Stick a Fork in Me

I'm done, finally, with a week full of birthdays. And don't comment about the less-than-tidy look of the cakes or the photography.

I love baking, but the past week, with celebrations for my dear hubby and the three kids (yes, they all conspired to be born the same week), has kept me busy trying to stuff into my already crammed schedule two variations of Jean George's chocolate lava cakes, an improvised hazelnut torte (I love the French buttercream frosting flavored with espresso and hazelnut praline), flourless chocolate almond torte with chocolate mousse filling and a chocolate chocolate chip cookie cake. I also did a Key lime tart with macadamia crust just because the Key ingredient was on sale for a little more than a dollar a bag. Forget about fitting into my jeans.

For me, spoiled by the patisseries of Paris and Aix-en-Provence and a couple decent bakeries in New York City, the results were good, although I think I still need some practice to get exactly what I want. (Too bad I'll have to eat the continuing experiments and leftover Valrhona feves myself -- hee hee.)

For the birthday man, boy, little boy and little girl, the results were spectacular -- and that's all I need to make me happy.

For now, here are a few rushed pictures of the desserts that I had to throw together (it's not as though I have nothing to do with my day but cook and bake). So please excuse the amateur photos and look of the desserts. But they tasted very good, so I'll post recipes soon. I somehow missed pictures of the lava cakes -- gee, I'll have to make some more -- just for the pictures, of course.

You may also like: Chocolate Surprise Madeleines and Pear-Almond Tart with recipes.