Valentine's Day Chocolate Fraisier

Valentine's Day has always been an excuse for me to cook. Well, not that I need this kind of excuse, but at least during this period it is more or less justified.

Back in Brazil we don't celebrate this date in February, but in June. Despite the change in the calendar, the aura surrounding it is pretty much similar: lots of pink, white and red hearts in every department store, impossible-to-get reservations at restaurants and predictable declarations of love in social media.

As you can imagine, I'm not exactly found ot it. But I do like to put some extra effort in the cooking department, since I don't have lots of patience to stay in line at the restaurants to get (poorly) served and rushed because the table need to be freed for the next hungry couple. So I often stay at home and cook something special.

This year I decided to come up with something that would be easy to make but would look super fancy when serving it.

It is inspired by the Fraisier. However this version is much more rich despite not being too heavy nor too sweet.
In case you're not too found of chocolate (well, that happens!), you can substitute the chocolate mousse with vanilla whipped cream or vanilla ice cream to a more subtle taste.

The brownie base was inspired by Sally's Baking Addiction recipe, and if you haven't tried it yet, you definitely should. It is delicious to eat by itself and it's insanely easy to make.

So if you're one of my own, I would strongly suggest you to do this dessert for your significant other now on Valentine's Day. Because I have to say, it is as amazing as it looks, seriously.