recipes

Lime Naked Cake

Calling all Lime lovers. This semi-homemade cake is easy and quick to put together. It’s light and packed with fresh flavors—the perfect ending to a summer dinner.

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Start by baking two boxes of lemon supreme cake mix accordingly to the box baking instructions. We divide the batter in 4 round cake pans (about 9”). Allow cakes to cool completely in the pan. The cakes must be completely cool before frosting and assembling.

Now, it’s time to make the frosting!! In a large bowl, using a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment beat the whipping cream on medium speed until it begins to thicken. Keep mixing, add the condensed milk and the confectioner sugar. Increase to high speed, and beat until the cream is very stiff, and stands in firm peaks on the beater when it is lifted from the bowl.

Stop mixing and slowly add the lime juice and using a French whisk mix all together. Your lime Chantilly will be ready!

Let’s assemble the cake! Turn the cakes down and using a large serrated knife, slice a thin layer off the tops to create a flat surface. Place the 1st cake layer on your cake stand. Spread about 1 and 1/2 cups of frosting evenly on top. Top with the 2nd cake layer, and evenly cover the top with another 1 and 1/2 cups of frosting. Do the same with the 3rd and 4th layer.

After the last one, spread the remaining frosting on top and around the sides using an icing spatula. Use a bench scraper to smooth out the frosting on the sides of the cake. Decorate the cake with lime and mint.

Lime Naked Cake

Ingredients

2 boxes of Lemon Supreme Cake Mix
700 ml of heavy whipping cream
1 can of condensed milk
2 limes
2 tbsp of confectioner sugar.

Instructions

Bake the 2 boxes of lemon cake mix accordingly to the box baking instructions. We divide the batter in 4 round cake pans (about 9”);
Allow cakes to cool completely in the pan. The cakes must be completely cool before frosting and assembling.

Frosting

In a large bowl, using a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment beat the whipping cream on medium speed until it begins to thicken. Keep mixing, add the condensed milk and the confectioner sugar. Increase to high speed, and beat until the cream is very stiff, and stands in firm peaks on the beater when it is lifted from the bowl.
Stop mixing and slowly add the lime juice and using a French whisk mix all together. Your lime Chantilly will be ready!

Assemble

Turn the cakes down and using a large serrated knife, slice a thin layer off the tops to create a flat surface.
Place the 1st cake layer on your cake stand. Spread about 1 and 1/2 cups of frosting evenly on top. Top with the 2nd cake layer, and evenly cover the top with another 1 and 1/2 cups of frosting. Do the same with the 3rd and 4th layer.
After the last one, spread the remaining frosting on top and around the sides using an icing spatula. Use a bench scraper to smooth out the frosting on the sides of the cake.
Decorate the cake with lime and mint.

Recipes

Liquid Alfajor

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Have you ever tried or heard about alfajores? If you have never tried them, you are missing out! They are delicate dulce de leche sandwich cookies that are very popular in South America. They are incredibly delicious, rich, and melt in your mouth.

As we like effortless recipes, we have twisted this classic cookie and created the liquid alfajor. It combines the dulce de leche and shortbread cookie and doesn’t require any baking.

Dulce de leche is decadent, smooth, and rich! If you are not familiar with this confection, they can be bought in cans and are most commonly found in your local store’s baking aisle. All the other items, we bet you are very familiar with.

Ingredients:
– 11 oz dulce de leche
– 11 oz heavy cream
– 6 oz butter cookie or shortbread cookie
– 8oz bittersweet chocolate – grated
– Mint leaves to garnish

How to:

Combine the dulce de leche and heavy cream and bring to a simmer for 3 min. Let it cool and pour the cream into a glass or a bowl;
Crush the cookies into fine crumbs;
Add the cookies crumbs on top of the cream;
Add the grated chocolate and refrigerate;
Décor with mint leaves.

You won’t regret trying this recipe. It is simply divine, quick, and a good choice to serve as a dessert. Irresistible!

Liquid Alfajor

Liquid Alfajor is a dessert that combines dulce de leche, chocolate, and shortbread cookies. It's so decadent, smooth, and rich

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Prep Time 10 mins

Resting time 1 hr

Total Time 1 hr 10 mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine South America

Servings 6

Ingredients

11 oz dulce de leche
11 oz heavy cream
6 oz butter cookie or shortbread cookie
8 oz bittersweet chocolate – grated
mint leaves to garnish

Instructions

Combine the dulce de leche and heavy cream and bring to a simmer for 3 min. Let it cool and pour the cream into a glass or a bowl;
Crush the cookies into fine crumbs;
Add the cookies crumbs on top of the cream;
Add the grated chocolate and refrigerate for about an hour;
Décor with mint leaves.

