Dessert ideas for summer barbecue?

Suzi Edwards · July 23, 2003

I'm having a barbecue for 30 people and I'm a bit stuck about desert. I'm planing to make tomato and goats cheese tart to start, barbecued leg of lamb with sauce vierge and then.....

I was thinking about Summer Pudding but I would need to make a couple of really large ones and I'm worried they'd collapse when I turned them out. And I really can't make 30 individual ones. And I only have a small fridge :-(

Does anyone have any bright ideas for either a way to make Summer Pudding, or some sort of alternative easyish desert? I don't mind it if needs to be prepared in advance (in fact that might be a good thing) The tart is very cheesy so I'm looking for something with a bit of a tang to it to balance the richness.

ANY help appreciated!

Elizabeth_11 · July 23, 2003

Perhaps a cobbler of some sort would be nice. Easy to make in large quantities and usually well received by large groups. I'm a big fan of the blueberry/nectarine combination myself, but any summer fruit would be delicious. Serve it up with some ice cream and I'm sure it would make people very happy :smile: Just an idea!

Holly Moore · July 23, 2003

Banana pudding with vanilla wafers. A bbq classic. But my first thought was cobbler and with peaches the way they are now, it's gotta be a peach cobbler.

scamhi · July 23, 2003

Lat summe I made a blueberry and strawberry tart to feed 25. it was easy and really delicious.

It came from Gourmet magazine either June or July issue 2002. Its on the cover.

Basically, it's store bought puff pastry prebaked in quadrants. The joined together on a big board. Smeared with ginger cream ( dried candied ginger and cream cheese) assembled with fresh berries and glazed with red currant jelly.

Elizabeth_11 · July 23, 2003

Another suggestion: Epicurious.com just updated its site to feature summer party desserts, you might want to check it out!

babyluck · July 23, 2003

Key lime pie.

MatthewB · July 23, 2003

Another suggestion: Epicurious.com just updated its site to feature summer party desserts, you might want to check it out!

Elizabeth,

You should be offering to cater the dessert for this event. :biggrin:

jackal10 · July 23, 2003

Have confidence in Summer Pudding. Easily the nicest of the summer deserts.

(See my article in PPC or in the compendium " Wilder shores of Gastronomy")

If you keep the fruit fairly dry it won't collapse.

Equal quantities of Raspberries and Redcurrants. Those who add blackcurrants are heathens.

Cherries (stoned) add a nice stickyness, but avoid strawberries

Sweat the fruit with losts of sugar until the juice just runs.

Line a pudding basin with plain white bread with the crists cut off ("Wonderloaf" is great). Fill with the fruit, cover with more bread. Weight and put in the fridg overnight.

Here is the secret: Make a coulis with some of the fruit liquidised. Pour over the turned out pud to hide any white bits. Decorate with whole fruit, mint leaves etc. Yumm!

An alternative BBQ desert is fruit kebabs, String strawberries, pinapple chunks etc on kebab sticks.

Smother with rum or brandy butter. Chuck briefly onto grill. Maybe not for 25, tho.

Joni · July 23, 2003

Frozen key lime pie-- better yet, make them into popsicles -- key lime pie on a stick. Or, if you want a "plated" dessert.-- lemon blueberry trifle.

kitwilliams · July 23, 2003

How about Grilled Peaches with Mascarpone?

The recipe states fitting them snugly into a heatproof dish and sticking them under a really hot broiler. Halve and pit the peaches and fit them into the dish hollow side up. Place dollops of mascarpone into the hollows, sprinkle with 1-1/2 oz. granulated sugar and stick under the broiler for four minutes, remove and sprinkle with another 1-1/2 oz. sugar and stick back in the oven until the fruit is tender, the cheese is melted and the sugar is golden brown in patches. Eat warm. Wish I had a scanner for the picture...they are beautifully rustic. To be perfectly honest, I have not yet made these (although tore it out of Sainsbury's magazine in July of 1994!) but how can you go wrong with wonderful peaches and mascarpone?

Also, as has been mentioned in other threads on many occasions, Panna Cotta is lovely with almost any kind of fruit and can be flavored a bizillion different ways. But I understand your lack of space in the frig.

Elizabeth_11 · July 23, 2003

Another suggestion: Epicurious.com just updated its site to feature summer party desserts, you might want to check it out!
Elizabeth,
You should be offering to cater the dessert for this event.

Oh, you could bet I would if it was in Chicago :biggrin:

MatthewB · July 23, 2003

You should be offering to cater the dessert for this event.
Oh, you could bet I would if it was in Chicago

Don't limit yourself.

