Desserts on the menu for Saturday

A long time ago whilst in Cedar Rapids, we fell into a foodie crowd. Two of the gals were in the business, Marla and Nina.  Marla was a food stylist and recipe developer and Nina was an advertising account manager for major corporations like Tyson Foods. Once a year, they put on a big display for their clients and closest friends, The Dessert Party. About 200 + folks came to the open house and were treated to a breath taking display of cover desserts from Bon Appetit and other foodie rags. The desserts were all expertly executed and displayed so you can imagine my honor when I was asked to participate. Well, then we moved....


For several years we also hosted a similar event in our fair city. Eventually we stopped doing it and went on vacation instead. It has been 12 or more years since we have hosted such an event. There have been though a few diehards that ask about the party almost every time we see them so we are resurrecting a miniature version this Saturday, mostly for family with our good friends Mat and Lori who are lending their house for the occasion. Only 5 desserts and a few quarts of cream compared to the original for which I had purchased gallons of cream and pounds of chocolate, butter and sugar.

So we have been planning for weeks and trying to find old recipes and such,. Apparently I did not keep very good records as I really can't find half the stuff we made before so some things we are winging and some things we have the original like the Pave from and early issue of Cuisine that went out of business in the early 80's.  (Funny, when my daughter started her job at Children's, the ladies immediately asked for this cake again. I don't even remember bring it to them when my wife worked there in the 80's but it must have some staying power.) So that is definitely on the list as well as a Pear Spice Cake, an Almond Joy tart, a cheesecake in this case Margarita and a flourless chocolate something or other. I took Friday off to get everything just so and will post pics as the event unfolds..............................gotta start exercising my piping hand.