This Wednesday was supposed to be a very happy day - it was Avi’s father birthday, and we were all about preparing for it - thinking of what present would make him happiest, and looking forward to the birthday dinner at the great restaurant we were about to go to.

And then I opened the news page as I woke up in the morning, and my eyes instantly filled up with tears. The 2 soldiers, Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, that have been kidnapped by Hizbullah 2 years ago, have been returned dead. Israel signed a prisoner exchange deal with the Hizbullah a few weeks ago, as part of which Eldad and Ehud were supposed to return home. Hizbullah refused to reveal their condition until the very second their caskets arrived to Israel. It was pretty clear from the strategy they’ve chosen to take that Ehud and Eldad have been dead for a long time now, but a whole nation still refused to believe it, and kept hoping that maybe, in a miraculous way, they’d come back alive. Including me. My heart goes out to their families, whose hope and hearts have been shattered that day.
As all of you regular readers already know, this is by no means a blog that shares political views in any manner, this incident simply hurt me so bad, that I had to share it with you.

After that, it became nearly impossible to feel festive for Avi’s father birthday, but since he loves sweets so much, I was determined to make him a birthday cake. I chose this chocolate and halva mousse cake recipe from Niki B’s food blog, one of my favorite Israeli food blogs. Every recipe of Niki’s that I’ve tried came out just wonderful, including this one. Fans of halva and chocolate will thank you for making this for them, and in fact, even the ones that are not suckers for halva will simply love this dessert, since the halva taste doesn’t take over. If you make just one dessert from this blog - let it be this one, since it’s one of the tastiest desserts I’ve made in a while. I may make this declaration again in the future, and that’s ok, cause it only means that the future one tops this one

Chocolate Halva Mousse Cake / Slightly adapted from Niki B’s recipe
For a 24 cm pan

Ingredients:
For the base:
150 gr Graham Crackers, ground
100 gr butter, melted
zest of half of a medium sized lemon

For the mousse:
2 tsp gelatin powder
4 Tbsp milk
1/2 cup milk
150 gr halva, crumbled
200 gr bittersweet chocolate
500 ml heavy cream

For the ganache:
150 ml heavy cream
150 gr bittersweet chocolate

Directions:
1. Prepare the base: mix the ingredients of the base to a uniform mixture. Spread the mixture out evenly on the bottom of the cake pan. Place the pan in the freezer until finishing making the cake.
2. Melt the gelatin: put the 4 Tbsp of milk in a bowl, scatter the gelatin over it, and let stand for 10 mins. Then heat in the microwave for 30 secs and stir.
3. Melt chocolate, halva and milk until a uniform mixture is formed.
4. Add the gelatin into the chocolate mixture and stir.
5. Whip the cream, and fold the chocolate mixture into it.
6. Pour the mousse onto the base we’ve prepared earlier, and freeze for an hour.
7. Prepare the ganache: heat the cream nearly to its boiling point, pour it onto the chocolate and wait for 2 mins. Then stir until the chocolate melts totally.
8. Pour the ganache onto the mousse, and freeze overnight. Afterwards keep the cake in the refrigerator.

עוגת מוס שוקולד חלבה - עיבוד קל למתכון של ניקי ב
עבור תבנית עגולה בקוטר 24 ס”מ

מצרכים:
לבסיס:
150 גרם ביסקויטים, טחונים
100 גרם חמאה, מומסת
גרידה מחצי לימון בגודל בינוני

למוס:
2 כפיות ג`לטין
4 כפות חלב
חצי כוס חלב
150 גרם חלבה מפוררת
200 גרם שוקולד מריר
500 מ”ל שמנת מתוקה

לגנאש:
150 מ”ל שמנת מתוקה
150 גרם שוקולד מריר

הכנה:
1. מערבבים את מצרכי הבסיס, מהדקים בתבנית ומכניסים למקפיא.
2. ממיסים ג`לטין - מניחים בקערה ג`לטין ו- 4 כפות חלב, משאירים ל- 10 דקות בצד, מכניסים למיקרו ל 30 שניות ומערבבים
3. ממיסים חלב, חלבה ושוקולד לתערובת חלקה.
4. מוסיפים את הג`לטין לתערובת השוקולד ומערבבים היטב.
5. מקציפים שמנת מתוקה, ומקפלים את תערובת השוקולד לקצפת.
6. יוצקים את המוס לתבנית מעל הבסיס, מקפיאים למשך שעה.
7. מכינים גנאש: מחממים שמנת מתוקה עד סף רתיחה. יוצקים את השמנת על קוביות השוקולד ומערבבים לתערובת חלקה.
8. יוצקים את הגנאש על על מוס השוקולד חלבה, ומקפיאים ללילה. לאחר מכן שומרים במקרר.

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