Chocolate Truffle Pie

For Thanksgiving at my in-laws' this year I was assigned a chocolate dessert. I didn't really feel like making brownies or cake, and I found this recipe for Chocolate Truffle Pie that sounded amazing. A chocolate ganache layer, a chocolate whipped cream layer and a sweetened whipped cream layer in a graham cracker crust- three ingredients and some chilling time.

The pie is very rich and sweet- I would recommend cutting these slices very small. It's delicious and everyone loved it!

Truffle Pie

adapted from Deen Brothers

Truffle Layer:
2⁄3 cup heavy cream
1 cup dark chocolate chips
1 10-inch prepared graham cracker crust

Whipped Chocolate Layer:
1 cup dark chocolate chips
1 1⁄2 cups heavy cream
1⁄2 teaspoon vanilla

Whipped Cream Topping:
1 cup heavy cream
1⁄4 cup confectioners’ (powdered) sugar
For the truffle filling, in a saucepan, bring 2⁄3 cup cream to a simmer. Place the 1 cup chocolate chips in a bowl and pour the hot cream over the chocolate. Let stand for 1 minute, then gently whisk until smooth. Spread truffle filling over the bottom of the prepared crust. Freeze for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, for the whipped chocolate filling, in a small saucepan over low heat, melt the 1 cup chocolate chips and 1/2 cream until melted, stirring often. Let cool to room temperature. In a chilled bowl, beat the remaining 1 cup cream until thick. Add the chocolate mixture and the vanilla and beat until firm peaks form. Spread the whipped chocolate mixture over the truffle filing in the crust. Refrigerate overnight.

Just before serving, for the topping, beat 1 cup cream on medium speed of an electric mixer until it begins to thicken. Add confectioners’ sugar and whip until stiff peaks form. Spread the whipped cream over the top of the pie. Serve immediately.
Servings: 8

Hello Kitty Cake V

Oh, the ever popular Hello Kitty party decor at Party City. This is the fifth cake I've done to match it. I love Hello Kitty and it's fun to come up with new ways to incorporate the colors and elements. This cake was for Olivia, who turned 5. I worked with Olivia's mom a few years back and we were pregnant at the same time. I imagine our boss was thrilled to have two of us on maternity at the same time. Oh, well.
Olivia's mom wanted fondant swags and a Hello Kitty figure. The HK is RKT (a little fat). The cake is chocolate vanilla marble with chocolate buttercream.

Elmo Sesame Street Cake

This cake was for Carolina (LOVE that name! We almost named both our daughters that, but alas, other names won out), who turned 2. Her favorite Sesame Street characters are Elmo, Cookie Monster and Abby Cadabby. Elmo's body is cake, but his head and limbs are RKT. The rest of the decorations are fondant and gumpaste.

Green Orchid Cake

A 50th birthday cake for my husband's business partner. Green orchids are made from gumpaste/fondant, wrapped in satin ribbon. Cakes were red velvet and carrot with vanilla filling.

Star Wars Cake

A Star Wars cake for Coleman, who apparently loves Darth Maul. His mom wanted a positive influence as well, so Yoda made it on there, too.

 

The cake was dark chocolate with cookie butter filling.

Salted Caramel Apple Bars

Ahhh, fall. I grew up in Salt Lake City, where there are distinct seasons. And fall was not my favorite because it meant school started and it was right before winter. Now that I live in Southern California, I love fall because it means sweaters, soups and pretending that it's chilly (I now really think 68 is chilly. What's wrong with me?), even though it's sunny and warm outside.
Ok, well it was pretend fall last week- for a few days it was rainy and chilly- like 65! Then it got warm again. I'm not complaining. But to make it seem more like fall, I decided to make some apple bars. I bought these huge organic granny smith apples and decided I wanted to put them in a yummy recipe. I don't really do fruit and desserts that much, especially pie, so I wanted something different. I stumbled upon Two Peas and their Pod's recipe for Salted Caramel Apple Crumb bars and decided to try it out.
The recipe starts out with making a salted caramel sauce, which is pretty easy. I got a little worried once I added the TWELVE TABLESPOONS OF BUTTER that it was too greasy, especially since it's followed by 1 cup of heavy cream, but once the sauce cooled, it was fine. And delicious.
The rest of the recipe is a cinch- two bowls (well, I only used two), no stand mixer, mix, press, pour and bake. Love it.

Sorry for the bad photo

This is best eaten the day of because the golden brown topping and crust gets soggy. Also, I added one teaspoon of vanilla to the caramel sauce before letting it cool. Get the recipe here!