Wednesday Yummies: Dreamy Double Chocolate Torte!

Happy Wednesday everyone!

It was Mr. Fix-It and my Mom's birthday this past weekend. Friday night I had a big party for Mr. Fix-It....umm so fun and the rest of the weekend we all headed up to the cottage for some family time, food, drinks and love.

What's a birthday without a birthday cake? A few weeks ago, this little magazine was in the package that my Style at Home magazine came in. After flipping through the first couple of pages, I knew that these recipes would be good to have on hand.

Bake Fest

I decided that the Dreamy Double Chocolate Torte recipe was calling my name and I knew that Mr. Fix-It and my Mom would LOVE IT!

We realized as we were eating it that I didn't take a photo of it. Ugh. Honestly, this is one of THE BEST DESSERTS EVER!! If you love chocolate, you will LOVE this dessert. It's rich.dense.heaven.

WHAT YOU NEED:
- 4 oz bittersweet or dark chocolate, chopped
- 7 oz milk chocolate, chopped, divided
- 2/4 cup butter
- 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 4 eggs
- 1tbsp vanilla extract
- 3/4 cups cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 cups whipping cream, divided

WHAT YOU DO:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Butter a 10-inch springform pan and line with a round of parchment paper.
2. Melt bittersweet chocolate with 2 oz milk chocolate and the butter in a large, heavy saucepan set over low heat until smooth.  Remove from heat; whisk in sugar and salt followed by eggs and vanilla.  Sift cocoa over chocolate mixture; stir until combined.
3. Scrape batter into prepared pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until top has a thin crust and the edges pull away from the pan.  Cool on a rack for 10 minutes. Run a thin knife around the edge of cake; carefully invert onto a serving plate and remove parchment paper. Cool completely.
4. Meanwhile, heat 1/3 cup whipping cream in a small saucepan set over low heat.  Add remaining milk chocolate; stirring until melted and smooth. Cool to room temperature.
5. Beat remaining whipping cream until very stiff.  Gently fold chocolate mixture into whipped cream until uniformly combined.  Chill for at least 30 mins.
6. Mound chocolate cream onto centre of cake just before serving. Garnish with chocolate curls or dusting of cocoa.
**I didn't mound the chocolate cream over the top...just dolloped some on each person's piece of cake as I served. We had some whipping cream leftover so guess what went into our coffee on Sunday morning? YUM!

You can download this recipe and the magazine for free here.

I definitely recommend that you keep this recipe in your back pocket for when you need to make that fresh.fabulous.sophisticated dessert!

Keep it Beautiful.
Follow me on Twitter: keepitbeautifu1

***Don't forget to check out my post from yesterday and enter in to win 2 tickets to see the Sens vs. the Leafs! Awesome!!

Win 2 Tickets to See the Sens vs. the Leafs from the Ottawa Children's Gala!!

Hi everyone,

I've got a super cool contest for you!!! Are you a die hard Sens or Leafs fan?? Do you love to see the rivalry between these two teams? Now you have a chance to see them in person!! This will be an AMAZING game!! The Ottawa Children's Gala is doing a contest to see these teams go head-to-head...

Have you heard of the Ottawa Children's Gala?

It is the only one of it's kind in Ottawa: a formal gala filled with entertainment for both children and adults all in the beautiful setting of the Ottawa Conference and Event Centre. There will be a red carpet complete with a professional photographer, a classy meal, exciting entertainment and, of course, a dance. Lianne Laing of Ottawa's CTV Morning Show and Angie Poirier of Majic 100's Morning Show will host the gala and will be joined on stage by several VIP local celebrities. The Ottawa Children's Gala will be a night to remember for the families in attendance!

The gala is taking place on March 18th! You can reserve your tickets here.

 

Not only is the Ottawa Children's Gala a super fun night for your whole family but they are also doing this amazing contest!

WHEN: Saturday December 7th @ 7pm

WHAT: Sens vs. Leafs

WHERE: Canadian Tire Centre - Ottawa, ON

HOW DO YOU WIN:
You can follow the Ottawa Children's Gala on Facebook, Twitter and the more ways you follow their social media or share with your friends, the more entries you can have to win tickets to see these two teams rival it out on the ice!! Enter here:
a Rafflecopter giveaway



*Contest Closes Friday November 29th @ 12am

Keep it Beautiful

Wednesday Yummies: Sneaky Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Hey everyone!

