I have a friend in my book club that makes Mississippi Mud Cake. OMG! It is so good. I always love it when that's what she makes for dessert when she hosts book club.

I had surgery 12 days ago an on day 4 after I had this dream about a super fluffy not too sweet icing. Normally I don't do dessert at all but the memory would not leave. So I searched and found a recipe to try. Before it got to the cake I had 3 heaping tablespoons of the icing, Then 3 pieces of cake that night and 3-4 more the next day. As soon as I am able I will be tweeking it to make another one maybe pina colada cake this time with my new found icing recipe.

I don't care for most cake, but I LOVE, love, love boiled icing. My aunt makes the BEST (my grandmother's recipe). For my birthday I always tell them to forget the cake and just give me a bowl of the icing. And I'm perfectly serious. So far it hasn't happened.... but my birthday is next month so we'll see how it goes this year. :)

That would be the most decadent dessert I can imagine, lol.

Terriks, I expect to be a few pounds heavier any day now. lol. The cake is so thick I've been cutting a tiny piece to hold with my fingers and eat every time I go to the kitchen. No plate required. :)

I have the recipe if you want it. It's pretty easy.

What is boiled icing? When I make the chocolate sheet cake (another heavy and delish cake) I boil some of the cake ingredients, and I boil some of the frosting ingredients.

I have a great recipe for that too. :)

We went out for dinner last week for DH's bday, and I had a chocolate lava cake with the chocolate oozing out like hot syrup when I broke into the cake. It was served with ice cream made at a local dairy that is absolutely the creamiest ice cream I have ever tasted. It was sublime.

We went out for dinner a few days ago and had a bread pudding made with bourbon and raisins and served with chantilly cream....it was heavenly!

My favourite decadent dessert is Sticky Toffee Pudding cake, although I haven't eaten any recently. I even like the way it soundsâ¦..

My favorite recent dessert was actually not decadent, but it was fabulous. It was at the cafe at MOMA. It was mixed fresh berries, with a dollop of creme fraiche, and a drizzle of something they called balsamic glaze. I am guess it might have been a reduction of a very good thick balsamic with maybe a bit of sugar. Not sure, there was only a tiny amount of it but it really was so yummy and elegant.

My 10yo DD ordered it and she wanted them to hold the glaze, but they brought it with the glaze by accident and she loved it.

As for true decadence, last night we had homemade vanilla ice cream, rolled in "butterscotch corn flakes", drizzled with chocolate and a brunoise of strawberries.

I had to google "brunoise". How do the French do it, even their word for "diced" is fancy!

This why nothing gets done in my house. I just read this and then went to Youtube and watched a three minute video on how to brunoise an onion.

I had a lovely piece of marshmallow peach pie the other day, by my sister-in-law. Actually two pieces. Loved it so much I made the recipe myself and ate the whole thing.

Mtnrdredux, I've made a similar dessert before. In fact, I used to make it all the time as it was so good, simple but elegant. I think it was a Bon Appetit recipe - I'll see if I can find it if you want to make it at home. The whipped cream wasn't creme fraiche but had mascarpone cheese whipped with something...I'll see if I can find it.

For my birthday we had classic white layer cake with real buttercreme frosting. Loved by all!

One of our favorite restaurants has this awesome dessert:

Salted Caramel Budino with Whipped Cream and Chocolate Cookie. Wow, really hits all the taste buds.

Here is the recipe for the strawberries with balsamic syrup that I mentioned above:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Balsamic-Strawberries-with-Whipped-Mascarpone-Cheese-105321

LOL, Gray, the internet can suck up your whole life, no?

Fourkids -- did it have balsamic glaze? That was the novel part for me ... I have used plain balsamic (aged, thick and sweet) but never glaze

OOHH Salted Caramel, love.

Mtn, it's more of a light syrup that you cook on the stove with sugar, balsamic vinegar and lemon juice I think. Then you cool it before serving with the strawberries.

Oakley, that cake sounds amazing! When I go to Cheesecake Factory I always get their Linda's fudge cake, which is my standard for a decadent dessert...yours sounds even better :).

Recipe please? I googled it and found what sounds like a great easy version from Southern Living on food.com, but would love to see yours since it's been field (or should we say mouth?) tested!

Ann

I made my hubby chocolate and caramel covered bacon for Father's Day yesterday. Oh my goodness was that good.

made delicious strawberry shortcakes recently!!! yum!

I've been thinking about a lemon chiffon pie my Mom made for my bday one year when I was in my teens. Haven't had it since, but I'm thinking it's time to bake one again...once every several decades or so, y'know?

Another dessert that I used to love was warm chocolate pudding...you made the cooked kind of pudding and ate it before it cooled down and set. Amazing!

