I know, the photo turned out a bit scary looking. There was no way to fix it since the rest of the batch was eaten earlier. Oh boy, were they good!

I guess there’s no need to tell you about the antioxidant properties and all other health-benefits of the pomegranate juice – everyone is amazingly educated these days. But if you find juicing of fresh fruit somewhat labor-intensive (honestly, I do) or simply can’t find fresh pomegranate (they are seasonal), there’s a blessed product – POM Wonderful – natural juice which is available year round in any well-stocked grocery store.

Continue with the recipe »

Yes, it’s this time of the month. And the current Daring Bakers’ challenge is Italian cannoli hosted by Lisa Michele of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives, who chose the recipe from the cookbooks Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and The Sopranos Family Cookbook by Allen Rucker; recipes by Michelle Scicolone, as ingredient/direction guides. She added her own modifications/changes, so the recipe is not 100% verbatim from either book. The dough recipe was mandatory but the filling options were left entirely up to the bakers.

My filling was a mixture of chestnut puree, fresh ricotta, mascarpone, grated bittersweet chocolate, toasted hazelnuts and a bit of dark rum. This is what I used for stuffing the traditional cannoli shells.

I also fried larger in diameter, cylinder-shaped shells, so I could play a little. Into the bottom of these shells I fitted the circle cut-outs of chocolate-chestnut cake. I topped them with almost the same chestnut filling mentioned earlier, but lightened with some whipped cream to make the consistency more mousse-like. The very last layer was bittersweet chocolate ganache.

Lisa, thank you very much for the delicious challenge! We all (well.., everyone who can eat nuts) loved it!

Happy Holidays!

Continue with the recipe »

The recipe for the cinnamon panna cotta is adapted from Camilla V. Saulsbury’s “Panna Cotta” book which was brought to my attention by a publisher. Despite my skepticism towards the unmolded panna cotta in general, I have to admit that this recipe successfully achieves both – creamy texture and free-standing presentation. I didn’t serve it with a sticky toffee sauce as per author’s suggestion, but with spicy autumn fruit compote to cut down the richness a bit.

The book has a lot of interesting ideas, delicious flavor combinations and not only sweet, but savory as well. Just for the tease in light of the upcoming holidays – Chestnut Caramel, Pumpkin, Molasses, Five-Spice and Honey, Gingerbread Spice, and much more.

Continue with the recipe »

I’ve already told you (I’m afraid more than once) about my relationship with pumpkin-based desserts. I like it, but only when the pumpkin is seriously diluted and lightened. This cake belongs to the same category “for pumpkin pie haters”. And this is my family’s favorite autumn cake.

Continue with the recipe »

I promise the next post will contain a new recipe, something seasonal, perhaps. But now I’ve got only time for a photo series of another decorated birthday cake. I hope you don’t mind. And thank you, all of you, who left such lovely comments on my previous post. I’m very much obliged to each and everyone!

Deep inside of this thing are two chocolate cake and ganache sandwiches (four thin chocolate layers in total) with a crisp hazelnut meringue and Swiss vanilla buttercream between them. Frosting is the same vanilla buttercream.

Meringue is not what I particularly like to put under the fondant. But the client was persuasive. I just kept the cake in the fridge all the time, taking it off for a short period of time to attach the ribbons, bow, and circle cut-outs.

Click to see more photos…

It’s been awhile since I posted any decorated cakes that I make. So, I decided to share some cake photos with you. This is one of my recent creations.

The baby’s favorite toy is a frog and it determined the theme. All decorative elements are made either from gum paste or fondant. Everything is edible except the wire.

This is a chocolate almond cake filled and frosted with chocolate mousseline with armagnac-soaked prunes folded into the filling portion. Obviously, the cake is intended for parents’ consumption. Poor Nicki will only be allowed to blow the candle – quite a tease for a little guy. Although, I agree that it’s not yet the time to introduce sweets into his diet.

Happy Birthday, Nicki!

Click to see more photos…