After we took this picture I said, "Hey! We could use this as our Christmas picture!" and my mom was like, Right, except for the THREE MISSING FAMILY MEMBERS. Oh ya. That guy I'm married to. And our kid. And Nikki's husband, who was standing right in front of me at the time.(Also, it rained throughout the whole ceremony. Hence the wet and the hair)
On Friday we had a family party for him and, as per usual, I was in charge of dessert.
I decided to make this cake (except with this brownie recipe and a chocolate cake recipe from my Betty Crocker cookbook) (if you decide to make this yourself you might want to find your own cheesecake recipe as well..I was pretty unimpressed).
Normally, I bake my cake layers ahead of time and then freeze them. It makes it way WAY easier to trim, assemble, etc. Except I ran out of time and just ended up baking the cheesecake layer and chocolate cake layers on Friday shortly before they were to be eaten and didn't have time for the freezer step.
This, of course, was the result:
Lesson learned people.I was out of wax paper and was all annoyed about the lost layer PLUS in a hurry so I just frosted my cake on the cake plate without any kind of barrier (usually I slide strips of wax paper under the edges so it keeps the cake place clean and pretty). Which means frosting got everywhere. Including the very edges of the plate. So that when I carried the cake to the car I got frosting all over my shirt.
And then I broke a nail really low and it hurt like the dickens.
And then I freaked out at my poor mom because there wasn't room in her fridge for my @#$% cake and my finger hurt and I had to change my shirt and WHY IS MY LIFE SO HARD.
And then I got over it and turned my thoughts to Monday's Memorial Day shindig dessert. This chocolate mousse in chocolate cups.
I was really excited about the chocolate cups. They sounded easy enough: melt chocolate, let cool, dip balloons, let harden, remove balloons, add mousse. Way less effort and cleanup than baking. Except for when I do it, apparently.
I stopped by Fresh & Easy and got one of their chocolate bars because their chocolate is seriously good. I melted it in my makeshift double boiler and let it cool for a good long while since the tutorial says the following:
Melt chocolate, either in a double boiler or in the microwave. LET IT
COOL. Seriously, this step can’t be overlooked, or your balloons will
explode all over your kitchen! Let it cool, and when you think it’s cool
enough, let it cool some more. It should be warm but no more than that.
And I did not want exploded chocolate all over my kitchen.
I blew up my nine balloons, dipped the first one in the barely warm chocolate, gently placed it on my (newly acquired) wax paper and POP. Chocolate. Everywhere.
Ooook, I cleaned up the mess and let the chocolate cool some more. Thirty minutes later I dipped another balloon. I set it gently on the wax paper. This one actually let me hope it would work for about 4 seconds before exploding.
I cleaned up the mess again and let the chocolate cool 30 more minutes. At this point it was actually cool to the touch, but apparently that still wasn't enough.
Finally, I got a few to take. I had most of them done when yet another one exploded. Clean up mess. Blow up another balloon plus an extra just in case. Dip, move to fridge.
Have extra explode all over inside of the fridge.
I had FOUR CHOCOLATE BALLOONS EXPLODE ON ME. I thought I got all the exploded chocolate but this morning I found some spatter on my fridge which is all the way across the room from where I was working. Which says to me that the exploding chocolate will be a gift that keeps on giving and I can count on finding odd bits of chocolate for the next few months.
Yay.
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7 comments:
I love the chocolate cups! About how long did you think it needed to cool for? It wasn't too hard? I've gotta try this!
It really wasn't hard at all...except for the exploding part.
I think cooling time depends on your chocolate. If you use regular candy coating it will harden if you let it cool too long so you just need to make sure it's not too warm but still liquidy enough to dip your balloons. It's ok if it's kind of thick since a thicker coating makes for sturdier bowls.
I used Callebaut, which is higher quality, and it stayed liquid enough for dipping even when quite cool. In fact, I poured it all into a tupperware when I was done and just went to check it and it's still a frosting like consistency. So if you use nicer chocolate you can let it cool for a long while and still use it.
The exploding balloons make me weep for you.
Although, frankly, so does the cake on the floor. And the frosting on the shirt.
What I mean to say is, this is a very sad story.
Sad!
But hey, atleast you get to eat dessert :)
I applaud you for even attempting. I like to bake but ... I think I would have been too intimidated to even try these. I think I would have been cursing at the chocolate after the second explosion. They look so good on the web site though!
And by the way, thanks for sharing your failures. It makes me feel better for all the times I'm so excited about a recipe, only to make it and have it totally flop.
Congrats to Jared! :)
And it occurs to me that Exploding Chocolate might be an awesome name for a band.
I do miss your desserts, though.
And how I wish you had pictures of the explosions or their aftermath! Seriously Kayla, your description of the events made me laugh until I nearly wet my pants. OK, I could be on the verge of hysteria because there are only 11 more days of school. Or that's the funniest story ever. Reminds me of all the disasters that happen when we are making somethings special!
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