I think every town has one restaurant that’s been deemed “the fancy place” by the locals. In my hometown of Wausau, Wisconsin it’s a place called “2510”. It’s an older supper club type place, not my first choice for dining, but it has one quality that is hard to ignore, and that’s the bakery.
This place makes FANTASTIC cake!
Ask anyone around here and they would probably knock over three little old ladies and a small child to get to the cake they make at 2510! I, myself, am one of them! However; cake aside, they also have another locally famous dessert, and it is the coveted:
“Death by Chocolate”
(Henceforth referred to as D.b.C)
Now; I’m going to piss off a lot of people when I say that I don’t really think the D.b.C. deserves all the accolades that it gets (ducks to avoid empty dessert glass being thrown at head). The first and only time I tried it, I thought it was more like an average pudding cup or parfait. A bit of brownie layered with some chocolate mousse, whipped cream, and topped with toffee bits.
HOWEVER, (SHIT…stop throwing dessert glasses at my head already!), who doesn’t like a pudding cup, right?! Just because I didn’t think it was God’s gift to the dessert tray doesn’t mean that there aren’t HUGE D.b.C. fans out there!
I happen to be related to two such fans; my Sister-In-Law and her husband are tremendous fans of the D.b.C! Since I’ve been toying with the idea of trying to replicate 2510’s dessert recipes (I’m going to make that cake someday dammit), they seemed like the ideal folks to be my taste-testers.
With Mother’s Day coming up, rather than send my husband into a frenzy trying to think of a present, I thought a nice evening at the local casino followed by my sleeping in on Sunday sounded like a great Mom’s Day present!! BUT, we needed a sitter. Cue fabulous Sister-In-Law and her husband! I can pay them with pizza and D.b.C! Everybody wins!!!
But I need a name for my D.b.C., something unique, something that sets it apart from its inspiration; in honor of Mother’s Day, I present to you:
“Mommy’s Little Helper”
(Henceforth referred to as M.L.H”)
Now, I’ve made chocolate mousse only once before (see Big Ass Cake) and I could hardly stop myself and my husband from licking the bowl, so I consider it a raving success!
I also needed a really good fudge brownie to be a base for the mousse and whipped cream. I hopped onto Pintrest and searched “best brownie”, where I stumbled upon this lovely recipe. The pictures made it look super fudgy, moist and delicious, and the reviews I read were stellar! It was a really easy recipe and the only thing I did differently was I sifted all the dry ingredients together, and I used the stove to melt the butter and sugar. My husband and I have both declared this the best brownie ever! Thanks Yammie!!!
Prepare the brownie as directed by Yammie and allow to cool completely, store in an airtight container until ready to assemble M.L.H. You will only need about ½ of the pan of brownies, so you’ll have plenty extra for snacking! I removed the brownies from the pan onto a large cutting board, cut the slab in half and cut off the edges, I then pulverized the crunchier edge pieces in the food processor for the “crumb layer”, then I cut the rest into about 1 inch cubes.
Now we make mousse!
Chocolate Mousse
4 Large Egg Yolks
1/4 Cup Sugar
1 Cup Whipping Cream
6 Ounces Semisweet Chocolate Chips
1 1/2 More Cups Whipping Cream
Prepare chocolate mousse by beating egg yolks with mixer on high speed for 3 minutes, or until thick and lemon colored. Slowly beat in sugar.
Heat 1 cup whipping cream in 2-quart saucepan over medium heat until just hot, but not boiling.
Gradually stir in about half of the cream into the egg yolk mix then stir back into the hot cream in the saucepan. Cook over low heat about 5 minutes, stirring all the while, until mix thickens (DON'T BOIL IT!)
Stir in all the chocolate chips until they melt and are mixed in completely, this can take a while! I found using a whisk to be helpful in breaking up all the tiny bits of un-melted chocolate. You could also run chocolate through a sieve if you want to.
Heat 1 cup whipping cream in 2-quart saucepan over medium heat until just hot, but not boiling.
Gradually stir in about half of the cream into the egg yolk mix then stir back into the hot cream in the saucepan. Cook over low heat about 5 minutes, stirring all the while, until mix thickens (DON'T BOIL IT!)
Stir in all the chocolate chips until they melt and are mixed in completely, this can take a while! I found using a whisk to be helpful in breaking up all the tiny bits of un-melted chocolate. You could also run chocolate through a sieve if you want to.
Cover (I use a damp tea towel) and chill about 2 hours, stirring occasionally, until chilled. Throw a metal bowl into the freezer now, you’ll need it later!
Once the chocolate mix is ready; beat the 1 1/2 cups whipping cream, in your chilled mixing bowl, on high speed until stiff, fold the chocolate mix into the cream.
Once the chocolate mix is ready; beat the 1 1/2 cups whipping cream, in your chilled mixing bowl, on high speed until stiff, fold the chocolate mix into the cream.
Now; for the whipped cream:
Whipped Cream
1 Cup Heavy Cream
2 Tbsp. Sugar
1 Tsp. Vanilla
Whip the cream on medium, add the sugar and vanilla extract and keep whipping until soft peaks are achieved. Put in fridge until ready to assemble. This is how I proceeded:
Get out 5 LARGE martini glasses, fill one with cocktail of choice…drink the cocktail, it’s almost mother’s day, you deserve it!!!
My brother-in-law is anti-Heath Bar (yeah, what’s with my family huh? Some don’t like chocolate, some don’t like Heath, and my Dad thinks Peanut Butter is poisonous…sometimes I swear I’m adopted), so no Heath for Him! I rimmed the other glass (for my sister-in-law) with powdered Heath Bits (I used my Magic Bullet to pulverize the already small bits into something more microscopic suitable for rimming).
Rim glasses if desired, and place the whipped cream and mousse into piping bags for easy layering.
Assemble everything in a glass or dessert bowl thusly, starting at the bottom:
TOP
Heath Bits
Whipped Cream
Mousse
Brownie Crumbs
Whipped Cream
Mousse
Brownie Chunks
BOTTOM
Store, covered lightly with plastic wrap, in the fridge until ready to serve.
Now for the final verdict:
Since I’ve been Low-Carbing it for the last two months with not one single slip-up, I’m celebrating tonight and eating carbs! This dessert was FANTASTIC! These brownies were FANTASTIC! Everything about this dessert was FANTASTIC! Maybe it’s the sugar talking, but I’m marking this one down in the “success” column! My in-laws thougrally enjoyed their dessert payment for baby-sitting, and a good time was had by all! To top things off, we came home ahead from the casino (YAY) and I got to sleep in on Mother’s day!
Thanks again to Yammie for the fantastic brownie recipe!
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