Do you love muffins? My family has a total crush on them! We always have them in the house or treating the kids to one at Starbucks. However, I don't always like what's in them.  Sometimes muffins are like eating a small cake for breakfast and sugar and fillers just aren't the greatest ingredients to start my family's day off or fuel the 3pm hunger pain. So...enter in these fresh.fabulous.sophisticated muffins!! I love them, my kids and Mr. Fix-It love them and they are sneakily filled with a few ingredients that my little ones would NEVER EAT! ie: ZUCCHINI!

AND...they are LOW FAT, FLUFFY and have MUCHO PROTEIN!

WHAT YOU NEED:
- 1 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour
- 1/1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 2 ripe bananas (mashed)
- 1 tsp coconut oil **this is my fav new oil. I bought a huge tub of it at Costco. Delish!
- 1/4 cup honey **this is the only sugar in this...okay fine...I added chocolate chips too
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup shredded zucchini **I told my kids they were green sprinkles
- 2 tbsp. applesauce
- 1/3 cup plain greek yogurt **you could use non-fat here if you wanted
- sprinkle flax seed
- 1/2 cup of chocolate chips **I splurged and added Callebaut chocolate chips...GET IN MY BELLY THEY ARE SO DELISH! It felt like they cost a zillion dollars when I bought them at the local truffle store but once I ate one I was hooked!

WHAT YOU DO:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners and generously spray the inside of the liners with cooking spray.

2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and flax. Set aside.

3. Squeeze the water out of the shredded zucchini with a paper towel.

4. In the electric mixer, add bananas, oil, honey, vanilla and eggs. Mix until smooth.  Add in zucchini, applesauce and yogurt. Beat until combined. Slowly mix in the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Don't over mix it, you want moist muffins. Fold in the chocolate chips.

5. Add the batter to the liners and bake for 18-20 mins until the toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

These muffins look yummy and your bod will thank you.

Keep it Beautiful.

Linked to: A Pretty Life

Girlfriends!

Happy Monday everyone!

I hope you had a great weekend! I don't really have any home design inspiration for you today because I just spent a fabulous weekend up at the cottage with three of my best girlfriends. Do you have people in your life that feed your soul? Andree, Julie & Robyn feed mine.  Girlfriends really are a rock in your life and I hope that you ladies out there have at least one girlfriend that makes your soul sing. 

Collectively, we have been friends since 1998, but Andree and I have been friends since 1993. We all met in residence our first year at University and lived together for our duration at school.  We have spent countless late nights together chatting over chips and poutine, cried with each other, laughed till we thought we would burst, danced, held each other's hair, stood up at weddings, embraced the birth of beautiful children, supported each other during major issues and will be friends forever.

Our group of 4 girls has grown into 4 husbands, 4 houses, 10 children, a dog and two cats.  But this weekend, it was JUST.US.GIRLS!

We ate, drank, laughed, slept in, shopped and laughed some more. So although I don't have any home design advice for you today, I have girlfriend advice and it's simple.  Love them because they love you.

They are fresh.fabulous.sophisticated and will be there always!

Keep it Beautiful.

Alicia

Please VOTE! Best Canadian Blog Awards!

Happy Fabulous Friday everyone!

Do you think you can do me a huge favour? I'm in the running for one of the Best Canadian Blog Awards and I really need YOUR vote!!

I would really appreciate your vote for Keep it Beautiful for best Canadian blog in the Home Design/DIY/Craft category.




IT IS SUPER EASY TO VOTE! You don't have to register for anything or sign up for anything.  All you have to do is either click on the picture to the left of this text and it will take you to the space to vote or...

- Click on this HERE

- Once you are on the MIB site, click the "VOTE" box. DONE!

I really appreciate it. Thanks so much!

Hope you had a great Halloween.  The rain stopped for the trick-or-treat window and the kids were amped up on sugar:)  I'm having my university girls up to the cottage this weekend for a little relax and wine! Heaven.

Keep it Beautiful.