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Monday, October 21, 2013

Death by Chocolate- A beautiful and delicious chocolaty treat

 
 
As promised, here is recipe #3 from my Grandma's party. If you missed recipe #1, sparkle and spiced cider go here,
and #2 salted caramel apple pie go here!.
 
I am excited about this recipe because I made it as Gluten Free option. My mom has celiac disease and I wanted to have a dessert that she could enjoy with the rest of the group.
This can easily be made with regular chocolate cake mix as well.
 
This dessert is super easy, delicious to eat, and beautiful to look at. I am going to teach you a really fun trick so you can fake the "fanciness" of it :)
 
First of all, you will need some milk chocolate chips, and some white chocolate chips.
 
 
Start by adding the milk chocolate into a bowl. I didn't need much for this, just a small handful.
Now let them melt in the microwave for 20-30 seconds. Pull them out and stir. It will look like this.
 
 
 
Now pop them back in for another 15 seconds. Stir again. It will look like this.
 
 
Heat them again for another 10 seconds and add about 15 new chocolate chips.
 
 
 Heat again for about 7-10 seconds. Remove and stir and the chocolate should be silky smooth. The key here is that we are doing a quick temper on the chocolate. The lower temp you keep it, the faster it will set up and harden for you and keep its hardened shape. All microwaves are different so sure and not overheat it!
 
 
 You want to be really careful to stir in between heating sessons, or you will seize the chocolate and it will become dry and curtled and unworkable.
 
Next, spread out a sheet of wax paper on a cookie sheet.
 Take your bowl of chocolate and dip a fork into it. Pull the fork out of the chocolate and with a quick flick of your wrist in a "tic tac toe" shape, create a pretty little messy design on the wax paper.
Be quick going back and forth so the chocolate doesn't come down in clumps. You want it to be in tiny little lines.
 
 
 After you fill the tray, go back to the microwave and do the same thing with the white chocolate. I only had to heat mine (a small handful) for 70 seconds. It melted quicker than the milk chocolate.
 
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Take it over to your pan and drizzle white chocolate over the dark chocolate you already did. Isnt it so pretty?
 

 
Now pop the pan into the fridge or freezer to help it harden.
 
Next ingredient is the strawberries. I used 1 small carton and sliced them up into small slices.
Whip some heavy whipping cream, and add a little  powdered sugar to sweeten it.
 
Make a large box of chocolate Jell-O pudding. Let it cool and set in the fridge.
 
 The above ingredients are "naturally" gluten free, but this next step is the most important in making this recipe Gluten Free.
The cake. I love Betty Crocker's Gluten Free version of chocolate cake. It is really good and it is one of the only GF items I have found that you seriously cannot tell that it isn't regular cake mix.
  

 I don't worry about serving it to my other guests because they wont even notice a change in taste or texture.
Make the cake mix and bake it in an 8x8 pan.
Once the cake is cooled completely, cut into small cubes and add to a large bowl. I like to make a little assembly line for the next part. Cake cubes first, then pudding, then strawberries, whipped cream and last but not least, your pretty chocolate garnish. You can pre make these ingredients and keep them in the fridge, or you can let your guests assemble them.
 
 
 
 
 

I like to sprinkle a little coco powder on the whipped cream... it looks so pretty :)

 
Now that your garnish has cooled and hardened, it will easily remove from the wax paper and you can set it on the top or side of your whipped cream. I like to do this step at the last minute so that chocolate doesn't soften over time as it sits.


 

Isn't it stunning?
 
This is a GLUTEN FREE recipe but again, can be made with regular chocolate cake. Make sure that whatever recipe or box mix you use, that it is a more dense cake so that the cubes will hold up with the toppings on them.
I hope you enjoy this as much as we did! :)
Happy experimenting

xoxox

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