We recently went to a picnic and I made a double batch of the ghiardelli triple fudge brownies...so easy and yet so luscious....I have another picnic coming up...maybe time for a rerun....

Southern Living's version of Oak's Mississippi Mud Pie has a shortcut that starts by using two packages of brownie mix.

Speaking of pudding, the recipe below is so easy and comes out perfectly each time.

If I want to feel like more of a chef, I add splash of Grand Marnier after I take it off the stove. Serve it in deep small pots (like a pot de creme) with a dollop of unsweetened fresh whipped cream.

Here is a link that might be useful: Easiest and best chocolate pudding

I will admit to an unsophisticated sweet tooth.

My dd and a friend went to Bonnaroo (it's Woodstock for hipsters lol!) this past weekend. The girls were camping and it's my tradition to send home made goodies with them on their camping trips. I made snickerdoodles, gingersnaps, oatmeal with white chocolate and seven layer cookies. I have some left over at home and ended up eating three snickerdoodles for dinner last night ....

Oakley, my friend gave me her recipe. So far I have been able to resist making it, lol

Southern Living's recipe says you can substitute the first 4 ingredients of their recipe for the brownie mix, but they have a regular recipe.

Their batter is close to mine but I don't add marshmallows to it, and I do add coconut, which makes the cake. It could be optional though. Here's the recipe.

BTW, my frosting is a lot better than SL's. I use marshmallow creme, better than miniature marshmallows.

Mississippi Mud Cake

Cake:

1/4 c. Cocoa
1 c. Margerine, a bit microwaved so it will mix
1 sm. can Coconut (big handful)
1/4 c. finely chopped Pecans, more if you like
4 Eggs
2 c. Sugar
1 1/2 c. Flour
1 t. Vanilla

1 Jar of Marshmallow creme, but don't add it to the cake batter.

Mix together and bake in sprayed 9x13 pan for 30 min. at 350. Or when a toothpick comes out clean.

When the cake is done and still hot, spread Marshmallow Creme on top.

Let cool for about 10 minutes then spread frosting on top.

Frosting:

1/2 c. Butter, softened
1/3 c. Cocoa
1/2 c. Evaporated Milk
Powdered Sugar until thick and spreadable
1 t. Vanilla

Spread on top of Marshmallow creme. Let cool and then put pants or shorts on with an elasticized waist. :)

Hmmmm, I've never had coconut in a mississippi mud cake. I have to make it for hubby's secretary's b-day - she loves it. I can take a tiny bit of it but as much as I love chocolate, it's too rich. I also use marshmallows and not the creme.

Who mentioned the strawberry shortcake? I rarely make a cake for just the two of us but when the fresh strawberries were in I made shortcake a couple of times. I use the old fashioned biscuit dough type recipe that my mom and grandmother used. YUM!

Deedee - Bonaroo is in my neck of the woods - well, not too far. A wild time. LOL It cracked me up to hear that Paul McCartney was performing there this year!

tina

Today is my fast day and you people are killing me.

My current favorite dessert is at a modern Thai restaurant in Austin.

Thai Tea Affogato: It's a bowl of condensed milk ice cream with black tea tapioca (tapioca soaked in black tea - it looks like fish eggs!) and macadamia cookie crumbles sprinkled around the ice cream. Then you pour hot thai tea on top of the ice cream. It's so good I let DH pick up the bowl and slurp out the bottom.

If anyone is looking for an awesome lemon pie mix, try Dr. Oetker/Shirriff lemon pie mix. This is the perfect level of tartness and truly a classic. My mother would bring it when she would go to Canada on trips with the senior center, but I've recently mail ordered it. The key lime is also very good.

Here is a link that might be useful: Dr. Oetker pie mixes

A quick detour from desserts

Deedee - Bonaroo is in my neck of the woods - well, not too far. A wild time

tina, will you go check on her for me? lol! Just kidding (well, kinda) - she's 23 with a good head on her shoulders. Last time I talked to her she had just seen McCartney and said he was truly amazing.

Back to those scrumptious dessert ...

"Southern Living's version of Oak's Mississippi Mud Pie has a shortcut that starts by using two packages of brownie mix."

??? That's odd, the one I saw is linked below-no brownie mix involved. Looking at that recipe is probably a mistake at 5 pm, with a meeting starting at 6 pm because now I WANT DESSERT!!!!

Here is a link that might be useful: Mississippi Mud Cake Recipe

I had to look up boiled icing it is the same as- 7 minute frosting or meringue frosting. I love that on angel food cake. Not a chocolate person either but some of the desserts described above ........................oh my. I hope this sweet tooth goes away soon or I will be in trouble.

Here is a link to the brownie mix substitute. It's in the third paragraph under Preparation.

