Valentine’s Day- Trio of Desserts

Every year on Valentine’s day I try to do something special. Last year it was chocolate. As you know that I am obsessed with chocolate and baking so this year it had to be baking. On top of that I got a chance to be one of the 15 bloggers who would take part in Baking Mad UK’s Valentine’s Day competition. Baking Mad UK had sent me a box full of baking goodies for this competition hence I had twice as many reasons to do some baking.

This year I thought of being brave and attempt to do not one, not two but a trio of desserts. Because I was making 3 different things I had to go for the low effort, high reward combination. After a brainstorm I decided to go for a shortbread biscuit, a cake and a combination of white and dark chocolate mousse.

Although it may seem like a lot but all of these are very easy to prepare desserts and the best part is you don’t need to make them all together. I made the chocolate mousse a day earlier and kept it chilled in fridge for overnight. Also the dough for the shortbread can be made in advance and kept in the fridge but I only kept it for couple of hours to set.

White and dark chocolate mousse

Let me begin with the white and dark chocolate mousse. Initially I thought of making white chocolate heart surrounded by the dark chocolate but wasn’t sure how will it turn out so as a back-up plan I went for the popular angular presentation. But when I finished making both the glasses, I couldn't decide which one to put forward. So here you go, both the glasses full of delicious white and dark chocolate mousse.

For white chocolate mousse I used:

100 gm Silver Spoon white chocolate

200 ml extra thick double cream

1tsp of Silver Spoon Vanilla Paste

Silver Spoon Sugar balls (optional)

Method:

Melt the white chocolate in the double boiler on a simmering heat. Keep stirring till it is a smooth mixture. Remove from the heat and keep it aside. Beat the double cream till it forms soft peak. Be careful while doing that as the cream become harder if you continue to beat. Now add the vanilla paste to the melted white chocolate and the add the cream to it and keep mixing until every thing is mixed properly and no lumps remaining.

For the angular presentation, I used a wine glass which I placed on one corner of an empty container and lean the glass on the other side of the container in a way that when the white chocolate is poured it covers the wine glass diagonally. Keep the whole arrangement, in the fridge and let it chill for 6-7 hours or even overnight.

When the white chocolate mousse is set, I started making the dark chocolate mousse. For this I used the recipe that I had made before only thing the I changed is the type of alcohol. This time it was cherry liquor, quantity was same.  Once ready pour the mousse on the wine glass by keeping the glass straight now the chill the glass in the fridge for another 6-7 hours or until set.

For the heart shape I simply placed a heart shape cookie cutter  in the glass and pour the white chocolate through it and filled it only half. Once set then pour the dark chocolate around the cutter and let it set. Once that is done then I took the cookie cutter slowly out and filled the heart shaped cavity with white chocolate mousse again. keep in the fridge till it is set.

For serving I used Silver Spoon Sugar balls and few orange peals on top. Trust me you wont be disappointed.

Shortbread Biscuit (makes 12 biscuits)

To go with this creamy mousse I made these shortbread biscuit which will provide the change in texture to the dish. I didn’t know making shortbread biscuit will be this easy. All I needed was four ingredients listed below.

Ingredients:

130 gm plain flour

115 gm Butter (at room temperature)

30 gm Icing Sugar (I used the lemon flavoured Icing sugar from Silver Spoon)

1 tsp of Silver Spoon Vanilla Paste

Method:

Beat the butter (I used an electric mixer) till smooth and creamy then add the sugar and vanilla paste and keep beating. Now add the flour and keep mixing till it forms a dough like consistency. Take it out of the bowl to make a round dough, cover it with cling film and chill in the fridge for couple of hours. This is also something you can make in advance. When you are ready to make the biscuits, take the dough out of the fridge and keep it in room temperature for 15 –20 minutes or until the dough is soft enough to roll and cut cookies out of it. Place the dough between two cling film and start rolling till the dough is quarter of an inch thick. Using the cookie cutter of your choice cut the cookies from the flattened dough.

Line a baking sheet on a baking tray and pre heat the oven to 180 degree. Bake the cookies for 12-14 minutes or until the cookies are lightly brown on the side. Cool them in a wire rack and they are ready to eat. I drizzled some melted dark chocolate from Silver Spoon which you can melt on bag and cut a small corner to drizzle on them but that is purely optional.

Coffee cake with Nuts and Chocolate Ganache

Finally to complete the trio of dessert I made this cake. Can’t think of celebrating Valentine’s Day without a cake and not just any cake, a coffee cake.

Ingredients:

2 eggs

75 gm flour

75 gm butter

75 gm lemon flavoured Icing sugar from Silver Spoon

1 tsp of Silver Spoon Vanilla Paste

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

For decorating the cake, I used:

Handful of mixed nuts pieces

Coffee and walnut cake Icing

50 gm Silver Spoon easy melt dark chocolate

25 gms butter

2 tbsp cherry liquor

 

Method:

Beat the eggs first until light and fluffy, to that add the melted butter and sugar and continue beating. Once you have a well combined homogeneous mixture add the flour slowly, little by little to the mixture while continuing to beat. Add the baking powder, baking soda and the vanilla paste to the cake mix and continue to beat. Pre heat the oven to 180 degree C, grease a cake tin/loaf tin and pour the cake mix in. Bake for 25 minutes, insert a thin skewer in the cake to check if it has baked properly. if the skewers come out clean then its done else if it comes out sticky then bring the oven temperature down a bit and bake for some more time until its done.

For building the cake I used a ring cutter to cut a round portion of the cake then slice in horizontally. Make the coffee cream icing then spread between the cake layers and sides.Now on a plate spread the nuts and roll the cake on it to cover the sides of the cake. Make the chocolate ganache by melting the chocolate with the butter and the cherry and pour on top of the cake and serve. Sending this to English Mum’s ‘baked with love’ Bakeoff and Teenz’ Yummy Delights Valentine’s Day Event.