Delicious and Impressive Dessert for Christmas Dinner? Good Questions

Q: I'm making a fancy dinner for my husband and parents for Christmas. I'd like it to be both delicious and impressive.

I'm a bit stuck on what to make for dessert. My mind leaps toward chocolate of some kind, but it doesn't necessarily have to be that. The menu so far consists of blue cheese gougeres, arugula salad with prosciutto and pine nuts, and chicken (or maybe veal) marsala with fresh pasta.

Do you have any suggestions for a dessert that would be festive, fancy, and go with the rest of the meal?

Sent by Claire

Editor: Claire, I personally love this cranberry cake, served with whipped cream. It tastes fresh and rich, and yet it's not too difficult to make (and stores beautifully for a few days).

If you want something chocolate and very fun, what about these peppermint chocolate molten cakes from one of our guest posters this past week, Sara of Sprouted Kitchen? They look fantastic!

Or you could go all-out and all-traditional (French-style) and try a croquemboche! This tower of cream puffs is very impressive and fun to eat. (You could also do mini versions in wine flutes, like Liz shows in her post.) Cream puffs are very similar to the gougeres you are making already, and a sweet echo of the beginning of the meal might be a nice way to close it.

Readers, what would you suggest for Claire?

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(Image: Liz of Zested)

Comments (11)

The French cake, Buche de Noel jumps to mind. There are many recipes and lots of different flavors, but all will produce a very festive treat.

Tiramisu. Done and DONE. Also, it can (and should) be done ahead of time. It sounds wonderful, by the way.

We're doing vanilla roasted pears with vanilla ice cream and maybe ridiculously easy butterscotch sauce. (1st and 3rd components from smitten kitchen).

I'm making the Mocha Devastation Cake from My Sweet Vegan by Hannah Kaminsky. Best dessert I've ever had in my entire life.

I second the suggestion of Tiramisu! DOing things in advance is always helpful!

I suggest the Buche de Noel. I made one for a party last week and it was a big hit. I made a chocolate genoise (ahead of time) and stored it rolled up. The day of the party I spread it with freshly whipped cream (the traditional choclate mousse is too sweet and rich for me), rolled it up and then frosted it with chocolate ganache.

Croquembouche is fine, but not if Claire's wed to the gougeres. They're both made from chox paste, and I wouldn't serve choux paste in two courses of the same meal.

plum pudding! that's what we always have for christmas dessert.

The Very Good Chocolate Cake recipe from Edna Lewis' cookbook The Gift of Southern Cooking is the BEST chocolate cake you'll ever eat. It's pretty labor-intensive and yields a really impressive cake. Should fit the bill nicely.

I found a really easy (and scrumptious!) recipe for raspberry & limoncello semifredo! I made it last week, took all of 15 minutes to whip up. Instead of freezing it in a simple cake/loaf tin I put it in a star shaped cake tin. I made a raspberry and limoncello coulis to go with it, also dead-easy to make!

I have a mocha one (from a much more complicated recipe) in a heart shaped tin. What a palaver, whip the cream, whip the egg whites, whip the egg yolks, chop the chocolate... pfff, took forever to make, so not doing that one again!

The baking section had some very cute coloured chocolate sticks (white chocolate with pink and green colouring running through them). If i get the presentation right it'll look stunning (if I say so myself! haha).

"a sweet echo of the beginning of the meal might be a nice way to close it. "
NO! Terrible idea. Never do this.

I'd say, since this is a pretty hearty menu (starting with cheese is an appetite killer), something like granita or a flight of sorbets and fruit.