Crepe Cake filled with Chocolate Ganache and Orange Marmalade

My daughter in law was in town last weekend and she has a definite sweet tooth. I had been wanting to try a version of a crepe cake for a while and decided that it was perfect for dinner with her. I made a simple chocolate ganache using equal parts heavy cream and milk chocolate (about 9 oz. each for this recipe) and used Stonewall Kitchen's Mimosa Jam for the orange marmalade. Fresh Market sells a delicious frozen crepe that is already made, so I took the lazy road and purchased 3 packages of them for the cake. To assemble the cake, you simply spread about 3 tablespoons of chocolate ganache on a crepe and then about 1 tablespoon of the orange marmalade is spread over the chocolate layer. Repeat the steps until all the crepes are stacked on top of each other. Then refrigerate until ready to serve. This cake has 18 layers and still was not as tall as I had wished. While these crepes are very good, the next time I would make homemade crepes from our cookbook "Romancing the Home Entertains", as they tend to be a little more "cake like" in texture and thicker. I garnished the cake with long stem strawberries that I purchased at Costco. I sliced them in half, dipped them in chocolate and rolled them in pistachios. They looked so pretty on the cake! My family really enjoyed this treat! I will be joining http://www.designsbygollum.blogspot.com/ for Foodie Friday. Check out the other people joining the party for some foodie inspiration!

Hot Crab Dip

After publishing "Romancing the Home Entertains", we are continually testing and enhancing the recipes. Katha made the Crab Meat Dip during the holidays and found a little mistake in the preparation instructions. Sherry was listed in the ingredients in the instructions, but not in the ingredient list. After researching the original recipe from my childhood in Virginia, I found that sherry was not in the original recipe. So last night I decided to prepare the Hot Crab Dip for Mr.RTH and myself two ways- one with the sherry and one without! I prepared the dip according to the cookbook instructions and ignored the sherry in the preparation guidelines. Then I divided the recipe into 2 parts and added 1 1/2 Tablespoons of dry sherry to one half of the recipe and baked them both sepaarately! They came out of the oven bubbly and covered with cheddar cheese. I served them on toasted baguette slices and asked my husband for the verdict- with the sherry or not??? Both versions are delicious - it just depends if you like the flavor of sherry. My favorite was the sherry and my husbands was the original recipe. So if you like sherry, I would add 3 Tablespoons to the crab mixture before baking it. In addition to being an appetizer, this Hot Crab Meat Dip would be delicious as a small individual casserole for an entree with a green salad for dinner. I highly recommend the Jumbo Blend crab meat in the can in the deli section at Costco for this recipe- it's delicious and virtually free of shells.

Romancing the Home "ENTERTAINS' is about to debut!

Finally, after 2 years, Romancing the Home "ENTERTAINS' is ready for printing! It's 372 pages of over the top entertaining ideas that anyone can do! Filled with over 370 color photos and 210 recipes, this book is eye candy for the soul! We are so excited about our cover - zebra, ribbon, and rhinestones- three of our favorite things! We are taking pre-orders now. Order by September 25th and pay $65.00 instead of the regular price of $75.00. This book is double the size and double the pictures of most books. This 11 inch square book makes a perfect coffee table book. All of the recipes are gathered from family and friends over the past 35 years and are tried and true. "Entertains" makes the perfect Holiday gift. On November 4th, we will have our book signing party complete with recipe tasting and tables for the holidays. So order now and don't miss out - the first printing is limited.