Chocolate Mousse and Graham Cake

It can be argued that chocolate is mankind's favorite dessert. May it be in candies, bars, truffles, syrups, ice cream or hot drinks; the dark yummy goodness has captured the love of many worldwide. 

Today I decided to do something different. I'm usually cooking or baking but this particular cake needed no baking at all. It's called the Chocolate Mousse and Graham Cake. I got the recipe from the back of the box of graham crackers. It's one of the easiest desserts that I had ever made. The ingredients are simple and easy to acquire. The results are to die for. Creamy chocolate cream interspersed with crushed graham crusts. My family do agree with me that this is one of my best kitchen creations to date. 

FOR THE CRUST:

1 pack of Graham Crackers

6 tablespoons of Melted Butter

FOR THE MOUSSE:

2 packs of Nestle All-Purpose Cream

30pcs of Flat Tops Chocolate 

2 Sachets of Milo Energ Drink

 The Graham Crackers are crushed first. I used a blender to do it in record time. It's easier than pounding the cracker into bits using a mortar and pestle. I melted six tablespoons of butter and mixed it into the crushed crackers. The butter will help keep the crust together. I then used a cake pan and lined the bottom with the graham and butter mixture. This will be needed to be refrigerated for 10 minutes in order for the crust to solidify.

The mousse is made next. I melted the Flat Tops by putting them in a metal bowl and hovered it above boiling water. The steam helped to melt the chocolate to a semi-liquified state. After this I added the All-Purpose cream and Milo and mixed everything with an electric Mixer. It is important to have the cream chilled before putting in with the chocolate. It will make it easier when layering the graham in between. 

After this, take out the crust from the refrigerator. Pour in the ready made mousse into the pan and intersperse with cream. Garnish with Graham crumbs, a bit of cream and square graham crackers on top to make it look wonderful.

See! It's quite easy. Definitely my best cake to date! It looks amaking and tastes absolutely delicious. It's a winner with my family and I do look forward to making it again for family get togethers and special family events.  

The cake must be chilled for more than three hourse to make it more solid. I do think that I should add clear gelatin to the mousse next time so that it wouldn't melt too easily. The extreme heat here in Manila had melted the cream about 15 minutes after I had gotten it out of the freezer. Adding gelatin to the mixure will make its shape last longer.

Bon Apetit! 

Cooking Katsudon!

It's not a secret that I love Japanese food. There came a time in my life when I was obsessed with everything Japanese. Their culture was intriguing to me as a child and I always watched those anime shows that were shown on TV. As I grew older I also loved to make Japanese food and the best way to express that love is to learn to cook my favorite dishes. I usually make Sushi or Onigiri when I think about Japanese cooking. I had also experienced making Miso Soup and Sukiyaki. But I never experienced making Katsudon until now. Kinda ironic since it's quite easy to make!

The wonderful thing about the internet is that you can find a recipe for absolutely anything. So I visited youtube and looked for a recipe. Lo and behold I found a really cute Youtube channel called "Cooking with Dog". It's a online based cooking show hosted by a grey poodle named Francis and a Japanese chef whose name is not disclosed.

I have almost all the ingredients but I we didn't have any ready made bread crumbs available so I crushed two packs of Sky Flakes crackers to substitute for it.

 I then rolled my pork cutlets with seasoned floor, dipped it into a bowl of whisked eggs then covered them with my home-made bread crumbs.

 After that I fried with olive oil until the pork cutlets turned a wonderful shade of brown. It looks wonderful.

The breaded pork cutlet must be simmered in a mixture soy sauce, sugar, mirin and bonito stock. A lightly whisked egg would be poured on top after that. The ready made Katsudon can now be put on top a steaming bowl of rice.

TADAH!

I'm really proud of this achievement. The rosemary made the Katsudon look pretty in the picture. It looks even more yummy in person.

Although when I tasted what I had made I realized that I should have added some more sugar. The mixture was okay but it lacked a bit more sweetness. Overall I think I did good but I think I could do better next time. I guess that's the problem with just following a recipe without tasting it first. At least I know what to do next time. Lesson learned!

For anyone who wants the recipe, just click on the video link.