It's been three years...

Last Thursday, February 16th, marked the third anniversary of what I refer to as, "My Re-Birthday" (hey, Alice in Wonderland has "The Unbirthday Song"). It's the day I had my stroke. The day I "died" and came back to life. The day I was reborn, a very special day for me.

The last two years, I've made pastries with a brain-theme. Clever, yes, but a bit graphic/morbid. This year, I wanted to put the emphasis on the new life that I was given on this day three years ago.
Starting out with a chocolate cake base, crispy chocolate cookie layer, chocolate-hazelnut mousse dome--glazed with chocolate ganache...

The ganache was a little too thick, and didn't get applied evenly...next time...
I let that set, then starting the fun part of decorating with chocolate decor that I made earlier.
To go with the "New Life"/"Rebirth" theme, I thought a new sprout and butterflies would go perfectly well--how an ugly caterpillar turns into a beautiful winged creature.

I used the dome molds for the "egg shells" of the butterflies and caramelized hazelnuts for the sprout "seeds".

Close up of the top decoration.

The only trouble with these kind of tortes is serving them. I mean, some tortes consist of 50% decorations--how on earth is it supposed to be cut and eaten? We ended up removing a lot of the decorations before cutting them into portions, and putting them back on for the sake of presentation. :P

With the leftover tortes, I played around with different plating presentations and deconstructing them.

My deconstructed Rebirthday Torte: Hazelnut mousse, cookie crumbles, chunky cherry sauce, chocolate decor and caramelized hazelnuts. I especially like the last shot, how the chocolate sprout appears to be growing out of the embedded caramel hazelnut "seed" in the mound of chocolate mousse "earth".

Since my stroke, so much has happened, and a lot has changed--for the better. I'm loving life, and couldn't be happier right now. Happy Rebirthday to me!!