Key Lime for the Win!

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I stumbled upon this on Jezebel by way of NYMag. (If you haven't heard, I like to pretend I'm a New Yorker and read NYMag.com constantly. Anywho...) I don't really care about March Madness. I WANT TO. I want to so badly. I want to go to a bar and yell and get super into the game but I just...can't. I get bored. Yaaawn. Beer can only keep me entertained for so long (I know, right?). But anyway, on Friday, I came across the article on NYMag speaking about a new kind of "bracketology" of the Cake Vs. Pie variety. SAY WHAT???

Hmm, cake vs pie. Now that's something I could get into! Normally, I choose cake. I love cake. Obviously. What do I sell? Gimme a C! Gimme a U! Gimme a P! Gimme a CAKE!!! And fruit pies are NOT my thing. They're alright, but I wouldn't choose it. Cream pies and goo pies? That's a different story. I love pumpkin pie. Some kind of chocolate goo pie? Peanut butter pie? Key lime pie?? Heck yeah, I'd hit that. Little did I expect this to happen though:

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KEY LIME FOR THE WIN!!!! Holy cow! I love funfetti. I love red velvet (especially my own & Sprinkles'—most others fall short) but WOW... KEY LIME. FOR. THE. WIN. I didn't see that coming at all. You know why? Key lime pie, to me, can transcend traditional pie expectations. The creamy texture, the burst of exquisite flavor, the buttery graham crust, but most importantly the possibility for sophisticated gourmet alterations—it's just beyond a normal pie in my opinion. Now, one could argue that ANY pie could achieve similar heights but here on this blog, Key Lime reigns.

So I'm for pie. Who knew? Even if I had to switch it up, peanut butter pie would be my champ. I have an undying love for peanut butter, but that's a whole other blog post.

What are you thoughts? What's your bracket? Most importantly, WHO IS YOUR CHAMP?

Triple Chocolate Pistachio Praline Cake

Are you ready for this? Can you handle it?

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This is the latest from my kitchen. The Triple Chocolate Pistachio Praline Cake. It's a combination of rich chocolate flavors, notes of mocha, hints of salt, & a delicious, sweet, nutty crunch that join together to do the ultimate happy-dance on your tongue.

A friend at work asked me to make a "birthday cake" for a friend of hers. She & her husband were having the friend & husband over for a birthday dinner so they wanted a dessert. Only, I know this woman well enough to know that a normal "birthday cake" seemed a little out of place. These people are foodies in every sense of the word. They love to experiment with food, they truly appreciate new combinations of flavors & textures, but indulging in any ol' thing that's sweet is not a part of their daily habit. So when I asked to clarify, she really just wanted a delicious, beautiful dessert but it didn't have to be the standard "birthday cake." It just had to be chocolate, as the friends were both super chocoholics. PHEW. I mean, I could do a birthday cake, of course. I just knew this wasn't the time, place, or audience for it. But you know what that means? Time to put the creative baking cap on!! YESSSS.

You remember the layered brownie thing I made back in December? The Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownie Tart? I drew my inspiration from that. It was easy (well, relatively speaking) but elegant, & the individual components were simple but delicious so I thought about turning it into cake form. The brownie tart was great, but quite honestly, the ganache & whipped cream could've used something a bit more porous & delicate to absorb the layers of goo. Enter the cake.

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For the bottom layer of the cake I adapted the recipe for my favorite chocolate cake, a super moist & flavorful Dense Chocolate Loaf Cake from Nigella Lawson's book How to be a Domestic Goddess. I added my own twist to it (of course). For one, you can see that it's clearly not in loaf form. I used a 9.5" springform pan. Secondly, I added ground pistachios. This cake typically falls in the middle b/c it's so dense--WHICH IS OKAY, it's supposed to. But I did add a little something extra to counteract that. Plus, a few extra twists. ;-)

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Time for the ganache & the praline. Instead of a typical chocolate + cream ganache, I upped the flavor profile by adding a strong coffee flavor plus a blend of different types of chocolate for a richer, more flavorful topping. Mocha ganache!! Oh my goodness, it was so tasty. The ganache was poured on top of the cake, while the praline was crunched, smashed, chopped, and crumbled so it could grace the edges of the cake. Truth be told, it could also be a pistachio brittle, but in the end, it's basically a seriously sugar-coated nut so I'm going with praline. Semantics. Go figure.

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Next up! The chocolate whipped cream. This had a much different chocolate flavor b/c the natural flavor of whipped cream is so strong. The chocolate is much lighter in this component. It works out beautifully though, it's balances out the other intense flavors. It's the perfect compliment.

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And here we go! The complete creation. The Triple Chocolate Pistachio Praline cake. The top is garnished w/ chocolate ganache frosting & more pistachio praline crumbles, mixed w/ chopped pistachios.

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One more reason I'm so excited about this cake: it can translate into cupcakes. Quite easily!! Can you imagine it? Perfect little bouncy cupcakes, dipped in mocha ganache with crumbles of pistachio praline & topped with a dollop of chocolate whipped cream? Yeeeaaaahhhhh, doesn't that sound INCREDIBLE??? (that's a rhetorical question, of course it'd be incredible)

Now this makes me think about my Couture Cupcake collection. A select few flavors that up the ante on your average vanilla cupcake + some color of sugary frosting. How do you feel about that?? I'm excited, are you?

The Monkey Cake.

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My boyfriend has two friends (a married couple) who have a super cute little boy who just turned one. They commissioned me to do a monkey cake, as the party was Curious George themed. The cake didn't necessarily have to be Curious George, but it did have to be a monkey. It also had to be big. Big enough for a guest list of 30-40 people. YOW! That's one popular baby!

Knowing that I love to bake, they hired me to do the cake. They were going to do it themselves, but figured it'd be best to hand it over to someone else. This is the first full cake I've ever done. Sure, I've made like a 9" x 13" sheet cake before, but those were lame, especially compared to this.

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The rectangular part of the body was made from a 12" x 18" pan, and the head was a 9" round. The ears were from a 4" ramekin, cut in half and trimmed down. And that thing that looks like a belly button? That's from the heating core. Wilton makes these heating core things that look like the middle of a bundt pan. You stick it in large cake so they bake more evenly. They're hallow, so you fill it w/ batter and when everything's done baking, you take the cake out of the core and plug it back into the whole cake! BRILLIANT! Thus the belly button in Mr. Monkey here.

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The cake is vanilla. All the colored frosting is vanilla malt. The darker brown parts of the monkey are chocolate frosting. This was also the first time I ever made chocolate frosting. Out of all the crazy, nutty things I bake, I have never once made homemade chocolate frosting. Funny, huh? Everyone always orders the salted caramel, vanilla malt, or raspberry amaretto frosting. But since this was both adults and kids, it had to be pretty tame.

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Here he is! In all his vanilla monkey glory. Not bad for a first time big fat cake, right? He probably would look better in fondant, but let's face it. Fondant's gross. I don't know anyone who likes to eat fondant. Do you? I doubt it. Even Duff from Ace of Cakes admits its gross--that's why they cover the cakes w/ buttercream before putting the fondant on. That way you can just take the fondant off and eat what's underneath. So gooey frosting it is!

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The piping wasn't perfect, but for someone who's never taken a class or been trained in anything... not too shabby, I'd say.