Poll: What's the richest dessert you make?

[AvrilH]

For Easter I made a white chocolate bread pudding with a ganache sauce. The recipe is from the Palace Cafe in New Orleans (it's on their website) where my dh ate when there on business.

It was to die for - the texture was sinfully rich. The recipe was so outrageously heavy (6 cups whipping cream, 15 egg yolks, 26 ounces of white chocolate). I ran it through master cook (AFTER I made and ate it) and even after increasing it from 12 - 16 servings, it's about 800 calories per. I have the leftovers individually wrapped in my freezer if anyone wants some.......

Now - can anyone top that? (remember, the original serving size is over 1000 calories per).

[cindyluwho]

I don't have the numbers for the recipe I make, but it too is a bread pudding...it's chocolate bread pudding with vanilla ice cream and bananas in caramel sauce. Not only does it contain heavy cream, egg yolks, and chocolate, but it is made with brioche, which has eggs and butter in it already. Then the ice cream has to be full fat, because it would taste weird to combine such a rich bread pudding with a bad ice cream. The caramel sauce has butter and heavy cream in it too. It would probably be very scary to find out what the caloric and fat content of this dessert is, but it is SOOOO good! I probably make it only once or twice a year, so I don't feel at all guilty about eating it.

[foodiedelite]

Mine is molten chocolate cakes with mint/chocolate sauce. Gooey and ladden with calories. I only make these for the holidays.

[Anne]

I have no idea of the calories but I think the most decadent dessert I make is chocolate torte, the ingredients are chocolate (Lindt), eggs, and butter.

[Leonard]

The richest dessert I make is a "Chocolate Eclair Cake". I believe CL has a light version of this. I've been making it for years and prefer my version, which is NOT low fat! I think my second favorite is a Vanilla Pound Cake from one of Julia Child's Books. It's actually a recipe from baker Flo Braker. It's so good!!

[AndreaU]

I've posted (and eaten) this many times. A staple at Christmas dinner. I have NO idea as to calories and fat, but just look at the ingredients... chocolate, butter, eggs, sugar, cream- yikes! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/rolleyes.gif

Chocolate Sin

10 oz. semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup butter, cut into 8 pieces
6 large eggs, separated, at room temperature
1 cup sugar, divided
2 tsp. creme de cacao, Kahlua OR dark rum
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cup whipping cream, well chilled
2 1/2 to 3 Tbl. powdered sugar

Place oven rack in lower thired of oven; heat oven to 375. Butter & flour bottom & sides of an 8" springform pan. Set aside.

Melt chocolate with 1/2 cup butter and keep warm over a pan of hot water.

Beat egg yolks in large mixer bowl at high speed, gradually adding 3/4 cup of the sugar. Beat until yolk mixture is pale yellow and thick, 4-6 minutes. Add chocolate mixture to the yolk mixture; beat until completely smooth. Add liquer and vanilla; beat until blended.

Beat egg whites in medium mixer bowl at high speed until soft peaks form. Gradually beat remaining 1/4 cup sugar into whites; continue beating until stiff, but not dry, peaks form. Fold whites gently but thoroughly into chocolate mixture. Pour batter evenly into reserved pan; smooth top. Bake 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350; bake another 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 250; bake 30 minutes longer. (Total baking time is 1 hour.) Turn off oven; prop open oven door and allow cake to remain in oven 30 minutes. Remove cake from oven and cover top with damp
paper towels; let stand 5 minutes.

Remove paper towels and cool cake completely. Come of cake will collapse and crack- this is normal! Press top of cake down lightly to smooth top. Remove springform and transfer cake to serving plate.

Whip cream in chilled bowl on high speed until soft peaks form. Continue beating,
gradually adding 1 1/2 Tbl. of the powdered sugar, until stiff peaks form. Dust top of
cake with remaining powdered sugar just before serving. Serve cake at room temperature with whipped cream.

[woodsl]

Sorry about the triple post. I am brain dead today.

Sharon

[This message has been edited by woodsl (edited 04-19-2001).]

[This message has been edited by woodsl (edited 04-19-2001).]

[woodsl]

Sorry about the triple post.

Sharon



[This message has been edited by woodsl (edited 04-19-2001).]

[woodsl]

FIRST OF ALL, LET ME APOLOGIZE THE THE TRIPLE POST - I WON'T WASTE TIME TELLING YOU HOW I DID IT; I'LL JUST SAY I'M SORRY.

I have posted these before, the richest desserts I make are:

Amaretto-Amaretti Chocolate Cheesecake
Peanutbutter Cup Cheesecake
Baked Fudge

Amaretto-Amaretti Chocolate Cheesecake

This is a "very" rich cheesecake, so serve small portions. It is also time consuming to make, but it is worth it!! I won second place in a Christmas baking contest with this recipe.

Crust:
7 ounces Amaretti di Saronno, Lazzaroni & Co. macaroons (about 15 tissue-paper packages with two 1-1/2-inch macaroons in each package)*
1 ounce (1 square) unsweetened chocolate
5 T butter
2 T granulated sugar
Butter the sides (not the bottom) of a 9-inch springform pan. Grind the Amaretti macaroons very fine by placing them in a food processor. You should have 1 1/3 to 1 1/2 cups of crumbs. Place the crumbs in a mixing bowl and stir in the sugar. Melt chocolate and butter in a double boiler. Add the melted chocolate and butter to the crumb mixture and stir to mix thoroughly. Turn the crumbs into the bottom the pan. Press crumbs evenly and firmly over the bottom of the pan (not up the sides). Refrigerate while you prepare the filling. I have also made this crust with chocolate cookie crumbs instead of the ground macaroons.

