TWD: Cherry-Fudge Brownie Torte

Fabulous!!! I really did love this dessert. It was super rich though so only one piece was enough for all. I had to change it a little so it would work for us. I don't really like making things we can't or won't eat so I altered it a bit.

The Review:
The brownie bottom was sensational. It surprised me how much I liked the dried cherries mixed in. The brownie torte was extremely fudgie and rich...just the way I like it. I ended up halving the recipe since we have a small family and we were not planning on having guests over. I actually kind of liked the pepper added to the brownie, but I think the torte would have been just as good without it.
The mousse was a nice offset to the rich brownie layer. It needed something to tame the fudginess. I liked the added cherry filling (my addition), because it made it a little different than your normal whip cream topping. It also served the purposes of making it more like a black forest torte.

The alterations:
The brownie portion of this lovely dish called for kirsch that is added to the dried cherries then you ignite it. Since we don't do alcohol here I omitted the kirsch and added a few tablespoons of apple juice and let it simmer with the cherries and thicken a little. It worked fine.
The second alteration I made was to the mousse. The original recipe calls for mascarpone cheese. I am not a huge fan of the mascarpone flavor. I thought of using ricotta instead but opted to add more cream cheese and some cherry pie filling to get more of a cherry flavor to the mousse. It turned out beautifully!
I did not have a springform pan small enough so I just used a 6 inch cake pan and carefully removed the torte about 10 min after it came out of the oven. Then in order to get the mousse layer shaped with the brownie I put wax paper in my 6 inch pan and topped the torte with the mousse. After freezing it I pulled it out of the pan easily. I also had a little extra batter that I put into mini muffin tins. It was very fun to have these rich little brownie bites with a dollop of cherry mousse on top.

Overall we loved it and will surely make it again. If you are interested in making these you can visit April of Short + Rose.

TWD: Allspice Crumb Muffins

I was excited when my sister, Sarah, asked me to fill in for her this week. Fall is here and an allspice crumb muffin sounded great! These muffins were quick and easy to mix up, but I was really wanting more flavor out of them. I opted not to add the lemon, but I think should have. I think I'll give them a try with the lemon another time.

To check out the recipe go to Grandma's Kitchen Table.

TWD-Split Level Pudding

I am a sucker for a really good homemade pudding so I was excited that this was the recipe I got to make this month. I stuck to the basics and kept the flavors of vanilla and chocolate. Some other TWD members had posted that they had problems with their pudding being a bit runny after it went into the blender. Mine thinned out some but not significantly. It did, however, mix with the ganache when I poured it into the bowl and did not stay in any kind of layered form. Try more like marbled. I made the pudding in one large bowl so that might have been part of the problem. When all was said and done the taste was fantastic. Smooth and creamy, a perfect pudding. The rich ganache was a nice compliment to the simpleness of the vanilla. I think it would be fun to play around with different flavors as well.

I took a few pictures but felt they didn't look very nice. I'm still trying to figure out how to take good food pictures. I also couldn't find the cord to upload the ones I took so I decided just to post my thoughts now and maybe add some pictures tomorrow.

This is a simple recipe and one I will definitely try again. If you are interested in the full recipe, head on over to The Flavor of Vanilla. The pictures there, as well as many others I saw today, did the recipe justice.