Here is a link that might be useful: Brownie mix substitute

Have made some fantastic desserts from Cooking Light recently - less than 300 calorie version of molten lava cakes (you can make and keep in fridge up to four days before cooking) and similar reduced calorie White Russian Tiramisu. Both to die for. My other favorite is similarly reduced calorie Key Lime Pie - thought that was also from Cooking Light but I think it was actually from Southern Living.

If you're avoiding something other than calories (like sugar and refined carbs) these are not for you. Or chemically reproduced foods (like Cool Whip). If you just want to enjoy a fantastic reduced calorie dessert once in a while regardless of what's in it that might be bad for you then they're great.

Running, it was Southern Living's recipe that said 2 brownie mixes can be substituted for the first 4 ingredients.

Coconut and the marshmallow creme makes the cake. Especially if you like German Chocolate Cake. The marshmallow creme literally melts on top and you get no chunks of marshmallows like you would if you added the miniatures.

Gibby, no cooking light allowed here! LOL

I'm pretty sure this won't appeal to many, but I have recently discovered White Stilton, w/ cranberries and w/ apricots. The one with apricots is so sweet it's like cheesecake. I love it on a water cracker.
I prefer the one with cranberries for appys though.

Gibby - I would love the key lime pie recipe if you wouldn't mind! Thanks in advance,

tina

Just spent 4 days eating our way through New Orleans. Capped it off with Bananas Foster at the Cafe Palace -a Brennan's restaurant. They are the inventors of Bananas Foster. We had fantastic gelato, pastries, donuts, beignets, etc. Time to pay the piper now....

mtnredux -I think the cafe at MOMA is amazing! We had some fabulous food there.

Bananas Foster is definitely decandent! I have a friend who goes to NO quite a bit and is always talking about the Beignets she eats there.

Here's a link to the Key Lime Pie. I have only made it with regular limes as key limes aren't that easy to find around here.

Here is a link that might be useful: Key Lime Pie

i'm pretty sure i read somewhere one time if you don't have key limes to add lemon to the regular limes that you use... that what i do when i make key lime pie and it improves it, imo.

interesting recipe recipe for MM cake- yum!... sounds more like a rocky road cake with the marshmallow and nuts... guess i'm more familiar with the MM pies that are essentially rich chocolate pudding pies...

i love making desserts!! :)

Thank you Gibby! Key Lime Pie is a favorite of mine.

tina

Love key lime pie. I have a recipe for a lime pie that includes baking the pie shell, then melting semi-sweet choc bits and brushing it onto the pie crust to make a choc. lining and letting it cool, then filling the pie as usual. There's something almost magical about chocolate and lime....

Thanks gibby -I printed it out and will make it this week or next. Annie, in Destin, Florida, they sell incredible frozen key lime bars, covered in dark chocolate.... Crazy good. I keep thinking I could probably come up with something similar at home...

I made the Lemon Bar Cheesecake from the Feb. 2013 Southern
Living. It called for a dough crust but I use graham cracker crust and I served it with fresh strawberries and blueberries instead of lemon slices. Yum, yum. I served it to my bridge group and everyone loved it. First time I ever made a cheesecake. Its a keeper!

Below is a recipe from Mangrove Mama's, a local (Fl Keys) restaurant. This is the real deal; what you think of--or should think of--when you think key lime pie.

For some reason this recipe calls for 5 egg yolks, although the original from the restaurant only requires 4. Also, this version doesn't specify as does the original to add ingredients in the exact order listed.

Anyway, it's the dessert I make and take to any gathering to which I want to bring something special. The real thing, no chocolate allowed period.

I'm gonna go all southern here and add, bless her heart, someone must have been into the rum supply if she thought THAT was a good ingredient for our sacred pie ;).
Not that it may not taste good but it's messin' with perfection if you ask me.

Here is a link that might be useful: Key Lime Pie

Oh, you guys are talented. I am a cook, not a baker ~ the science involved puts me off, lol. Found a recipe for Fleur de Sel Salted Dulce De Leche Caramel Cheesecake Bars on Pinterest. Looked delicious, and would love to try to that recipe.

OT- kellyeng - would you share the details of your fast? I just started one with lemon juice, distilled water, cayenne pepper, etc. Need to get back on track due to the weekend FD bbq over-indulgence of bad food combining! I ate things that I rarely eat, and didn't like how I felt after doing so.

Here is a link that might be useful: ~Salted Carmel Cheesecake Bars ~

Work, check out my post on The Fast Diet. Last week was my first. It was pretty easy and I lost two pounds.

Plus I get to indulge in a yummy dessert once in a while!

Here is a link that might be useful: The Fast Diet

Thanks Kelly, going to head over to that link right now.