Filling:

6 ounces semisweet chocolate
7 ounces Amaretti di Saronno, Lazzaroni & Co. macaroons (see above)
4 ounces almond paste
1/3 C. Amaretto di Saronno liqueur
3 8-ounce packages cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 C. sugar
4 large eggs
1/2 C. heavy cream

Preheat to 350 degrees. Place the chocolate in the top of a double boiler over hot water over moderate heat. Heat until chocolate is melted. Remove top of the double boiler and set aside, uncovered, to cool slightly.

Place the Amaretti macaroons in their tissue-paper wrappings on a cutting board. With a hammer hit each package hard enough to break the macaroons coarsely but not hard enough to tear the paper. Unwrap the broken macaroons and place then in a bowl and set aside.

Cut the almond paste in to very small pieces and place it in a small mixing bowl. While beating on low speed, very gradually add the Amaretto liqueur and beat until thoroughly mixed (it may take a while). Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese until it is smooth. Add the sugar and beat until smooth again. Then add the almond paste mixture and beat once again until thoroughly mixed. Add the melted chocolate and beat well once more. Add eggs, one at a time, beating on low speed only until they are incorporated. Add the cream and beat only until smooth. (This cheesecake should not be beaten until it is light and airy).

Add the coarsely broken macaroons and stir together by hand gently only to mix. Turn into prepared crust. Bake for 45 minutes. It will seem soft and not done but do not bake any longer; it will become firm when it is chilled. Let cake stand at room temperature until completely cool. Then carefully remove the sides of the pan. Refrigerate the cake for 4 to 6 hours or overnight. Serve the cake refrigerated, the colder the better.

*These little macaroons are hard to find, but you can find them at some specialty food stores. According to the cookbook where I got this recipe (Maida Heatters Book of Great Chocolate Desserts), you can also order them through Williams Sonoma.

Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake

I gave one of these to a friend of mine who served it at a Christmas party, and the caterer asked for this recipe.

Crust:

1 C. chocolate wafer cookie crumbs*
1/4 stick butter, melted
1/2 C. roasted peanuts, chopped
2 T. firmly packed light brown sugar

Mix chocolate crumbs, chopped peanuts, melted butter and brown sugar. Press evenly onto bottom and 1/2-inch up sides of 9-inch springform pan. Bake at 350 for about 8 minutes. Remove from oven and cool. Reduce heat in oven to 325 degrees.

* I have used wafer cookie crumbs or crushed oreo cookies (did not remove the the filling before crushing). The taste is the same.

Filling:

4 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
1 1/2 C. firmly packed light brown sugar
3/4 C. creamy peanut butter
1 t. vanilla
5 large eggs
1/4 C. whipping cream
2 1/2 C. peanut butter cups, cut in 3/4-inch pieces*

Beat cream cheese and brown sugar in large bowl until smooth. Add peanut butter and vanilla; beat just until blended. Add eggs one at a time, beating just until blended after each addition. Add cream and beat until smooth. Gently stir in peanut butter cup pieces by hand. Pour into crust. Bake until sides of cake are set but center still moves slightly, about 55 minutes. Cool in pan on rack for 10 minutes.

Topping:

2 C. sour cream
1 t. vanilla
1/4 C. sugar

Blend all ingredients. Spoon over cheesecake. Return to oven and bake 5 minutes. Cool in pan on rack. Run small knife around edge of cheesecake to loosen. Remove sides of pan. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Let stand 20 minutes before serving. Serves 10. I have also let the cheesecake cool completely after running the knife around the edges, but before removing the sides of the pan. I think this avoids getting cracks in the top of the cheesecake.

I have also made this cheesecake without the sour cream topping. You will need to cook the cheesecake about 5 minutes longer. I either leave it plain or add a chocolate topping. For the chocolate topping, once the cheesecake is room temperature, I melt semi-sweet chocolate chips in the microwave, spread the melted chocolate over the top of the cheesecake and sprinkle with chopped peanuts.

* I use the miniature Reeses’ peanut butter cups and cut them into fourths.

Baked Fudge

2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/4 t. salt
1 stick of melted butter (not margarine)
2 heaping T. of Hershey's cocoa in the dark brown box(recipe says you must use Hershey's and that's all I have ever used)
1 "running over" t. vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans

Mix the sugar and flour. Beat sugar/flour with the eggs. Add salt. Mix melted butter and cocoa. Mix the butter/cocoa mixture into the egg mixture. Add vanilla and pecans. Pour into a greased loaf pan, set the loaf pan in a pan of water. Bake at 300 degress for 40 to 50 minutes. Tap on the top of it at 40 minutes and if it seems crunchy, take it out. The top should be dry (even in the center of the pan), but the insides will be gooey (even after it is cooled). You can't really underbake it since the insides are suppose to be gooey, but you don't want to overcook it.

I usually double the recipe and bake it in an 8"x8" square pan. I think I have to cook it for over an hour in this size pan. I serve it warm or cold topped with cool whip. It is soooo good!!! I also found this recipe in The Sweet Potato Queens Book of Love by Jill Conner Browne. She calls it Chocolate Stuff. Here is a quote from her about Baked Fudge. She is right!!!

This will be the best thing that has happened to you in a very long time, possibly ever. From now on, for as long as you live, just the simple act of getting out the bowl to make Chocolate Stuff will have an incredibly assuaging effect on your psyche. I can say, without fear of contradiction, there is virtually nothing, not one situation, that can't be faced with calm and grace and serenity if you have Chocolate Stuff. You can eat it and feel better fast, and when it wears off, you can just make another batch.




[This message has been edited by woodsl (edited 04-19-2001).]