A fine line between love and cheesecake.

So it’s no secret that cheesecake is fattening. It’s also no secret that cheese makes everything better, including dessert. Cake is great as it is, but make it with cheese…..yeah baby, that’s right, we’re talking cheesecake: the dessert you love to hate.

So, what’s a health-conscious dessert-loving girl to do?? Why, make them mini, of course.

many mini cheesecakes.

Not only does this cut down on the calories (without cutting down on the lusciousness), it also cuts down on the cooking time (big cheesecakes take so long to bake (often over an hour!). But these delightful little devils bake in 30 minutes (or less!). Plus, you can make many flavors, and bake them all at the same time, like we did in class.

We had a NY Style Cheesecake, which was pumpkin:

complete with autumn accoutrements.

A French style, which was coffee:

let them drink cheesecake.

And an Italian bad-boy, which was citrus:

delizioso!

What’s the difference between NY, French, and Italian Cheesecake, you might ask? The cheese, of course! NY is made with cream cheese, French is made with Mascarpone cheese, and Italian is made with Ricotta. At least, that’s how we made them – and they were all wonderfully cheese-alicious. Like I said, cheese makes everything better. Maybe, just maybe, I’ll even post one of the recipes for this coming Recipe Sunday….

Don’t hate me because i’m dessert-iful.

tiramisu goes to the opera….cake.

My Classical Cakes class has come to a close, and I’m sad – this was my favorite class that I’ve taken. There’s a reason these cakes are classics. I’ve never tasted cakes so good in my life. This is what it’s all about people – these are the cakes that gave cake it’s good name to begin with. Not that dry, simple stuff we call cake today. This kind of cake couldn’t ever come out of a box. It takes time, attention, and some major organization. But the results are hella worth it.

Anyway, for our last cake of the class, we had to create our very own classical cake, using what we’ve learned. Well, my partner (who happens to be the best partner ever) and I decided to do a chocolate coffee kahlua cake with mascarpone mousse. It was part tiramisu, part opera cake.

tiramisu

PLUS

opera cake

EQUAL

tiramisu goes to the opera cake.

 

In case you’re interested in recreating our nouveau classical cake pictured above, it’s a layer of chocolate genoise (soaked in kahlua coffee syrup), next a layer of coffee buttercream, followed by a thin layer of chocolate ganache, next a layer of ladyfingers (soaked with kahlua coffee syrup), a layer of mascarpone mousse, another layer of chocolate ganache, another layer of soaked ladyfingers, and finally topped off with another layer of mascaropone mousse. The whole thing is then coated with a chocolate glaze and garnished as desired (we used chocolate curls, modeling chocolate flowers, and fresh raspberries).

We got an A.

 

mousse: it’s what’s for dinner.

So I’m kind of excited that I’ve learned how to make a bunch of different mousses in my class this summer – caramel mousse, mascarpone mousse, chocolate mousse, fruit mousse, and my personal favorite – peanut butter mousse. The problem is that the class runs from 7 to 11. At night. I go straight from work to class, without eating dinner. So, by the end of class, I’m always starving. So what do I do? Yep, I eat the product.

peanut butter mousse cake. if this cake were a man, i'd marry it.

And now, I’m addicted to mousse. It’s so light, and fluffy, and delicious. I mean, half of it’s air right? So I’m really eating only half the calories, since we all know air is calorie-free.

there's chocolate caramel mousse (and air) in there.

Now, the wheels are churning, and I’m working on some Small Indulgences incorporating mousse. Cupcakes filled with a complimentary mousse? Mini mousse pies? Or maybe even stand-alone mousse cups! Thoughts? Suggestions? Any mousse-related mini-desserts you’d like to see? If you can dream it, and it involves mousse, I can make it. Or die trying. Ok, I probably won’t die. But a mousse-induced coma is a concern. It could happen.

fruit mousse on the bottom, hope on top.