Dessert, the Sweet Spot

[voyager]

10 minutes ago, StephanieL said:

I see--it's red velvet cake without the food coloring.

...or the cocoa powder/chocolate.    Seems a stretch to me.   I just do what I'm asked.

[prasantrin]

Without food coloring or cocoa powder 

Eta oops! Didn't realize there was another page and Voyager said it first!

[Sneakeater]

In principle, I should hate white chocolate.  I mean chocolate without cocoa:  what's the point?

But there are contexts in which I actually like it A LOT.  And @voyager's cake looks like one of them.

If only her son would share (but I sure wouldn't if I were him).

[Sneakeater]

My little brother -- who's a lot bigger and scarier than I am -- would love it, too.

[Sneakeater]

But I'm still biting my tongue not telling him about @bloviatrix's mint chocolate chip ice cream (another of our joint favorites).

[StephanieL]

We're having a couple of folks over, so in deference to the warmer weather I made Maida Heatter's Rancho [Santa Fe] Lemon Mousse.  I was having my doubts that it would set properly--I'm still a gelatin novice--but after 12+ hours in the fridge it's set up great.  We'll have it with fresh berries and Batter Bakery's orange-pistachio shortbread.

[voyager]

Lucky guests!      Truc: leftover mousse makes wonderful ice cream.     You can actually just freeze it as is and it will become "parfait".

[StephanieL]

Sadly, we don't have much room in the freezer for the leftovers.

[StephanieL]

Rum balls for tomorrow's farewell party for our old chorus' director, made "high-octane" because I have a feeling folks are going to need it.

[StephanieL]

Since we had a few Seville (sour) oranges left over from marmalade making, I tried my hand at making sour orange pie, considered the precursor to Key lime pie.  I didn't have enough oranges to get a full 1/2 cup of juice, so I needed to use extra lemon juice (in addition to the 1/2 cup already required).  That and the fact that I didn't make the optional meringue topping yielded a tart pie--not a Key lime pie at all.

I did learn two things, though:

• Don't accidentally set your oven to "convection bake" instead of regular bake.  Bake times and temps will be off.
• Don't substitute Nilla wafers for graham crackers in a pie crust just because you have them.  They're a different animal and the crust will bake hard and be difficult to cut.  (OTOH, the sweetness will counter the tart filling.)

[hollywood]

Forced to eat some peppermint flavored tres leches cake.  My oh my.

[StephanieL]

Was it good or was it awful?

[hollywood]

Very good but very sweet.

[StephanieL]

A few weeks ago, I used a mix to make yuzu ice cream and found the results unimpressive.  I was going to chuck it into the compost bin, but N said she wanted to make some kind of dessert to salvage it.  She made a basic oil cake, added lime zest and juice, and baked it as a sheet layer. The idea was to make individual sort-of basked Alaska, topping the cake wedges with the ice cream, some lemon curd, and Swiss meringue toasted with a blow torch.

The ice cream is the weakest link, but there's plenty of cake to freeze and eat later with fruit.