Mocha Dobos Torte-lettes, and Rosanna, Inc. Giveaway Winners!

This post is so long overdue--I must apologize!  Deadlines popped up at work and friends came into town for the summer, and so I ended up with one very belated birthday cake.  But no matter! cake is welcome at any point in time. :-D

First off, I must thank you all so, so much for sharing all of your birthday cake ideas with me.  Even though I physically baked my own cake, just seeing all of your thoughtful ideas really made me feel like the Baker's Curse was gone.  And boy, did you all have wildly wonderful cake ideas!  Some of my favorites included a lemon thyme cake with honey mascarpone whipped cream; an Earl Grey cake with kumquat marmalade and almond buttercream; a lime cake with blackberry-elderflower buttercream; tres leches cakes; an icebox cake with chocolate chip cookies (this actually inspired my last post); a champagne and strawberries cake; and on and on!  Let me tell you: it was so hard for me to make a decision that I waffled back and forth between cakes for days.  But finally, I decided on megcjones's idea for an espresso-spiked dobos torte, so here it is: raspberry mocha dobos tortelettes!

[click on photo for larger image.]

Oh boy, oh boy.  These tortelettes were so delicate and yummy--a perfect balance between cake and chocolate, with just a whiff of espresso flavoring in the cake.  Unlike many other sponge cakes, these were so moist and yet still very light, and I loved the drama of all those layers stacked up inside a tiny little cakelette.  I took the liberty of substituting fresh raspberries for the more traditional caramel topping, too, because we all know how much I adore raspberries. :-)  And, counter to how they may look, these took almost no time to bake up at all--two half sheet pans in the oven for about seven minutes each, and you're done!  Woohoo to easy yet impressive-looking cakes!  (Yes, I'm terribly lazy at heart, especially around my birthday.)

Congrats to megcjones for winning the Rosanna, Inc. Le Gateau cake stand!  There are also two more winners of Petite Treat cupcake pedestals from Rosanna, Inc.  Drawn at random, these are Anna and Jessica Lynn.  You all should receive emails soon--if not, please contact me at s [at] dessertsforbreakfast [dot] com.

I really want to thank everyone again so much--and the folks over at Rosanna, Inc.--for helping to make this an absolutely wonderful birthday cake year!  :-D

Read on for recipe....

Berries'n'cream Chocolate Chip Trifle

Oh, berries, berries....

I know that trifles are traditionally a Christmastime dessert, but since berry trifles are so deliciously good (I mean, the combination of berries and cream... right? right?), I associate the dessert much more with the summertime.  Also, the red and blue vibrant colors against the white--of course I couldn't resist a little berries'n'cream chocolate chip trifle to celebrate July 4th.

There's something about growing up in the U.S. that really imprints a love of Americana on you.  I'm sure everyone's associations of Americana must be subtly different, but at the core, I like to hope that there are certain details and little affinities that we all share in our definitions of Americana.  Like chocolate chip cookies (and road trips).  For some reason, these cookies just seem terribly American to me, so here they are, in this trifle (instead of sponge cake, which is arguably not in my definition of Americana).  So happy, Happy Birthday, oh amber-waved and purple-mountained country, you.

Read on for recipe....