Recipes

Goat Cheese Balls

Featuredby hosttoperfection011 Comment

These goat cheese balls taste decadent and are so simple to make!!! They are a great last-minute appetizer and a flavorful addition to any party spread.

This recipe calls for dates or grapes. Both are great, but we personally prefer the ones with dates. The natural sweetness of the dates paired with the tart flavor of goat cheese is so tasty.

Here is what you need:

Goat cheese
Dates or grapes
Crushed pistachios or almonds

How-to:
– Cut the dates in half;
– Wrap the dates with goat cheese and make small balls;
– Cover the balls with crushed pistachio or almonds;

Enjoy!!!!

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Recipes

How to Garnish a Thanksgiving Turkey

Featuredby hosttoperfection011 Comment

We won’t attempt to give the Perfect turkey recipe, as we have no shame to admit that most of the time we order our Turkey for the Holiday festivities. However, we encourage you to make your main dish look good on the server platter!

Check below these two pictures and tell us if it is worth it or not!

The first step is choosing the right serving platter. For a rustic look, feel no fear to serve on a wood large board (as we did here). For a more elegant and traditional look, a white or pattern large platter will be beautiful.

For the garnishes, we chose items that are not only delicious but also colorful. We chose roasted garlic, sliced persimmons, dried apricots, sage leaves, and dried oranges. Other options are roasted mini potatoes, cranberries, sliced apples, and pears.

There is really no secret! All you have to do is roast the heads of garlic and the oranges. For the garlic, make sure to trim the top off the head of the garlic just enough to expose the garlic cloves and roast them for about 30 minutes. You will need to bake the oranges for a little longer, but make sure not to let them burn.

As your Turkey is roasting, you can already arrange the items on the corners of the serving platter. When the turkey is ready, all you have to do is place it right in the middle and bring it to the table!

We have also selected below some beautiful large platters that would look beautiful on your table. Happy Holidays!

Recipes

Lemon Mousse and Meringue Ice Cream Cones

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Lemon mousse is so refreshing and always a great dessert! We made it extra special by serving it on ice cream cones and covering it with a delicious Italian meringue.

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Lemon mousse is light and creamy and can be whipped up in a few minutes. There are so many different recipes for lemon mousse out there, but one of our favorites is this one with only 2-ingredients. It is full of taste, simple, and requires zero cooking skills. We also love that you can make it a day in advance, saving on prep time.

Meringues are so delicious, but a lot of people think they are hard to make. We must admit that we thought so until we started making this Italian meringue recipe. There is no secret! Italian meringue is made with a hot sugar syrup that is mixed into whipped egg whites. The hot sugar syrup partially cooks the egg whites making them safe to eat and gives the meringue a firm texture and flavor.

For a beautiful display, we served the lemon mousse in ice cream cones. The waffle cones are a perfect addition to a dessert table. They not only are cute but give a nice crunch texture to the lemon mousse.

To make this easy lemon mousse, you only need two ingredients: condensed milk and lemon juice! Combine these two ingredients, and you will be amazed by the taste and the texture. As soon as the acid from the lemon juice hits the condensed milk, the mixture thickens. After both ingredients are well-combined, bring the lemon mousse to the fridge for 2-hours to set.

Lemon mousse is ready; now it’s time to prepare the Italian meringue. In a small saucepan, combine sugar and water. Heat over high heat and let it cook until the sugar syrup reaches a temperature of 240F (I use a thermometer to check the temperature). Meanwhile, using a mixer on medium speed, mix the egg whites until soft peaks form, about 2 minutes. With the mixer running, carefully and slowly drizzle in the hot sugar syrup. Increase speed to high and whip until you get a stable glossy meringue. Allow it to cool completely before using it. You can cover it with clingfilm and leave it in the fridge for up to two days.

When it is time to serve, add the lemon mousse to the ice cream cones up to the top, cover it with the Italian meringue. We don’t recommend adding the lemon mousse to the waffle cones too early in advance. If you leave the lemon mousse too long in contact with the cone, the chances are that the cone will get soggy (I did that once, and it did not taste good).

For a toasty golden brown color, we toasted the meringue with a culinary torch. If you don’t have a torch, don’t worry! You can certainly skip this step!!

Lemon Mousse and Meringue Ice Cream Cones

Lemon mousse is so refreshing and always a great dessert! Wemade it extra special by serving it on ice cream cones and covering it with adelicious Italian meringue.

