This was the year of 50th anniversaries! My own parents celebrated 50 years in July, and my friend Melissa's parents celebrated in March. Melissa and her family hosted a big party at their house, and I made them a dessert buffet with three tiny treats in mini angled cups with teensy tasting spoons: strawberry shortcake, rich dark chocolate pots de creme, and key lime tartlets. They were all very cute and delicious, and I thought the flavors complemented each other nicely and gave a good variety. It was really fun helping with a piece of the party, and Melissa decorated beautifully with old family pictures clipped up (like on a clothesline) and strung around the house.
I had to play around with the amounts and do quite a bit of "cake math" to try to figure out how much to make in order to get about 35 of each dessert. As I noted below, the strawberry shortcake made a lot of extra cake, probably because my dessert cups were so tiny in diameter and height.
Recipes
Strawberry Shortcake Parfaits (This made a LOT of cake! I think we used the extra for a trifle. Yum.)
Chocolate Pots de Creme (I have made this recipe before, as written, with the caramel layered on top of the chocolate, but for this event, I just made the chocolate and scaled the recipe up)
Key Lime Tartlets (I got key limes for the sake of authenticity, which they sell at the Northgate Market near my house, but be prepared to juice limes for a while! I got to use my new manual citrus press juicer, but we're talking 60 or 70 limes. Also, I tried candying thinly sliced key limes as a topper, but they were just way too sour, and the rind was way too tough. I ended up with an old standby: candied (regular) lime peel, and it worked great.)
Happy 50th anniversary, lovebirds!
I had to play around with the amounts and do quite a bit of "cake math" to try to figure out how much to make in order to get about 35 of each dessert. As I noted below, the strawberry shortcake made a lot of extra cake, probably because my dessert cups were so tiny in diameter and height.
Recipes
Strawberry Shortcake Parfaits (This made a LOT of cake! I think we used the extra for a trifle. Yum.)
Chocolate Pots de Creme (I have made this recipe before, as written, with the caramel layered on top of the chocolate, but for this event, I just made the chocolate and scaled the recipe up)
Key Lime Tartlets (I got key limes for the sake of authenticity, which they sell at the Northgate Market near my house, but be prepared to juice limes for a while! I got to use my new manual citrus press juicer, but we're talking 60 or 70 limes. Also, I tried candying thinly sliced key limes as a topper, but they were just way too sour, and the rind was way too tough. I ended up with an old standby: candied (regular) lime peel, and it worked great.)
Happy 50th anniversary, lovebirds!
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