80's Dessert

[LJC]

I forgot about Carvel.

[MsRamsey]

Make a cake with some 80s-type new-wave graphics on it.  Or take a look at some Memphis design by Ettore Sottsass and come up with some cake construction based on those colors (think yellow, red, and blue) and geometrical designs.

Or better yet, get one of those professionally made cakes where they can actually airbrush sugar pictures on them with a computer.

I'm thinking the Synchronicity album by the Police, or Darryl Hall and Jon Oates. Or a Madonna cover.

oh wait. WHAM! or The Breakfast Club.

Or the chick on the "Rio" album - the colors would go nicely with raspberry coulis.

oh my god yes...an airbrushed nagel print oin the cake.

how horrificly 80s!

I *LOVE* the Nagel idea!!

How about a big white cake with big black words that say "Choose Life" or Frankie Say Relax?" So 80s and super easy!

Edit: Or maybe "Frankie Say Eat"

Edited January 8, 2004 by MsRamsey (log)

[beans]

Chocolate pate.

It was in the excessive 80's that I was first introduced to this dessert.

They sure were a fun time. (oh, the hairdo's; the music!)

[Pan]

I'm with Bill, there are two desserts I recall from the 80 Frusen Glasen (Spelling??) and Cocaine. Most people preferred the latter.

I think it was Frusen Gladje. Do you remember the Ben and Jerry's commercial, "There ain't no Haagen, there ain't no Dazs. There ain't no Frusen, there ain't no Gladje..."?

[Jason Perlow]

Maybe a cake decorated to look like a Rubiks Cube.

[beans]

Oh, that's very early 80's!

[ludja]

Kiwi is what jumped to mind first also for me...

But besides that, I think 'noveau' Southwestern/Santa Fe cuisine was big then--think Mark Miller and Coyote Cafe, John Sedlar, Modern Southwestern Cuisine. Also chefs from Texas like Anne Lindsay Greer and Robert del Grande.

Glancing through I cookbook called "Southwest Tastes" from the TV series, Great Chefs of the West here are some of the recipes:

Dessert Tostadas (make a shell from deep fried tortilla and fill w/custard and then fresh fruit, strawberries, ????kiwis?

Fresh Berry Mousse in Pizzelle Cookie Bowls

Cookie Tacos (nut crisp cookie shaped as a taco, filled w/raspberries, strawberries, etc and shavings of white chocolate 'cheese', surounded w/creme anglaise

Neon Tumbleweed w/Biscochito cookes (fresh fruit arranged on plate, squiggle of different fruit purees, cookies shaped as cacti)

S.Western Fruit Flan w/ Pricky Pear Glaze

Peach Mouse w/Raspberry Coulis

Red Yam Flan

White Chocolate Ravioli

This cookbook is actually pretty good--once dessert recipe I have made that is excellent is:

Ibarra Chocolate Cake (a flourless chocolate cake w/ground almonds and flavored w/orange and cinnamon, covered in chocolate glaze) The idea is to mimic mexican chocolate flavors w/orange.

One thing many of the recipes have is lots of decoration w/squiggles of different colored fruit puree. Also lots of flavored mousses...

[ludja]

Looking back over others comments, I also seem to remember lots of flourless chocolate cakes. Could serve w/strawberries, kiwis on the side and the ubiquitous fruit puree design. (I don't really love this combo, but I think it would be very 80's...)

[bilrus]

Are these people going to the party eGullet types who are into food and spent a lot of time at restaurants in the '80's?

If not - they probably aren't likely to "get" some of the references. They might be more likely to "get" the cake with some '80's icon on it or something like that.

Of course, since you'd have to eat it too - make it a really good cake.

edit - For some reason I have been doing a lot of "air quotes" lately and it looks like it is spilling over into my posts.

Edited January 8, 2004 by bilrus (log)

[alacarte]

Make any pie you want. Call it quiche.

[Suzi Edwards]

edit - For some reason I have been doing a lot of "air quotes" lately and it looks like it is spilling over into my posts.

did you ever see the billy connolly sketch where he mimics people doing "air quotes" by doing all of the punctuation in a sentence? i hadn't either until "everyone" starting ribbing me for my air quotes.

the people are deffo not foodies so i do think some of the ideas might go over their heads. i keep thinking that a black forest gateau would fit the bill (despite being of the wrong era) as it will be something that we all had as children (we're all in our twenties) and that's the main desert i remember. although i love the idea of getting some retro 80's designs in there, i think it might be beyond my skills.

hmmmm.

will report back on sunday. thanks for all of the ideas. especailly the sherbet cocaine one. i *loved* that.

[cbarre02]

Put a garnish of cotton candy on any torte and call it a "Big Hair Cake"

[Mudpuppie]

Rice Krispy Squares or a Jello Mold with extra Cool Whip!

Actually, I was thinking about sugar-free jello with fat-free dream whip stuff thrown in.

And remember the "dirt cake" made out of oreos and cool whip that got served in a terra cotta pot, with gummi worms on top?

[KarenS]

It's a toss up between tirimisu and creme brulee (and make it white chocolate).

[curlywurlyfi]

How about a big white cake with big black words that say "Choose Life" or Frankie Say Relax?" So 80s and super easy!

[Rachel Perlow]

I was originally thinking tiramisu, but, especially as the guests are not foodies, I really like the idea of a Rubik's Cube cake. You could assemble it in 3D too, like a really simple square wedding cake. Just assemble many layers of cake with a nice filling like ganache (too modern?) until it is a cube shape, use thin dowels to support the layers, if necessary.

Make a nice white icing. First, crumb coat the entire cube. Then divide the icing into several bowls and use food coloring to make orange, blue, green, red, yellow, the sixth color is white. Pipe on the grid with dark chocolate icing. Fill in with the colors in a random pattern for an unsolved cube (use about 5 squares of each color, since the 6th side is on the bottom). Touch up the grid as necessary. I think that would be a huge hit.

For a reminder, click here.

edit: it would actually be much easier to make a solved cube. Just coat each side in a different color and then pipe on the grid. Remember to do the edges as well.

Edited January 9, 2004 by Rachel Perlow (log)

[sherribabee]

Maybe a cake decorated to look like a Rubiks Cube.

That's the first thing that popped into my head when I saw this thread.

Or how about a Ms. Pacman cake? Just a round cake with a wedge cut out and some frosting. Like, totally easy dude!

Ideas

Edited January 9, 2004 by sherribabee (log)

[laurenmilan]

Or how about a Ms. Pacman cake? Just a round cake with a wedge cut out and some frosting. Like, totally easy dude!

Hey, I HAD that cake two years running for my birthday as a kid! Moms musta loved that cake design... don't even need a special pan and she gets an extra slice...

[curlywurlyfi]

So, Tarka, going to tell us what you made??

Fi