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Course Dessert

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

1 can sweetened condensed milk (14 oz.)
1/2 cup lemon juice (strained)
4 ice cream cones
2 large egg whites
2 cups sugar
3 tbsp water

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, mix the condensed milk and the lemon juice until well combined (about two minutes)
2. Refrigerate, covered, for two hours or until completely chilled and thickened. It tastes even better if refrigerated overnight (don't forget to cover the mouse).
3. Prepare the meringue: In a saucepan over medium heat, bring the sugar and water to a boil. Cook over high heat until the sugar syrup reaches a temperature of 240F degrees and remove from heat.
4. Meanwhile, combine egg whites and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Set the mixer to medium speed and mix until soft peaks form. Increase the whipping speed to high and pour in the syrup in a thin stream while whipping. Whip for about 10 min until you get a stable glossy meringue. Let it cool completely. You can leave it on the fridge covered until it is time to serve.
5. When it is time to serve, add to the ice cream cones the lemon mouse and cover with the Italian meringue.
6. Optional: Brown the meringue with a blowtorch.

Recipes

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Featuredby hosttoperfection011 Comment

Chocolate covered strawberries are extremely easy to make but are so elegant, beautiful, impressive looking and romantic. We love them! I mean, who doesn’t love them!? They are beautiful on their own, add elegance to a dessert table, or the final touch on top of a cake or cheesecake.

Ingredients

Strawberries

White, Dark or Semi-Sweet Chocolate Melting Wafers or Baking Chocolate Chips

Coconut Oil

The most important aspect of this treat is to select high-quality chocolate. Very important! We usually use Ghirardelli Melting Wafers or Ghirardelli Baking Chips, but any high chocolate works.

Wash and dry the strawberries. Make sure to dry them well; they must be completely dry. The water will prevent the chocolate from sticking to the strawberry.
Line a sheet pan with parchment or waxed paper.

Using a heatproof bowl, microwave the chocolate wafers and a little bit of the coconut oil, stirring every 15 seconds, until they are melted and smooth. Coconut oil is not essential, but it helps hardens the chocolate faster and makes it a little thicker.

Holding the strawberry by the stem, dip it into the chocolate, turning it to coat. Lift and let excess chocolate fall off.

Lay the strawberries on the parchment paper.

Wait 30 minutes for the chocolate to set, or place the strawberries into the refrigerator for 15 minutes to speed the process.
Enjoy them the same day, that’s when they are best. However, you can keep them in the refrigerator for 1 or 2 days.

Marbled Decoration

For a marbled effect, melt the dark and white chocolate as described above. Using a small spoon, drizzle some of the dark chocolate onto the white one. Do not stir! Dip the strawberries into the chocolate mixture, twist and turn when lifting up to create the marbled effect. Watch the video below for the full tutorial.

Recipes

Cheese Fondue

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Is there anything better than staying home on a cold night enjoying cheese fondue and a glass of wine!? Sounds like heaven to us! So why not add one to your cheese platter!? We don’t know about you, but for us, we can’t get enough of cheese.

Serving cheese fondue feels super special, like being in the Swiss Alps (lol), really simple to prepare and so cozy for a winter night. Although growing up in Brazil, we always enjoyed going to a fondue restaurant. I guess you can have it in any weather (lol)!!!

There are many ways to make cheese fondue; however, use a Fondue mix for a quicker and easier way. Just make sure to make it on the stove and then transfer it to the fondue pot. Serve with crusty bread, crunch vegetables like broccoli or cauliflowers, fruits like apples and pears, cherry tomatoes and potatoes. Make sure you have enough skewers for everyone, the last thing you want is people sharing them.

Recipes

Gingerbread Man Cake

December 9, 2020January 11, 2021by hosttoperfection01Leave a Comment

It’s no secret that we love using shortcuts to create a fun and delicious recipe! A homemade cake is certainly healthier (if you can call a cake a healthy thing, lol!), but you don’t have to do everything from scratch when you are busy.

Just a few little tricks and you can create this delicious cake out of a box! It is safer to say two boxes, lol! One box of French vanilla cake mix and one box of gingerbread man cookies.

It’s so easy to make and definitely a must-try!!

Gingerbread Man Cake

Course Dessert

Ingredients

1 box french vanilla cake mix
2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
16 oz whipping cream
1/2 can condensed milk
1 box gingerbread man cookies about 8 cookies

Instructions

Cake

Mix the cake according to its baking instructions and add 1tsp of cinnamon and 1 tsp of ground ginger
Pour the batter evenly into two 6-inch cake pans
Bake according to its baking instructions

Chantilly Filling

Slowly beat the heavy whipping cream until it begins to thicken.
Add the condensed milk and 1 tsp of cinnamon and ½ tsp of ground ginger.
Continue to beat until the cream is very stiff and stands in firm peaks.

