Mexican Chocolate Fudge

I was excited to find Mexican chocolate at the grocery store. I hadn't a clue what to use it for other than hot chocolate or brownies and I just made brownies last week. While perusing  the public market  at Granville Island I came upon a candy shop because the boys saw some lollipops they wanted. The shop had many different flavors of fudge. I went home and decided that I would try to make fudge.

A lot of fudge recipes use chocolate chips, condensed or evaporated milk and mini marshmallows or if you go old school, they use corn syrup, cream, sugar and chocolate. I decided to do a hybrid and used Callebaut dark chocolate, marshmallows (regular size cut up into small pieces), and evaporated milk. This made the recipe very hard to measure. After estimating, cooking the sugar, butter and evaporated milk and taking it off the heat and then adding in the chocolate and marshmallows, the mixture turned out dry and crumbly. I added more evaporated milk, put it back on the heat and melted everything. I cooked it until it reached the soft ball stage, crossed my fingers and hoped for the best.

The next morning the fudge was not soft and creamy but rather crumbly but melt in your mouth consistency. The flavor was great and had an added spicy kick at the end due to the cayenne and cinnamon. The top has a crunch from the Mexican chocolate which is cut up and sprinkled on top of the fudge while it is still hot. Due to cooking it so long, it had turned into Mexican chocolate tablet. It disappeared rather quickly at work but I shall try again to make fudge- the soft and creamy way.

Triple Chocolate Cheesecake Bites

My dad was visiting us and when I asked him what kind of dessert he likes, he replied, "Chocolate cheesecake!" I took up the challenge and came up with these bites. An oreo cookie crust for the bottom then milk, white and dark chocolate cheesecake layers and finally a dark chocolate swirl crowning the top. The remaining batter I poured into mini muffin tins and since they were too small to layer, I made mini cheesecake bites with just a single flavor. Creamy and decadent, these cheesecakes went well with a cup of hot coffee.

Bailey's Brownies, Blog Changes and My Process

These brownies were rich and fudgy, easy to make and had a hint of Bailey's Irish Cream. This is one of my favorite brownie recipes to make. The only change is that next time I will sift the cocoa powder because it made little spots on the top of the brownies.

Things have become much busier lately. I've taken on a full time job of homeschooling my two boys and maintaining a homeschool blog about them as well as their updating their video blog.  This leaves much less time for baking and even less time for baking blogging. I've decided not to post the recipes on this site due to time constraints. If you would like any of the recipes, I'd be happy to email them to you. Here's the process my baking goes through.

1) Get inspired. Decide what to make, what ingredients I have, what's in season.

2) Research recipes, read reviews and ratings, watch instructional videos.

3) Grocery shop for ingredients.

4) Drink lots of diet coke to stay awake. And put on some catchy music.

5) Bake.

6) Cool and cut, prepare for serving and transport.

7) Photograph.

8) Download to computer, weed through and edit photos.

9) Post to personal Facebook, Sweetdreamspatisserievancouver Facebook and write a bit, post to this blog. Write about what I baked and type out the recipe in my own words as well as including any alterations, substitutions, tips and hints, etc.

This blog will mainly be a visual journal. I also plan to start painting original works of the sweets I make. In this way, my two degrees- fine art painting and commercial baking shall meld together into one where the art influences my baking to be visually striking thus inspiring me to paint and my painting references are original sweets that have never been painted before.

Root Beer Float Sandwich Cookies

I was curious what to make with the root beer extract I bought from Gourmet Warehouse a while back. After making coke floats this week, I was inspired to make root beer float sandwich cookies. The filling in the middle is a vanilla bean frosting. I'll have to admit to cookies are good but unusual. If you don't know they are root beer, you may be puzzled as to what kind of cookies they are.

Root Beer Float Cookies

Made 18 sandwich cookies

Inspired by Chocolate Moosey

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1 egg

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 Tbsp. root beer extract

Vanilla Bean Frosting:

1 1/2 cup powdered sugar, sifted

1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 Tbsp. heavy whipping cream

1 vanilla bean


1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. In a stand mixer with paddle attachment, cream together butter and brown sugar. Beat in egg and root beer extract.

3. In  separate bowl, whisk together flour, salt and baking soda. Add to butter mixture and stir until blended.

4. Roll 1 1/2 inch balls of cookie dough and place on baking sheet. Flatten slightly. Bake 10-12 minutes until set. Cool for 5 minutes on baking sheet then remove to wire rack to finish cooling.

5. In a stand mixer with paddle attachment, cream together butter, powdered sugar and heavy whipping cream. Cut open vanilla bean pod and scrape out the seeds. Add them to the frosting. Cream until frosting consistency is reached. If it is too thick, add a little more heavy cream or water.

6. Match up cookie tops and bottoms. Pipe or spread vanilla bean frosting onto one flat half of the cookie and then form a sandwich with the other half. Store in airtight container at room temperature up to three days. The root beer flavor will intensify if eaten the following day.

Coke Float

Philadelphia style ice cream with vanilla beans from Papua New Guinea, coke, fresh whipped cream, and a maraschino cherry on top. Classic summertime treat.

