Carpe Epulae

The 3rd full week in March is National Chocolate Week!

And we start the week off with Truffle Mousse Cheesecake and Milky Way Balls.

Truffle Mousse Cheesecake

Crust
1 cup chocolate graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup melted butter
Filling
16 ounces softened cream cheese
1/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups melted, cooled semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
Mousse
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 1/2 cups melted, cooled semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup cold water
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
Ganache
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Crust
Heat oven to 325°F. Combine all ingredients and press onto bottom and 1 inch up sides of 9 inch springform pan.

This is the unadjusted crust amount. It fell apart when I took it off the pan. So I adjusted it down. I don’t have good luck with these crusts. It was a pretty standard crust recipe but it always seems to not have enough butter and sugar for the amount of crumbs. So, since I prefer the filling to the crust anyway, I just adjusted the amount of crumbs down.
Filling
Beat together cream cheese and sugar. Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in melted chocolate, vanilla and cream till well blended. Pour into crust.

Bake 50-60 minutes till set. Let cool completely before topping with mousse layer.
Mousse
Sprinkle gelatin over cold water and let stand 3-5 minutes to soften. Heat gently, stirring till gelatin is melted. Cool. Whip cream to soft peaks.

Add melted, cooled chocolate and whip to partially stiff peaks. Pour in gelatin in steady stream and beat to stiff peaks. Spoon over top of cooled cheesecake layer and smooth top. Cover and chill 4-6 hours.

Ganache
Melt chips and cream together. Stir in vanilla. Let cool to room temperature but still pourable. Remove pan sides from cheesecake. Place on serving platter. Pour ganache over entire cake, spreading on sides and smoothing top. Chill till set.

If you notice the overhang in the above picture, that is due to the crust that fell away when I took the pan side off. So it pretty well made it impossible to put the ganache over the sides. Plus, the ganache was really thin so I adjusted the amounts in the recipe for the next time.

Also, let this sit at room temperature for 20 minutes or so before serving or the mousse will be exactly the same texture as the cheesecake and what’s the point of having 2 layers if they are the same?

Milky Way Balls

1/4 cup butter
18 large marshmallows
3 large Milky Way candy bars
2 1/2 cups crisp cocoa rice cereal

Melt butter and add marshmallows and Milky Ways.

Melt together over low heat and stir in cereal. Wet hands and roll mixture into balls.

Roll in powdered sugar and set on waxed paper till cool.

If you like your chocolate sweet, this is one for you. Upon further tasting, when they have cooled down, they aren’t as sweet. The sweet could be cut also by using regular Rice Krispies instead of the chocolate ones. I may try again with Milky Way Darks…

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