When I tell someone I’m going to bring dessert, what I really mean is that I’m going to go overboard and try to make everyone sick with sugar. Here’s a dessert plate that I made for a dinner party last weekend.
A mini caramel apple, the richest hot chocolate ever, and a little pumpkin cake with maple whipped cream and a caramel sauce drizzle.
The recipe I posted a few years back is still THE BEST pumpkin cake recipe ever. As long as you don’t overbake, the cake comes out so light and so flavorful. It’s really an amazing recipe. This year I used homemade kefir instead of milk and lemon juice. It really does not need any frosting, so I just made whipped cream with the maple extract, and it was the perfect amount of sweetness. (My whipped cream is all cream no whip in this picture. It’s day-old whipped cream. You know how it goes)
The caramel apples were pretty straightforward – melt caramels from the store. Easypeasy. A little sea salt added to the melted caramel made everything seem more grown up.
The hot chocolate recipe is this supposed Napa Rose Hot Chocolate recipe. The Napa Rose at Disney’s Grand Californian hotel serves a tiny cup of melted chocolate served with tiny donuts. It is literally a gold-plated dessert, which is why they can get away with selling it for $15. This version costs significantly less. There’s an entire can of condensed milk in the recipe. I didn’t like the recipe as written, so I added a lot more whole milk and a bit more heavy cream, and I made sure to run it through a sieve before serving. It looks like the sludge that Dale Cooper tries to drink in the red room, but it’s really good.
When combined, this dessert trio has it all – light spiced cake, rich hot chocolate, and a crunchy, slightly salted apple.
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