Chip and Dale Rainbow Cake

Our son requested a rainbow Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers cake for his 5th birthday. I was excited because I love making creative cakes for our boys. When I was little, I always imagined I would do this some day. Chip and Dale were a challenge. Since Rescue Rangers in an old cartoon, there are no figurines available. I did a lot of research and decided against creating my own 3-D sculptures. For this project I printed out a picture of Chip and Dale then cut out pieces of colored sugar paste like a puzzle (freehand- art school is good for some things). Then I dried the pieces overnight and glued them together with a mixture of meringue powder and water. The pieces didn't fit exactly but the main thing is my son loved it. He helped make the acorns made out of sugar paste. For the fondant, most fondant tastes just plain nasty but the marshmallow one, although sweet, is pretty tasty. It didn't have the smoothest texture but it turned out ok.

Rainbow Cake Makes 2 8" cakes or 2 tall 6" cakes

Inspired by Yellow Butter Cake by Baking at Home with the Culinary Institute of America

3 1/2 cups cake flour

2 cups sugar

1 Tbsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 lb. unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup milk, divided use

4 eggs

2 egg whites

2 tsp. vanilla extract

Food coloring- red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple

1. Grease cake pans with shortening. Cut parchment paper to line the sides and the bottom of cake pans. Press gently to adhere. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together cake flour, baking powder, and salt.

3. In a stand mixer with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar together. Beat in flour mixture and half of the milk on low speed then increase to medium. Scrape down bowl with rubber scraper.

4. In a small bowl, whisk together remaining half of milk, eggs, egg whites and vanilla. Add in three additions to the batter, scraping down after each addition.

5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

6. Divide batter into six separate bowls and color each with food coloring. In one cake pan layer red, orange and yellow. In the other pan, layer purple, green, blue. You want the bottom of the pan to be the color you want on top of the cake and on the bottom of the cake. Drop cake pans on flat surface to get out air bubbles.

7. Bake for 35-40 minutes. Cool in pans on wire rack. Trim top layers with a serrated knife to stack evenly.


Sugar Paste

Inspired by Gingerbread House Heaven

4 cups confectioner's sugar, sifted (reserve 1 cup for later)

1 Tbsp. gum tragacanth

1 Tbsp. liquid glucose

1 packet Knox gelatin

4 Tbsp. warm water

1. In a stand mixer, stir together warm water and gelatin until dissolved.

2. Heat glucose for 20 seconds in microwave and add to gelatin. Add in confectioner's sugar and gum tragacanth. Mix with a dough hook attachment until sticky dough forms.

3. Place dough in plastic bag and store at room temperature overnight.

4. Knead in remaining cup of powdered sugar with paddle attachment. Store in ziplock bag or plastic wrap inside an airtight container.

5. Knead in food coloring and work quickly with small amounts if sugar paste as it tends to dry out and get crusty. If it does, knead in more powdered sugar. Work on a smooth surface greased with vegetable shortening to prevent sticking. Let pieces dry before gluing together. For glue I use 2 Tbsp. of meringue powder mixed with 2 tsp. of water. This glue can be stored in an airtight container as well.

Marshmallow Fondant

1/8 cup vegetable shortening

16 oz. package of mini marshmallows

3 Tbsp. water

1 Tbsp. glycerin

1 tsp. clear vanilla extract

3 lbs. powdered sugar, sifted


1. Place shortening in small bowl and set aside.

2. Place marshmallows in a large heat proof bowl and microwave on high for 30 seconds to a minute until smooth. Stir in water and glycerin. Transfer to stand mixer bowl with dough hook attachment both greased with vegetable shortening. Beat in powdered sugar one cup at a time until a sticky dough forms. Will not use all of the powdered sugar.

3. Turn the dough out onto a flat surface greased with vegetable shortening. Knead in powdered sugar until a stiff dough forms. Knead 10 minutes longer till not sticky. Form into a ball. Roll between two layers of parchment paper or with rolling pin greased with vegetable shortening. Fondant can be stored in a ziplock bag in fridge overnight but needs to warm to room temperature (3 hrs) before using.

Brioche A Tete

I've been meaning to make these little buttery buns for a while. I was intrigued by the little heads that rest on the top of the bread. My first attempt wasn't perfect as I made the heads way too big. This caused them to rise and fall over much like Dr. Seuss hats. My second attempt I made the buns half the size and rolled tiny heads for the top. Though they kind of look like boobs, I thought these were much more successful. I couldn't get the hang of the technique of rolling the dough even though I saw quite a few videos on how to do it. The proper way you use your hand like a saw and roll the head till it's just hanging by a thread. The long skinny side goes into the mold and you press down into the center making a space for the ball to go in the middle. For mine, I just made two separate balls.

Brioche A Tete

Inspired by Baking at Home with the Culinary Institute of America

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 1/2 tsp. active dry yeast

4 large eggs plus one extra for egg wash

1/2 cup whole milk, warm

1/4 cup sugar

2 tsp. salt

12 oz. unsalted butter, room temperature



1. In a small bowl combine warm milk and yeast. Let rest 10 minutes or until foamy.

2. In stand mixer with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs, salt and yeast mixture. Mix well.

3. Switch stand mixer to dough hook. Mix in flours on low speed. Continue kneading at medium speed until dough is elastic, about 15 minutes.

4. Wrap dough in plastic and refrigerate for 8 hours.

5. Spray brioche tins or mini muffin pans with cooking spray. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

6. Cut dough into 48 pieces. For each piece roll a big ball and a small ball. Press a deep hole in the big ball with your finger. Make the small ball into a bowling pin shape. Place the thin end in the hole with the ball resting on the top of the dough ring.

7. Cover with plastic and let rise for 90 minutes.

8. Egg wash. Bake for about 10- 15 minutes until golden brown on top.  Cool slightly on wire rack. Best served warm.