Assemble and decorate the cake

Use a large serrated knife to level the cakes
Place 1 cake layer on your cake stand, spread the Chantilly filling evenly on top.
Top with 2nd cake layer and spread the Chantilly filling evenly on top
Spread the Chantilly filling around the sides using an icing spatula, stick gingerbread man around the cake
Decorate the top with mini gingerbread man.

Recipes

Chocolate Raspberry Mousse Cake

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With a chocolate cake base and creamy mousse topping, this make-ahead chocolate raspberry mousse cake is as easy as a pie and a great dessert for the Holiday season.
There is no secret! It is just a soft and moist chocolate cake, topped with a creamy chocolate mousse and covered with fresh raspberries! Does this sound amazing or what!?

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For this recipe, we used a boxed chocolate cake mix. It’s hard to beat the convenience of a box mix cake, and we are always looking for ways to simplify a recipe but keeping a delicious taste. The cake combined with the chocolate mousse will taste as you made it from scratch.

We made and baked the cake as directed on the box. You can bake it in a 9’ pan or in a 13 x ’9’ pan. The cake should not be too tall, aiming for a thin cake layer (about 2’ tall). We baked ours in a 9’ pan and ended up removing the top to make it thinner.

While the cake is baking, you can start preparing the chocolate mousse. You will notice that this recipe calls for gelatin. The gelatin is a stabilizer and also helps maintain the light and airy texture in the mousse.

When adding the whipped cream, carefully fold into the chocolate and stop immediately when the chocolate mousse is incorporated.

It is also very important that the mousse has a firm consistency; otherwise, it will run all over the raspberries. We recommend chilling it in the fridge for at least 1 hour before adding it to the dessert.

When the chocolate cake is ready, and the mousse is firm, you can start assembling the dessert. Watch the video for the tutorial.

Chocolate Raspberry mousse cake

Ingredients

1 box Betty Crocker™ Super Moist™ devil's food cake mix cream (water, vegetable oil and eggs for the cake mix)
7 oz semisweet chocolate chips
½ cup milk
½ cup sugar
1 sachet unflavored gelatine (about 2 tsp)
1½ cup whipped cream
Raspberries

Instructions

Cake Base

Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pans).
Make and bake cake as directed on box for 9-inch round cake pan or 13 inches x 9 inches cake pan. Cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove from pan to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.
Place a round cookie cutter (or even use the same bowl you will serve) on your baked cake. Slowly apply straight downward pressure on the cutter until it has cut through the height of the cake.

Chocolate Mousse

Prepare the gelatin as directed on the box. Reserve.
In a pot over low heat, whisk together the milk, sugar, and gelatin until the gelatin melts. Do not boil at any time, or the gelatin will lose its properties. Remove from heat.
Melt the chocolate in the microwave, add the milk and gelatin mixture, and mix until well incorporated. Reserve and let the chocolate mixture cool a little bit.
With a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whisk the heavy cream on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form.
Whisk ¼ of the whipped cream into the cooled chocolate. Then gently fold in the remaining whipped cream.
Put the chocolate mousse in the fridge for about 1 hour or in the freezer for 20 minutes.

Assembly

To facilitate assembly, place the mousse in a large pastry bag and make a medium cut.
Arrange the cake in the serving bowl and distribute the raspberries filling the entire base.
Cover the raspberries with the chocolate mousse.
Add raspberries on top of the mousse
Refrigerate the dessert for at least 4 hours before serving, but we recommend leaving it in the fridge overnight to ensure the perfect texture.

Recipes

Lemon Mousse

October 5, 2020October 8, 2020by hosttoperfection01Leave a Comment

When life gives you lemons, make a lemon mousse!!

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We pretty much love anything with lemons, they tastefully enhance the flavor of almost everything! This make-ahead lemon mouse is light, soft, and simple to make, truly the ideal summer dessert. With only three ingredients, this sweet citrus flavor dessert will wow all of your guests. And can we talk about the lemon bowls!? How adorable are they!?

Lemon Mousse

Course Dessert

Ingredients

1 can condensed milk
2.5 oz heavy cream
1/4 cup lemon juice

Instructions

In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients until well combined
Refrigerate, covered, for an hour or until completely chilled and thickened. It tastes even better if refrigerated overnight (don't forget to cover the mouse)

Lemon Bowls

Cut off the top half of the lemon
Carefully hollow out each lemon with a spoon
Make a slight shallow cut on the bottom to make them sit straight
Carefully fill up each bowl with the lemon mousse
Garnish with lemon zest and mint leaves