Who hasn’t looked forward to the dessert course at the end of a meal; to the anticipation of satisfying a sweet tooth? Dessert has been used by many a parent as a bargaining chip to ensure that their children finish their meal. Although dessert is usually served as the last course of a meal, it can also be served at any time of the day. In both cases, it can be served with coffee and tea or paired with dessert wines. No time to make dessert and have a craving for something sweet? Nowadays, there are restaurants who serve only desserts and offer an extensive dessert wine list.
Desserts can be as simple as cupcakes, bundt cakes, coffee cakes, pies, or as elaborate as cheese cakes, tortes or special occasion cakes. Fresh seasonal fruit served by itself or accompanied by a cheese platter can also replace the traditional sweet dessert.
Seasonal and Holiday Desserts
Summer’s abundance of berries and fresh stone fruits result in desserts such as fruit pies, tartlets, fruit sorbets, berry trifles or berry cream cakes, while autumn’s fruit harvest is used to make apple pies, pumpkin pie and fruit cobblers, to name a few.
Holiday baking conjures up desserts such as gingerbread cookies, shortbread, Yule logs, steamed puddings, fruit cakes and international Christmas desserts.
International Desserts
There is such a vast variety of desserts as there are cultures; to name a few; the Italian Tiramisu, the French Chocolate Mousse, the Greek Walnut-Pistachio Cake, the German Black Forrest Cake, the Spanish Caramel Flan, the Australian Pavlova, the American Apple Pie and the Canadian Maple Syrup Pie.
Dessert Cookbooks and Internet Dessert Recipes
Dessert cookbooks are available for every level of expertise in baking, from the novice baker to the master baker at your local bookstores (Barnes & Noble, Chapters) or online bookstores (Amazon.com, Chapers.ca). The internet is another valuable resource. With a few strokes of the keyboard, thousands of dessert recipes are available at your fingertips. There are also instructional videos available online that demonstrate baking different techniques.
Baking Blogs
Online baking blogs have become increasingly popular. There are baking blogs (The Daring Bakers, Tuesdays with Dorie) where membership is required to participate in the baking events. The founders of these groups choose the cookbook and members choose the recipes to bake and post their results weekly or monthly on their own blogs. Forums are available for members to discuss baking challenges, share recipes and baking tips, or ask questions about baking in general.
Sweet Ending
Whether simple or elegant, dessert is the perfect ending to a meal or the perfect reason to gather with friends for a cup of coffee or tea.
