What dessert would you make for a crowd (40-50); must be chocolate;

I once made this for 100 REC French Silk Pie

Cheezz, you make this, freeze until ready to serve- it would be fine put out on the tables ahead of time- it does not need to stay frozen and will hold up until eaten with no problem. It is sooooo good those DAR ladies would be licking their plates. When I catered I used this recipe a lot- it is easy to cut pieces and plop on plates, easy to make, a show-stopper when eaten. This recipe came from the Arboretum tea room my tweak is the ginger but you don't need it.


ARBORETUM FRENCH SILK PIE (serves 6)
From the Tea Room at the Minnesota Arboretum in Chaska, MN

1/4 cup melted butter
1 cup crushed vanilla wafers (about 30)
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Filling:
3 squares unsweetened chocolate
1 cup butter
1-1/2 cup sugar
4 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp crystallized ginger, chopped fine

Mix together butter, wafers and pecans. Reserve 1/4 cup of mix, and press remainder firmly against bottom and sides of a greased 9” pie tin. Bake crust and reserved crumbs (in a separate dish) for 15 minutes at 350°.
Filling: Melt chocolate and let cool. Cream butter and sugar. Add chocolate and eggs, one at a time; after each egg, beat 5 minutes at medium speed. Stir in vanilla and ginger. Pour into pie shell; sprinkle top with reserved crumbs. Freeze until ready to serve. Top with whipped cream.

 
What about doing the mini cheesecakes only using a chocolate

cheesecake filling with a chocolate wafer or and Oreo for the cookie base? I have used Oreos in the past. Actually, I have a Oreo Cookie Cheesecake recipe that might work. Garnish with a piece of broken Oreo submerged in the cheesecake.

 
REC: Oreo Cookie Cheesecake

* Exported from MasterCook *

MAC'S FAVORITE OREO COOKIE CHEESECAKE

Recipe By :Jan Emerson
Serving Size : 12 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Desserts

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method

1 1/4 pounds Oreo cookies
1/3 cup butter -- melted
32 ounces cream cheese -- cut into chunks
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup whipping cream
6 large eggs
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

In a food processor, whirl 1/2 package of cookies, including filling, until they form fine crumbs; mix in butter. Scoop crumbs into a 9-inch springform pan, and press crumbs evenly over bottom of pan and about 1/2 inch up sides. In a food processor or bowl of and electric mixer, whirl or beat cream cheese, sugar, and whipping cream at medium speed until smooth. Add eggs, flour, and vanilla; whirl or beat again to blend. Pour 1/2 of the cream cheese mixture, overlapping cookies, if necessary, to use all. pour remaining mixture over cookies. Bake the cheesecake in a 300 degree oven until cheesecake is golden on top and jiggles only slightly in center when gently shaken, about 1 hour 20 minutes (the shake test is more accurate). Take cheesecake from oven and let cool on a rack. cover and chill until cold, at least 4 hours or up until overnight. Before serving, run a knife between cake and pan sides to loosen. Remove rim. Cut cheesecake into slender wedges to serve.

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how fancy is this event? I have seen trifles made up in individual mason jars---very cute and

do ahead friendly. you can tie a theme colored ribbon around the jar.

 
this dimple Icebox cake using Famous chocolate wafers and whipped cream can be made into cupcakes

just flatten cupcake papers a bit and start layering, using a pastry bag for faster whipped cream application. this too is better made the day before so the wafers get soft. top with a dollop of whipped cream and a raspberry before serving.

http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2007/01/wafer-wonderland/

 
Seeing as I am paying for this myself, baking, serving and washing the dishes....

I am going for lower cost, easy serving and clean up smileys/smile.gif

 
I have made Julia's Queen of Sheba for large groups. It's a bit of a pain, but definitely an OMG!

Here's how: I have four pans and make the cakes four at a time. (each one serves smileys/bigeyes.gif After they are cool I slide them onto a foil-covered round and slip into a freezer bag if I'm doing it in advance. I frost them the morning of the party--they can still be frozer, keep them cool, and slice them while cool because they're very soft. In fact they are almost like fudge in the center.

They're served at room temp on a pool of custard sauce with a berry or two.

 
When is the event? I can suggest the cake I did for godchild's wedding.

I ended up making 30 3"x12" cakes for >330 portions.

Used Rose Levy Beranbaum's recipe for genoise cake and bake in sharp-sided 12x18" pans (with wet aluminum wraps to keep the top flat) and then sliced them up into six 3"x12" slices. Did that five times to get enough for 30 cakes.

