World Nutella Day: A Hazelnut Cake with Chocolate-Dipped Florentines and Nutella Mousse

Happy Nutella Day!

I love Nutella.  A friend once told me that my slogan should be "Life is Better With Nutella."  I use it to fill macarons, to decorate cupcakes, to flavor pastry cream, to enliven ganache or frosting... there are so many possibilties.  But this Nutella mousse is one of my favorite (and easiest!) Nutella recipes.  Here it is as the filling for my favorite yellow cake.

The cake, however, is not so easy.  The frosting alone took me over two hours, though that includes the time it took to skin the hazelnuts and make homemade praline.  If you're in the mood to spend a few cozy evenings in the kitchen with your mixer and your oven though, it's totally worth it.  If not, just make the mousse, and your guests will still be smitten.

For more Nutella recipes, see the World Nutella Day Website; World Nutella Day is sponsored by Ms. Adventures in Italy and Bleeding Espresso.

 

Baking Class Project: How to Make a French Buche de Noel

 

Another final project from my baking class:  Peter made a beautiful French buche de Noel.  This was a Daring Bakers project about a year ago if you want to look for other interpretations, but I'm not sure you'll fine a prettier one.  He did a great job!

Oh, and did you know that this Friday, February 5th, is World Nutella Day?  Come back then for a Hazelnut Cake with Nutella Mousse and Chocolate Dipped Florentines.

 

  

The Best Yellow Cake Ever! And the Best Mousse.

Does yellow cake seem a little boring to you?  I actually loved yellow cake with chocolate frosting and rainbow sprinkles when I was younger (hell, who am I kidding, it still sounds pretty great!), but I don't make a lot of yellow cakes these days.  Until now perhaps.  This cake is anything but boring.  My cakes domed, and I leveled the tops, and those bites of cake scraps were one of my most memorable cake-eating experiences.  So simple, so plain even, and yet so perfect... you really can stop looking for a perfect yellow cake recipe now.  I think I have.  It uses both butter and oil so you get the moistness that the oil gives (oil coats flour proteins better than butter, resulting in less gluten formation) and the flavor that makes butter so popular.  The cake flour adds tenderness, and helps keep the layers level (mine still domed, but I baked it in the bakeshop oven, not my own).  And there's whipped cream!  To add more moisture, flavor, and great texture.  Can't wait to go try whipped cream in my other favorite cakes... but that's for another day.

This Nutella mousse is also unforgettable.  It's tempting not to give out the recipe because then you'll see how easy it is to make, and the end result might not seem so impressive.  But it's too good not to share, so here it is. I use it over and over again; I was actually quite surprised to see it's not on my blog yet in fact.  It more than holds its own as a pie or tart filling; it's delightful between cake layers; it's delicious with nothing but a spoon.

So is this my new favorite cake?  Surprisingly, no.  I love each component separately, but they didn't quite become more than the sum of their parts when joined.  Maybe the yellow cake just doesn't have as much of a shelf life as some cakes, I admit I did not serve it on the day it was made.  I'll give it another try, serving immediately.  Now, don't let me dissuade you from making this cake; it is wonderful.  It's just not quite as amazing as I had expected, given the brilliance of the individual components.

Tomorrow, in baking class, we graduate from cakes.  You'll be seeing meringue, cream puffs, eclairs (oh how good this Nutella mousse would taste inside a fluffy crisp cream puff), pies, and tarts.  Happy baking!

Happy New Year!

Hmmm, I'm not really a New Year's Resolutions kind of girl.  Don't think I've ever written down a list of resolutions, and the only one I usually ever make, even in my head, is to drop those last 5 pounds.  But I do feel like I'm in something of a transition period (I got tenure just over a year ago which gives me more freedom academically, I'm on sabbatical next fall which will give me a lot more free time, and I'm in the midst of starting my home-based baking business), so I guess I'm feeling a bit more contemplative than normal.

Here's a recap of some of my food-related highlights of 2009.

Wishing you a wonderful 2010!



