Desserts to Die For

One of the highlights of our party is the desserts that we serve at the end of the evening. This year, I made four desserts.

First, I made one of my long-time personal favorites -- an apple tart. This is a recipe that I obtained during one of the first cooking classes I took, about 23 years ago!

Second, a Chris' request, I made a Tuxedo Truffle Torte which was composed of a dark and white chocolate mousse and a dark and white chocolate ganache. This cake was sinfully rich.

Third, I made a Croquembouche -- which is a tower of puff pastries filled with vanilla cream and drizzled with lots of chocolate. Chris made the puff pastry dough for me, and it

was superb. It cooked up perfectly. And this dessert was especially fun to construct.

Finally, I made a Red Raspberry Almond Passion Cake. The cake batter included a healthy amount of toasted and finely ground almonds and when constructed, the cake is in four layers. The frosting was a chocolate butter cream. A raspberry sauce was brushed over each cake layer as the cake was assembled and, when finished, the cake was topped by a ring of raspberries. Yum.

By the end of the evening, there was one small piece of the Red Raspberry Almond Passion Cake left -- but everything else was gone -- completely consumed!