Cin Cin Let’s Eat is two years old!! Thank you all for your continuing support and your generous comments and feedbacks, thank you for growing and learning with me along the way, and thank you for putting up with the lack-of-updates every now and then… I had never thought I would be able to keep this up but here we are! Here is to many more years of great food and travel 🙂

Buttermilk cake filled strawberry mousse and a thin layer of chocolate ganache. Mascarpone whipped cream frosting, topped with strawberry slices and a swirly chocolate piece. The chocolate squares were purchased at Cost Plus World Market.

Buttermilk cake recipe here

Strawberry mousse recipe here

Chocolate ganache:
2 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 teaspoons light corn syrup

• Put the chocolate in a heat-proof bowl. Add cream and corn syrup into a small saucepan and bring to a low boil over medium heat. Remove from heat and pour over the chocolate. Let stand for 1 minute, then slowly stir the mixture to blend well. Let cool until firm enough to spread.

Mascarpone Whipped Cream Frosting
1 container (8oz) of mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup heavy whipping cream

• Put all ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Using an electric mixer and whip until soft peaks form.

To make the chocolate design on the top:

• First trace out the size of the cake (in my case, 9″ round) on a piece of parchment paper. Melt 2 oz of chocolate chips in the microwave or over a double boiler, stir until completely smooth. Add to a piping bag, snip off the tip to your desired size of opening. Apply even pressure and pipe/drip the chocolate out like you are drawing swirls and small circles. Do this fast and try not to go outside of the circle you traced. Wait 15 minutes before adding on sprinkles or edible pearls. Let the chocolate dry/harden completely before removing from parchment. You can refrigerate the chocolate the speed up the process.