Cappuccino-Mascarpone Cakes

French patisserie, especially entremets always hold a fascination for me. They are so delicate, so elegant, so perfect. When you run your dessert fork through it, you can see those different layers, each with a unique taste and texture. They take some time to make, but it's well worth it. In the end even the serving temperature can affect the tasting experience. So I have decided to try making these beauties more often, starting with some cappuccino mousse cakes.

The cakes consist of four parts: a coffee flavored sponge, a mascarpone mousse, cappuccino core, and a coffee glaze.  It flavors are similar to tiramisu. I had some problems with putting the glaze on the cakes. It was either too thick, or too hot, that the cakes started to melt right away. I didn't really like how they looked. Well, they still tasted great, and so I hope to be able to make them look better next time. If you have any tips how to perfectly apply a thin glaze, I would be very happy to hear them.

BAKED Chocolate Brownies and a wedding gift idea

I made Brownies, not any kind of brownies, the famous BAKED Chocolate Brownies. Praises for them are all over the internet. Lots of people have called them the best brownies ever. So, this was the best recipe for the occasion.

The occasion was my cousin's wedding in December. No, I didn't make them as a wedding cake, even though they taste great. And here comes the idea. My cousin's best friend collected recipes from each wedding guest before the wedding and made a cookbook out of it. It wasn't just written up pages, each guest designed their own page, with pictures or drawings of their favorite recipe. All the pages, ranging from soups, pasta, Sunday dinners, cakes to desserts, were then bound as a book. I think this was a really great gift, since it's a very personal collection, which they will enjoy and look back to for many years.

I chose the brownies, because it's a classic dish, not too complicated and is loved by everybody. You can also dress them up as a fancy dessert, maybe for Valentine's Day. Cut out shapes using a round or heart cookie cutter, serve them warm with some vanilla ice-cream and hot cherry sauce. Lovely!

My 5 most popular posts of 2012 and a Happy New Year!

I wish you all a very Happy New Year for 2013! Have a great time tonight and hope to see you back here next year. In the meantime here are the 5 most read posts from Berry Lovely in 2012.

	5. Raspberry Chocolate Mousse Cake Definitely one of my favorite cakes of this year. The tangy yoghurt mousse, rich chocolate mousse and fruity raspberries make a perfect combination.
	4. Blackberry Coconut Cakes Blackberry and coconut was a new flavor combination for me, but surprisingly tasty. Also worked well for tartlets and ice-pops.
	3. Lemon Celebration Cake A multilayer cake, with a beautiful lemon cream, caramel and mascarpone frosting. A few more steps, but the result is great.
	2. Lemon Muffins A big surprise hit were these easy and fast to make lemon muffins.
	1. Mango Chocolate Mousse Cake Also a favorite of mine. I love chocolate mousse cakes paired with some fruit. Here it was a mango mousse and glaze, with tasted very good. One of the cakes, which I have made another time for Christmas.

Vanilla Kipferl and a Merry Christmas!

Vanilla Kipferl are one of the most traditional Christmas cookies in Germany. You can probably find them at every German household this time of the year. So, this is the perfect cookie to wish you and your families all to enjoy a wonderful Christmas.

Chocolate Mousse - Passion Fruit Cake

Are you still looking for an impressive, but not too difficult cake for Christmas? This could be the one! I made it a few weeks ago, just for me and my husband, in a smaller version. We loved it so much, that I will make it again to bring to our Christmas dinner. For a more Christmas style decoration you can use star cookie cutters in different sizes.

With a little practice this cake is fairly easy to make. You can prepare most of the cake the day before you serve it. Just the chocolate disk is best to put on shortly before serving. To cut the cake it's best to remove the chocolate disk, and cut the cake separately. Then put a piece of the chocolate on each serving.