Jason Perlow · July 23, 2003

Pavlova -- its an australian meringue dessert topped with fruit, commonly served at outdoor parties, I beleive.

http://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/eggs/...pe-pavlova.html

rickster · July 23, 2003

I've made a recipe similar in execution to the peaches with mascarpone that turned out very well, except that the filling was a mixture of amaretti cookies and almonds ground in a food processor with some softened butter to hold it together and a little amaretto. Broiled the same way as the previous recipe.

Suzi Edwards · July 23, 2003

An alternative BBQ desert is fruit kebabs, String strawberries, pinapple chunks etc on kebab sticks.
Smother with rum or brandy butter. Chuck briefly onto grill. Maybe not for 25, tho.

ah, kebabs. i made vegetable kebabs at my last barbecue and spent the WHOLE morning chopping veg and putting them onto skewers.

this time i am having my hair blow dried :-)

you've all given me such great ideas, i'm really, really torn now.

i'm going to sleep on it and i'll report back!

KNorthrup · July 23, 2003

If you want to get really really brave, I've just been informed that Cool Whip is now available in French Vanilla and Strawberry varieties. Where's Klink's thread when you need it?

South Jersey Epicurean · July 28, 2003

Easiest to make:

Pink Lemonade or Limeaid Pie: can be made in advance

3 ingredients:

Frozen pink lemonade or limeaid concentrate

Cool whip

graham cracker crust

garnish with fruit of your choosing

or a Mango/Lime Pie... easy with a few more ingredients

Let me know if you want the recipes...

The first one takes 5 minutes to make!!! Everyone will rave!!

South Jersey Epicurean

Suzi Edwards · July 29, 2003

i made amaretto chocolate truffle cake in the end as everyone loves a chocolate desert (and it went down a storm and took 10 minutes. bliss. let me know if you want the recipe)

but i would love the recipe for pink lemonade pie. my partner is american and we have these funny sachets of pink lemonade mix that i have been threatening to throw away since i moved in :-)

that said, i have no idea what cool whip is...enlighten me!

Elizabeth_11 · July 29, 2003

Your truffle cake sounds wonderful. I, too, am partial to chocolate! :wub: Glad it was a success.

JFLinLA · July 29, 2003

i made amaretto chocolate truffle cake in the end as everyone loves a chocolate desert (and it went down a storm and took 10 minutes. bliss. let me know if you want the recipe)

Yes, yes, recipe please?!

Suzi Edwards · July 31, 2003

amaretto truffle cake:

i took 150 grammes of digestive biscuits and 100g amaretti, crumbed them and mixed them with 70g of melted butter. squished this into the bottom of a 20cm springform tin.

then i warmed 400ml of whipping cream and added that to 250g of 70% chocolate, stirred well and added 75ml of amaretto (you could probably get away with more or less depending on your taste)

pop in the fridge to cool for at least an hour.

while it was cooling i roasted some blanched marcona almonds (25 minutes on 150) and then decorated the cake with these (good for portion control)

the cake is really rich, so you really only want small slices....

Mayhaw Man · August 6, 2003

Peach Cobbler w/homeade vanilla ice cream (or peach if you want to go whole hog)

J Acord · August 6, 2003

Having just had a bbq last sunday for 25 people I had the same dilemma.

Ended up making tropical fruit salad which you can then put into a big bowl and let everyone serve themselves, and also made spiced rhubarb cheesecake ('cause the rhubarb was nice and cheap, and I really like it but didn't want to do the normal rhubarb crumble).

Was also going to mess around with a lemon tart, but decided to go out drinking on saturday night instead!

PastryLady · August 11, 2003

Did you use any gelatin in your dessert? If so how much? Sounds delicious.

Realized your shindig was a bit ago, but I make bread pudding at my family reunion. Regular, Rum/raisin and chocolate. 3 seperate kinds are always a hit. I am now paring it down to rum/raisin and chocolate only as people like to indulge. No melting in July/August temps which is a definate plus. Usually I serve with vanilla bean ice cream.

Suzi Edwards · August 12, 2003

Did you use any gelatin in your dessert? If so how much? Sounds delicious.
Realized your shindig was a bit ago, but I make bread pudding at my family reunion. Regular, Rum/raisin and chocolate. 3 seperate kinds are always a hit. I am now paring it down to rum/raisin and chocolate only as people like to indulge. No melting in July/August temps which is a definate plus. Usually I serve with vanilla bean ice cream.

no, i didn't use any gelatin, the chocolate alone seems to set it.

thanks for all the ideas; am almost tempted to have another barbeque just to try them all out :-0

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