melted, I removed the bottom of the double boiler and brought the top pan with the chocolate back to a light boil.
2. Remove the chocolate mix and set the whole pan into a large bowl of ice water. Cool, stirring frequently. This took about 10 minutes. Stir hard and often so it doesn't turn back into a hard mess. ( You could skip this step and just cool naturally, but it would take a lot longer)
3. In a chilled mixing bowl beat remaining 1 cup of whipping cream just until thickened. Do not beat to soft peaks or it will be too stiff. ** If using this for a filling on a layer cake, go ahead and whip until peaks form. It will stiffen the mousse up to hold a layer cake nicely. Fold the whipped cream into the chocolate mixture. *** Normally this is a careful process of not overworking the mousse to keep it lighter. However, I love the thick, spongy-like density of the chocolate mixture from mixing it in well. Besides, the chocolate mixture is pretty thick, and you must beat hard to mix in the whipped cream.
Cover and chill 2-24 hours.

This is super super simple and very very tasty.

Sorry I did not have time to take pix. I am having a chocolate bar at my soup party on the 28th. I will try to take a picture then.

Linda, I had the edible flowers on hand cause I bought them for a french silk pie I was making for the neighbors, but ended up not making it, so they were on hand and needed to be used, LOL.
doucanoe
17 years ago
I third Peppi's idea!

Winning entry tasting party in Chicago...OH YEAH!

Linda
sheshebop
Original Author
17 years ago
I actually think I can do that. Pajama Party WITH chocolate.
annie1992
17 years ago
Oh yeah, I'm glad you're spending the night, Sherry. I'm still trying to arrange an overnight, it takes so long for me to arrange anything, LOL.

Annie
dixiedog_2007
17 years ago
Congrats to you Sherry and lucky for all the others if they get a chance to taste it in March! I'm envious.:)
sheshebop
Original Author
17 years ago
Annie, are you staying at Peppi's?

I won the chocolate challenge...well, almost

Comments (15)

mustangs81

wizardnm

Related Discussions

doucanoe

pkramer60

annie1992

pat_t

User

loves2cook4six

compumom

sheshebop
Original Author

doucanoe

sheshebop
Original Author

annie1992

dixiedog_2007

sheshebop
Original Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

I won the chocolate challenge...well, almost

Comments (15)

Related Discussions

sheshebopOriginal Author

sheshebopOriginal Author

sheshebopOriginal Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

sheshebop
Original Author

sheshebop
Original Author

sheshebop
Original Author