I found something I want you to bake me!

My darling roommate comes up to me with a recipe for "Bailey's Frozen Chocolate Chunk Mousse Cake" and said we should have a St. Patrick's Day dinner. I aggreed if she did clean up and bought the Baileys! I made the whole thing the day before and it is slightly labor intensive, but I don't mind!

Espresso Cake
Preheat the oven 350. Butter and cocoa powder an 8-inch square cake pan.

• 1/4 cup instant espresso
• 1/2 cup hot water

Put together and let sit for 5 minutes

• 1 cup cake flour
• 1/2 tea soda
• 1/4 salt

Sift together on waxed paper

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 cup sour cream

Beat the butter until creamy. Add sugar gradually until light in color and then add eggs one at a time while beating. Beat in the vanilla and sour cream. Add half the flour mixture and then 1/4 cup of espresso. Add the rest of the flour. Fill the cake pan. The batter was thick and it didn't seem to be enough, but it baked up well. Bake 25-30 minutes until the cake is set. Let cool completely on a wire rack. I put it in the fridge to cool faster!

Chocolate Chunk Mousse

• 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons milk
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup Bailey's
• 2 teaspoons vanilla

Heat milk, sugar, & salt until boiling over the stove. Take off the stove and add in chocolate chips and stir until melted. Add in the Bailey's and the vanilla. Let cool completely, again I put this in the freezer to go faster.

• 2/3 cup mascarpone cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup Bailey's
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

With the electric beaters, beat the cheese and until light in texture. Beat in the Bailey's. Switch to the whisk attachment. (Side note - at this point my beloved hand mixer died :-( All whisking from this point on was done my hand!) Whisk the cream until you have stiff peaks. Gradually add the cooled chocolate mixture to the cream. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Frosting

• 3/4 heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons vanilla
• 1 tablespoon powdered sugar

Beat all three ingredients together until stiff peaks form.

Assembly Divide the cake into 2 layers. Put parchment paper inside the 8-inch cake pan with paper over the sides. Put one layer of the cake cut side up back in the pan. Spread all the mousse evenly over this layer. Put the second layer cut side down over the mousse. Spread the frosting over the top layer. Garnish with remaining chocolate chips. Freeze over night.

Serving I took the cake out of the parchment paper and trimmed the edges with a knife dipped in hot water. The trimming makes everything look nicer! I cut the cake into 12 pieces and put them back in the freezer until after dinner. We had leftover chocolate-mint sauce so I heated that and poured over the cut pieces. You don't really need the chocolate sauce, but who doesn't love chocolate!

The cake was delicious!! It was like an adult ice cream cake! Although kind of expensive to make, I will be making it again! Everyone loved the cake.

Banana Cream Pie

I am the proud owner of Martha Stewart's "Baking Handbook." The cookbook has beautiful pictures and very detailed instructions. The problem is, most recipes are incredibly fattening. My pie came out a little runny, very pudding like. Even though I let it refrigerate for over 2 hours. It was delicious and everyone over had seconds!! The crust was very difficult to work with, but not impossible. Here is my variation on her recipe.

Crust - Pâte Brisée (her name for it, not mine!) PS - it makes enough for two pies.

• 2 1/2 c All-Purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, cold, cut into small pieces
• 1/2 cup ice water, add as needed

Sift flour and salt together. Cut butter into flour mixture with a pastry blender until it is small crumbles. Toss in the ice water until the dough comes together. Pour out on a work surface and push together and divide in half. Wrap half in plastic to put in the freezer for another day. Chill the other half in plastic for 1 hour. Roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thick and place in a 9 inch pie pan. Trim the edges and curl under to crimp. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes.

Vanilla Custard

• 4 large egg yolks
• 3 cups whole milk
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 5 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon good vanilla
  

Heat milk, sugar, cornstarch, & salt in a saucepan for about 10 minutes heating and whisking. Let it simmer but don't let it boil. Meanwhile, separate the eggs and beat the yolks together. After the milk mixture has simmered for at least 3 minutes, gradually mix a little bit into the yolks. Add the milk little by little until it is all incorporated. Strain (I used my flour sifter to strain.) the mixture into a new, clean saucepan and cook for another 2-3 minutes until thick, whisking the whole time. I think I should have cooked longer or until the custard was thicker. Pour the mixture into a bowl and place the bowl in an ice bath to cool down. Mix in the vanilla now. Cover the custard with plastic wrap and push the plastic wrap directly down over the custard so it is touching. I refrigerated the custard overnight, but Martha said at least 30 minutes.

Assembly

• 1 egg white
• 2 oz dark chocolate
• 2 bananas
  
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon good vanilla
• 1 oz chocolate finely grated

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Prick the the pie crust with fork and brush the whole thing liberally with a beaten egg white. Bake for 15 minutes with parchment paper covering the pie crust and filled with dry beans. Remove the beans and bake for another 10-15 minutes until the crust is all golden brown

Place 2 oz of chopped chocolate on the bottom of the crust right after it comes out of the oven. As it melts, spread with a pastry brush. After the crust has cooled, slice 2 bananas and place slices around the bottom of the crust. Pour and spread the custard on top of the bananas.

Beat heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar, & vanilla with an electric mixer until stiff peaks. Spread carefully over the custard. Grate remaining chocolate and sprinkle over the whipped cream.

I'm not going to lie, this pie was a lot of work! I made the crust and custard the night before, baked the crust and melted the chocolate in the morning, and then assembled about 2 hours before dinner. Even though it was runny, the flavor was perfect! Martha says to add bananas on top, but I knew we weren't going to finish it all in one night and I didn't want the banana to get all slimy. Four of us ate half of it! I think the pie could comfortably feed 8, but you could stretch it 10.