January 2009:  Caramel Cake with Brown Butter Frosting Filling and Chocolate Glaze

Dinner Party - January 2009

March 2009:  My Version of Pierre Herme's Concorde with Chocolate Meringue and Nutella Mousse
   

April 2009:  My Birthday, Trip to the Culinary Institute of America (CIA)

 

Dessert at the Apple Pie Bakery Cafe at the CIA

April 2009:  More birthday desserts:  Hazelnut Dacquoise topped with a layer of milk chocolate crunch, topped with chocolate mousse, lemon mousse, more chocolate mousse, then a chocolate ganache glaze

July 2009:  Paris and Italy

Tomato Parmesan Risotto at the Rose Bakery in Paris

Macchiato at Platti in Turin

Spaghetti Pomodoro in Turin - No picture, but one of the best pasta dishes I've ever eaten




August 2009:  Pastry Course at the Institute for Culinary Education (ICE)

Mille Feuille with Chocolate Pastry Cream  (See more pics here, here, and here)

October 2009:  Brioche and Croissant Course at the ICE (still haven't posted about this yet, but I will!)

Brioche a Tete and Braided Brioche Round

Pain au Chocolat

December 2009:  Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake

I've been making versions of this for almost 5 years now, but it will always be one of my favorites.

December 2009:  Buche de Noel (and the Cutest Cookies I've ever made)

 

Chocolate Bombes and A Giveaway

 Ed wanted chocolate bombes for his birthday, and this is what we came up with.  I'm warning you, this is an intense dessert.  One hemisphere is plenty, and the whipped cream really helps to cut the heavy chocolate.  It's a chocolate meringue hemispherical shell, filled with dark chocolate mousse, sealed with a chocolate meringue disk, enrobed in a milk chocolate glaze.  I think next time I'd do a milk chocolate mousse with a semisweet chocolate glaze to cut down the intensity just a bit.

There are a few components for these chocolate bombes, but you can easily spread the work over a few days if necessary.  And they were great!  If you need a little pep talk first before attempting something a little more complicated, then I highly recommend Julia Child's book, My Life in France.  I read it a month or so ago, and it was truly inspirational.  Julia was in her late 30's when she began taking culinary classes at the Cordon Bleu in France; she was almost 50 when her masterpiece Mastering the Art of French Cooking was finally published after 10 years of hard work.  She was  meticulous in her research and with her recipes, really makes you believe that you can do anything with enough practice.

This book meant so much to me that I really want you to read it too (plus I really want to meet some of you, my stats counter keeps telling me you're really out there, now's your chance to prove it!).  So I'm giving away a brand new copy!  I hope that reading about her experiences inspires you too, or at least gets you in the kitchen.  Just leave a comment below between now and Monday December 21st at 11:59pm EST, and tell me what inspires you these days - in the kitchen, at work, or maybe just in your daydreams...  (sorry, only open to North American residents.)  Tweet about the giveaway and leave a link in the comments for a second entry.  Or leave a comment on a previous blog post for another entry.

You'll need hemisphere molds to make the bombes as pictured.  I have these.  If you don't have molds, you could try making meringue/mousse stacks or sandwiches (make the meringue disks as indicated, and pipe layers of mousse between meringue disks; glaze).

A Preview....

No time for a recipe yet, but here's a preview of what's to come - chocolate bombes for Ed's birthday... Check back in the next few days for a recipe and a giveaway!

Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake

It's good fashion sense to own a few quality pieces. You can put them together to create lots of great outfits.  I feel the same way about food.  This chocolate mousse and chocolate cake (almost closer to a brownie than a cake really) should be staples in your recipe box.  The possibilities are endless.  I use the same cake for the base of my Coffee Nutella Cheesecake, and my chocolate peanut butter stacks.
I've used this mousse in chocolate mousse pie, as a filling in a chocolate mousse cake, and as a filling for cupcakes.




This particular combination of mousse and cake is definitely a winner.  It can be made ahead of time, it's very elegant, and it is fantastically delicious.  I've made the 10" version shown here for a crowd.  I've made a 4" version several times for a very large individual birthday cake, and I've also made 2" individuals.  I don't have 4" or 2" spring form pans.  I use a 4" cake pan to make the cake (fill the batter up about half way).  Once the cake is cool, make a parchment paper collar, about 4" - 6" above the cake (tape the parchment paper securely so the parchment paper remains vertical.  Fill the collar with mousse layers as you would the spring form pan; after chilling, remove the parchment paper, and top with chocolate shavings.  This is a great dessert to impress.

10" Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake:  Serves 16-20