Cherry Frangipane Tartlets

Black Forest Cheesecake

I don't like birthday cakes. They are expensive and often I can replicate them at home. This year, I did not plan on making a cake because I was lazy, but I ended up putting together an easy cheesecake. I found it on the back of a package of cream cheese, but it's also on the Kraft website.

I love black forest themed stuff. It was light and creamy and not too sweet or rich. This was delicious and I was honoured to have it as my 'birthday cake'.

See you guys soon.

White Chocolate and Cherry Brownies

I have a love-hate relationship with white chocolate. I refer to it as fake white crap as in it's not real chocolate, containing no cocoa mass. But occasionally I crave it because dark chocolate is too rich and milk chocolate is too sweet (ironic?). I can eat a small piece of white chocolate, and every piece after that causes toothache. I had to make these blondies though because I love cherries and I was craving white chocolate.

This recipe is called 'Cherry Blondies', but blondies are made with brown sugar and no chocolate. I'd rather call them more accurately, white chocolate brownies. I used a drained jar of Morello cherries instead of fresh cherries, which added sourness against the sweet of the chocolate.

These white chocolate brownies were really nice. Chewy and sweet, without a strong tooth-aching white chocolate taste. The cherries were juicy and paired well with the brownie. They were so easy to make and I plan on making them for a few friends in the future.

Morello Cherry Clafoutis

I wanted to use the oval ramekins I got with my blowtorch, and cherries were on my mind so I decided to make cherry clafoutis. Clafoutis is traditionally unpitted cherries baked with a crepe batter. The pits that are left in gives of an almond flavour.

It's still Winter here, so cherries aren't in season. I decided to use jarred pitted Morello cherries. I put too many cherries into the dish before adding the batter, so the result was more sour than I would have preferred.

Cherries are one of my favourite fruits, so I enjoyed this a lot. I look forward to Summer when I can make this with fresh cherries.

Chocolate Cherry Trifle

Oh no, it's the end of the holidays and the beginning of another gruelling school term. Yeah, it's okay though, they can't hurt us - it's against the law.

On Saturday, a few family friends came over and I was in charge of snacks and desserts to have with tea. Black forest was on my mind, and it was between this trifle and a cake. Trifles always win.

 There are so many things I want to say about this trifle, but I'm just going to sum it up in a few points:
1. This makes a ton, like 1000kg. Well not literally, but enough to serve an army.

2. It is very fattening, so be aware!

3. It is so simple, yet so complicated with the heating and warming and reheating.

4. I made my own chocolate cake, instead of buying 2 pound cakes - they were alright.

5. Use much less cream than called for, it's just too rich.

6. It also uses 8 egg yolks, so yeah.

Yeah, that basically sums up this delicious but calorific trifle. Hope you guys had a great holiday and all the best for this upcoming term.

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