Wow. Here we are at the end of French Fridays with Dorie. We finished cooking through Around My French Table last month, and this week concludes the four weeks of celebratory posts.
When I started on this journey over four years ago, I had no idea I would actually cook through every recipe in the book. Though I am pretty stubborn when I set my mind to something! I am proud of myself for finishing, and proud of everyone who finished or came close to finishing. We tried new ingredients, learned new techniques, and made new friends. It was fun cooking the assigned recipe each week knowing my FFWD friends were out there cooking the same recipe, perhaps with their own special twist. My only regret is I haven’t had a chance to meet any of the lovely Doristas in person. I hope to some day!
For the Grand Finale we were to choose a recipe and adapt it, try a bonne idée, or simply remake the recipe. I chose to remake Michel Rostang’s Double Chocolate Mousse Cake. When we made this the first time I ran into trouble. Since I was pretty sure I knew what went wrong, I have always wanted to try this recipe again. Besides, what’s better for a grand finale than chocolate cake?
I had two problems the first time I made this cake: 1) My pan was too big; and 2) The egg whites deflated when I tried to fold them into the hot chocolate mixture. I bought the correct size pan a few years ago and solved the egg whites problem by using lukewarm coffee instead of hot coffee.
My fixes worked and the cake was delicious! This is a great make-ahead dessert because it really tastes best after a night in the refrigerator. A wonderful way to celebrate the end of the book!
I don’t quite know how to end this post, except to say that this has been a wonderful experience and I look forward to keeping up with my fellow Doristas as we embark on our next adventures!
Happy cooking!
From Scratch 
OmG my mouth is watering now! Looks so good!
So impressed that you finished all the recipes (without a crazy amount of make ups like some of us LOL) – that is some determination and discipline indeed. And great choice for doing the mousse cake again since you wanted to tweak it. It was a lovely one and I recently made it myself, though I was laughing at how many options Dorie provided for finishing this one recipe – bake, no bake, bake twice, etc. Wow. Luckily chocolate in any form is a plus in my house so it was going to be thumbs up regardless of how I finished it (baked twice, btw). Now you just have to remedy the meeting in person part – please let Nana and I know if you are ever in the Philadelphia area !! All the best ~
Good o you for going back to make something that didn’t work the first time and acing it! It has been great cooking along with you Karen.
I’m glad you made this again – it was also on my list…. Wonderful to “meet” you Karen I’m all subscribed to your blog so I’ll be following along even sans Dorie!
Karen, it’s been a joy! Great idea for the mousse cake. I actually had a “baking class” to make that shortly after we made it for ffwd. It’s definitely a keeper, though the variations themselves are many.
Hope you enjoy your birthday-filled weekend! I’ll be looking forward to seeing what you’re up to in the coming days, weeks, months!!
Karen, I enjoyed cooking along with you each week and getting to know you too. I also like seeing what you are knitting. You make way more progress than I do! I look forward to seeing you do next. I’ll be watching. It would be great to meet you in person some day if the opportunity arises! Have a great summer and keep in touch.
I haven’t been making as progress as I’d like on my knitting lately! One of these days I will write another post showing what I’m working on. I would love to see what you have been knitting too.
Lovely recipe and a lovely post to wrap up. Congratulations on finishing the entire book. I think that only a fellow Dorista can understand the magnitude of that accomplishment, and I’m sure a little stuborness can only help;-)
My little baker flat out refused to make any more Dorie cakes until we got the right size pan… yes, it was an important addition to our cooking collection along with may foreign spices and salts… It was fun.
I love your final recipe and that you did a do over. Looks perfect and I
loved it when we first made it. This has been fun, and I am glad we got
to know each other thru this journey. Good luck to you. Ro.
Karen – it has been a treat to get to “know” you over the past few years. Congratulations on cooking all the way through the book. Sometimes, stubborn is good 🙂
I have loved cooking with you during the last few years, Karen, and admire you for finishing the whole book. Your chocolate cake do-over was the perfect way to celebrate all we have learned through Dorie. I can’t wait to see your next projects in and out of the kitchen. XO
This has been a wonderful journey! So glad to have met you along the way…it has been a joy cooking along with you each week! Looking forward to see what will come in the future! Kudos for finishing the whole book…I have a large handful I still have to complete!
Michel Rostang’s Double Chocolate Mousse Cake was the only dessert I didn’t make! At the time it was picked, I had made several very chocolaty desserts, and I just couldn’t do another…however it is on my list for this summer!
It has been a pleasure, Karen!
What a fun way to end, Karen! That cake is truly fabulous. I had forgotten about it for years and then remembered it when counting the recipes I’d completed. Yum!! I’m so impressed you finished the whole dang thing–such an accomplishment!
Congratulations on finishing the book, Karen! I think being stubborn can be underrated. It’s been a pleasure cooking alongside you and hearing about your adventures here and on Facebook.
This was a fantastic cake – I’ve had issues with other cake batters which require egg whites, but this one worked for me. It’s a perfect way to cap off the celebrations, too. I’m looking forward to seeing what you do next and what happens with our group next, too.