Happy [Late] Birthday Mom!

For my mom's birthday, I wanted to do something different. For her dessert, she requested something that included either caramel, coffee, or fruit. I managed to get two out of three categories.

The dessert I chose to make, chocolate-caramel tart with drunken raspberries and vanilla creme fraiche, had really high ratings, but also was rated as pretty difficult to make. All in all, it had five components, each equally delicious:

Part 1: Chocolate chip crust- The crust for this tart was different from the usual tart crusts that I have made. It included egg yolks and crushed chocolate chips, so it turned out more like a thin, crispy cookie.

Part 2: Salty-caramel- Salty-caramel is my favorite type of caramel. There is something so perfect about the salty and sweet flavors coming together. The recipe provided a thick, yummy salty-yet-rich caramel layer.

Part 3: Chocolate ganache- The tart included a thick layer of chocolate ganache, which I made from bittersweet Ghirardelli chocolate chips. This was the last layer of the tart.

Part 4: Creme Fraiche- I made a modified creme fraiche topping for the tart (since actual creme fraiche takes at least 8-12 hours). With three types of cream and a little lemon, it turned out light and tangy.

Part 5: Drunken Raspberries-

I was lucky enough to find delicious, plump raspberries from the store. The recipe required me to make them "drunken," which basically means that they sit in alcohol for a few hours. However, I wasn't happy with just one kind of alcohol, so I made three versions: raspberries in amaretto, raspberries in pomegranate martini, and raspberries in triple sec orange. The berries tasted mildly of the differing flavors, but they definitely tasted drunken! I think my favorite was the amaretto!

With all of these parts, it came out DELICIOUS! It was by far the richest recipe I have ever made, but all of the effort was definitely worth it! If you are looking for a rich, decadent recipe, make this! Here it is! Enjoy!

Better late than never

Over Thanksgiving, I was excited to actually get some time to bake. I have had almost no time to bake throughout this quarter, so I took full advantage of the few days off of school to make some tasty treats. However, I have been so busy with my finals that I have not had time to blog about them until now (and that's just because I'm avoiding my homework). This post is a little late, but I hope you will still enjoy it!

The first dessert that I baked was sweet potato cupcakes with burnt marshmallows on top. This recipe was really easy (surprising, since it was Martha Stewart's recipe) and came out really well.
The sweet potatoes caused the cupcakes to be really moist and the burnt marshmallows provided a really yummy substitute for frosting!

Apparently, the cupcakes were so good that Tucker couldn't resist stealing one for himself!

The second dessert that I made for Thanksgiving actually came from the Cooking Light magazine! It was a cranberry tart with meringue topping. It turned out so rich that it's hard to believe that it could qualify as "light."
The directions had me use shortening in the crust, which I don't usually do. It created a really delicious, flaky crust! The cranberry curd had a very strong taste, so I added a lot of meringue to balance it out. Overall, it was very delicious and [relatively] healthy!
Enjoy!