- Chocolate and peanut butter lovers will immediately be drawn to Bakeaholic‘s towering Double-Decker-Reese’s-Peanut-Butter-Cup-High-Hat Cupcakes, an over the top tribute to chocolate and peanut butter. At the bottom of each cupcake, there is a whole peanut butter cup, creating a kind of “crust” for the cupcake and giving everyone who eats one a surprise in the first bite. These devil’s food cupcakes are topped with peanut butter swiss meringue buttercream, which is dipped in chocolate to mirror that peanut butter cup flavor profile and give the cakes a lovely finished look.
- Guinep is a tart Caribbean fruit that isn’t something you’ll find at most grocery stores, but is well worth trying when you do. The fruit has a citrusy flavor and a texture that is similar to a lychee, with a large pit at the center of each small fruit. The pulp is often used in drinks, but it can also be used in other types of recipes, such as the Guinep Sunshine Pie from Munchin with Munchkin. This pie is custardy, made with sweetened condensed milk, greek yogurt and a lot of fresh guinep. It’s held together with a bit of gelatin, and makes a bright, refreshing summertime treat.
- Tish Boyle‘s Strawberries and Cream Vacherin is a strawberry creamsicle, with an easy-to-make, yet very elegant, presentation that is perfect for summertime parties. The vacherin uses crunchy baked meringues as its top and bottom, and is filled with homemade strawberry sorbet and vanilla ice cream. A ring mold is ideal for assembling these desserts, but you can line a drinking glass or even a muffin tin with a little bit of plastic wrap, then assemble the strawberry and ice cream components in there to get a very neat look. When you’re ready to serve, you’ll just have to slide the plastic wrap out of the pan and peel it back before assembling your vacherin.
- The Cacao Avocado Mousse with Maple Macadamia Topping that A Splash of Vanilla put together is one chocolate dessert that you don’t have to feel guilty about eating. Avocados, rather than whipped cream, make up the base of this mousse and they give it a very rich, creamy texture. They have a subtle flavor that easily fades into the background once chocolate is added, and the maple macadamia nuts add a nice crunch and extra punch of sweetness. The mousse can be served individual cups or poured into a pie crust for a unique take on a chocolate cream pie.
- Both bananas and strawberries go well with chocolate, and when you put all of them together you get something that looks like Gluten Free Canteen‘s Chocolate Strawberry Banana Cupcakes. These chocolate cupcakes are made with a lot of mashed banana that gives them a good flavor and very moist crumb. They are topped off with a generous amount of strawberry banana cream cheese frosting, that is a light and fruity contrast to the cake. The cake is gluten free, but you could use the frosting alone with many other cupcake recipes, too.
What do you think?