My Journey Continues… Sweets

I must confess, although this probably doesn’t surprise any of you, I love sweets and choosing sweets for a tea. However, I do struggle in getting just the right combination of sweet offerings, especially for my private teas as I only serve three different sweets.

Recipe for choosing tea sweets

Step one is always the most fun. I love going through my TeaTime magazines, Victoria magazines, my tea recipe books, and my own very large tea recipe binder. When I am serving three tea desserts, I first choose “the main attraction”. This sweet is a little larger than the other two and, usually, is prettier. Then I choose two others that will complement the main attraction but are different in flavor, texture, and form.

Turn a favorite dessert into a tea sweet

Don’t forget about your favorite desserts that you serve your family or at a dinner party. Usually, you can turn one of these into a delicious teatime sweet…just make it smaller and pretty. Experiment with form and size. Use muffin pans or cookie cutters or small tart pans or biscuit cutters or … Below are two favorite dessert recipes that you can turn into teatime hits.

Easy Berry Cobbler

Chocolate Suicide Cake

Warning: Never use this as “the main attraction” for teatime! Your guests will go home in a chocolate coma. It’s a great companion in smaller sizes to other sweets on the plate.

• 1 box devil’s food cake mix
• Eggs, water and oil as directed on box
• 1 pound semisweet chocolate, cut in small pieces (Ghirardelli hunks preferred. Standard semisweet chips will work)
• 1-1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 4 tablespoons butter

Prepare cake mix as directed on box. Bake in any pan. Cool cake completely. Line bottom of a 9-inch round springform pan (or use other smaller pans for teatime) with a circle of wax paper. In large microwave-safe bowl, heat cream and butter until mixture begins to boil. Or you can do this on the top of the stove, which I prefer. Immediately add chocolate; let it sit a minute or two, then stir until chocolate is melted. Let cool slightly. Cut cake into small (about 1/2 inch) cubes and place in large bowl. Pour about half of the ganache (the chocolate mixture) over cake and mix well until it looks like thick mud. Scrape mixture into prepared springform pan and place in freezer for about an hour. The remaining ganache can rest on the countertop. Unmold cake turning upside down on serving plate. Remove waxed paper. Immediately pour remaining ganche over cake, spreading it smooth. The ganache will adhere to sides of cold cake. Store in refrigerator until serving time. Cake can be stored up to one week in refrigerator.