Medley of Cakes and A Spicy Cilantro Mousse

Hey Guys!!!

Welcome back. The gloomy, gray sky greeted us this beautiful September day. The sentence seems to contradict itself but as you know me, I love rainy weather. My sister's birthday is today and as it has been every other September 16th I can remember, rain is on the schedule. It shall be a celebration day as we are blessed to have had her for another year. Let's wish her the very best on this new one.

Considering my last post was four days ago, there's not much to tell, but I will try my best to have your attention. Friday I spent the morning running some errands and stocking up on necessary ingredients, while the warm afternoon had me finishing off some cakes. One of them was cancelled, but I owed my mother a cake from a while ago, so I whipped up a new creation: Dulce de Leche filled, Fluffy Chocolate Cake with White Chocolate Buttercream.  There's only a tiny slice left...apparently people did like it. 

The right medley of flavors packed into a cake

The evening comprised sangria and reminiscing on old school days. Sadly, as morning approached, I realized I had to bake, so off to bed I went. Up and ready to go I was at 10 a.m Saturday morning and the entire day flew by as I created a Cow Cake and massive German Chocolate cake for my sister's birthday celebration on Sunday. I wasn't entirely sure how I was to create the cow when I baked the vanilla layers, but Pinterest helped me with a carving idea and soon the beautiful layer formed a cute cow. Filled with lemon curd and frosted with vanilla buttercream, the cake looked divine and my customer and the birthday girl for whom the cake was for were both impressed and happy.

Moo-Inspired Birthday Cake

It was 11 p.m at night, when happily piping roses on the 4 layered 10x10" German Chocolate Cake I realized I had run out of ganache. To tired to carry on, I decided it was best to leave for the next day...I was glad I did. I passed out within seconds, having accumulated stress and short sleep during the past week. But morning was cruel...it came within minutes, or so I thought. Quickly and reluctantly, I readied myself and soon I was back in the kitchen. I prepared the ganache I needed to complete the cake and left it to chill. My brother had requested the Lemon Meringue Roulade as his last dessert, so I followed with that. Because we had an afternoon party to celebrate my sister's twenty-something birthday, there was movement all around the house. Noon flew by and around 2:30 p.m, people began to arrive. I still had a Cilantro Mousse to make so I continued with that. 

The spicy kick gives off the finishing touch

I took some time to enjoy a late lunch, before heading back to the kitchen to finish the cake. In total, I used 24 ounces of dark chocolate to make the ganache and pipe the roses and to my surprise, I used every last drop. The gorgeous cake was finally done and I celebrated with a well deserved beer. It wasn't long before we sang Happy Birthday that the cake was cut, before I screamed at everyone to evacuate the kitchen and leave me in peace to cut it (yeah...I'll never hear the end of me being a lunatic angry woman with anger management issues...oh well). My brother was slightly angry as HIS dessert was gone within seconds and he "only had one piece!!!" I don't know how many people came in total, but the massive cake, the lemon roulade and even the cake I had made for my mother are now history. I received great compliments on it, and that is all I can ask for: happy customers.

The ganache is divine!!!

The party ended around midnight, and although I desperately needed some sleep, I could not bare the sight of the chaos left, so we cleaned up. As usual, morning came too quickly and I accompanied my dad and my brother to the airport to bid him farewell and good luck on his last year of college. A lovely lunch, project meeting and family time later, here we are. I'll be getting to bed soon, so I wish you all a beautiful and happy week.

Until next time. 

xx

Cilantro Mousse

Adapted from The Food Network

Ingredients:

Non-stick cooking spray

1 1/2 bunches fresh cilantro, washed and dried, leaves only (about 2 1/4 C., loosely packed)

1 avocado

3 green onions (scallions), white and pale green parts only, thinly sliced

8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature

1 t. salt

1/2 T. ground cumin

1 1/2 T. fresh lemon juice

1/2 T. chili flakes

1 C. cold water, divided

2 (1/4-ounce) envelopes unflavored gelatin (Knox)

Preparation:

Spray 3 (1 cup) or 6 (1/2 cup) ramekins with vegetable oil cooking spray.
Place the cilantro, green onions, avocado, cream cheese, salt, ground cumin, lemon juice, and chili flakes in a food processor and puree until smooth.
Pour 1/4 cup water in a small bowl. Sprinkle the gelatin over the water and let it sit for a few minutes. Place the remaining 3/4 cup water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Pour the boiling water over the softened gelatin and whisk until the gelatin has dissolved.
Add the gelatin to the mixture in the food processor, pulsing until pureed and thoroughly blended.
Pour the mixture into the prepared ramekins. Refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours.

To unmold, fill a large container with very hot water. Dip the ramekins in the water for 1 minute. Run a small, sharp knife tip around the edge of each mousse. Unmold onto a platter. Let stand at room temperature for 20 minutes before serving.*

*Personally, I found that the hot water was unnecessary and the first time I did it, it melted the outer part of the mousse. I opted to refrigerate it a little longer and it came away from the edges on its own. My other option was to use plastic containers, which resulted in easy removal and held  the container's shape.