I then used dowels to cut each 3"x12" slab of cake into 3 layers. then....Cardboard base with a smear of icing to hold cake in place > cake, brushed with Armaretto/simple syrup, bittersweet icing >> cake, syrup, icing >> cake syrup, finished with icing on all five sides. Decorated the top with a swirled saw-tooth design u sing a plastic tool.

I used Alice Medrich's bittersweet icing, but added a bit more butter to it. Each finished cake was cut into 1" slices (11-12 per cake) but you could do 1.5" as I was serving 3 other desserts with this one.

 
Yeah, I saw the part about you paying and serving and cleaning up yourself. But here's the recipe

QUEEN OF SHEBA

from Julia Child's The Way to Cook. The trick to this cake is to underbake it so the center stays soft, like mousse.

For an 8" cake, 1½ inches high, but rich enough to serve 8 easily.

3 oz. semisweet or bittersweet chocolate
1 oz. unsweetened chocolate
2 Tbs. strong coffee

4 oz. (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
½ cup sugar
3 egg yolks

3 egg whites, at room temperature
¼ tsp. cream of tartar
A pinch of salt
2 Tbs. sugar

1/3 cup blanched almonds pulverized in a
processor with 2 Tbs. sugar
1/4 tsp. almond extract
1/2 cup plain bleached cake flour (scooped
and leveled) in a sifter set on wax paper

Butter an 8" round cake pan with 1 1/2" to 2" sides. Put a round of parchment or wax paper in the pan and butter the paper.

Pulverize the almonds and measure the flour. Preheat the oven to 325* with the rack in the lower middle.

Combine the 2 chocolates and the coffee in a covered saucepan. Bring a ½ inch of water to simmer in a skillet. Remove from heat and set the chocolate pan in the hot water. It will melt in 5-10 minutes. Whisk smooth. Keep tepid.

Cream the butter in a mixer. When soft and fluffy, add the ½ cup sugar and beat 1 minute, then beat in the egg yolks.

With clean bowl and beaters whip the egg whites on medium speed until foamy. Add cream of tartar and salt and whip to soft peaks. Add 2 Tbs. sugar, increase speed and whip to stiff peaks.

Mix the chocolate into the butter mixture. Mix in the almonds and almond extract.

Stir 1/4 of the egg whites into the batter to lighten it. Pile the rest on top of the batter and fold them in gently, sprinkling in the flour as you go. Fold just until everything is incorporated. Spread into the prepared pan and tilt it up the sides, then put in the preheated oven.

Bake about 25 minutes, or until it has puffed and a toothpick inserted near the edge of the pan comes out clean. The center, however, should move slightly when the pan is gently shaken.

Remove to a rack and let cool 15 minutes. Unmold onto a rack covered with a piece of parchment, (otherwise, the gooey center might ooze through the rack.), and let cool completely, about 2 hours, before storing or icing.

Invert onto a platter or cake round. You can cover and refrigerate for several days.

To freeze: The unfrosted cake freezes beautifully. Flip it onto a foil-covered cake round and wrap in plastic, then slip into a resealable plastic bag.


SOFT CHOCOLATE ICING:
(Don't bother cleaning the chocolate pan if you're making frosting the same day)

1½ Tbs. rum
1½ tsp. sugar
2 oz. semisweet or bittersweet chocolate
1 oz. unsweetened chocolate
A pinch of salt
3 oz. (6 Tbs.) unsalted butter, room temp.

Put the rum in a saucepan with the salt and sugar and set in a skillet of simmering water until sugar is dissolved. Add the chocolates and melt as before. When smooth and glistening beat in the salt, then beat in the butter a tablespoon at a time. Remove from the hot water and beat over cold water until firm enough to spread. Frost the top and sides of the cake.

Serve at room temp. If you have successfully underbaked the cake it may be difficult to slice. Use a knife dipped in hot water and wiped clean, or you may want to cut it while chilled and let the slices come to room temperature


(CHOCOLATE NOTES: The combination of sweet and bitter chocolates in this recipe gives it a boost. Julia’s recipe calls for sweet chocolate, and the photos show her using German’s Sweet Chocolate in the green box. I find bittersweet chocolate (i.e. Trader Joe's Pound Plus) both better and less expensive. It works well for the cake without adjusting the sugar. For the frosting, I have added a scant tsp. sugar per ounce of bittersweet chocolate to compensate, adding it to the rum and heating to dissolve before melting the chocolate.

In the past I have tried subbing bittersweet or semisweet chocolate for both chocolates but the effect isn’t the same as the combination)

 
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