holiday desserts fit for a king...

The holiday meal is often one of the times each year that friends and family gather around a table and enjoy the warmth of each other's friendship and love. Here at orenji catering, we think special occasions such as these deserve amazing food, especially desserts! What better way to end a meal then with a dessert fit for a king!

This year, we wish to highlight two special desserts created for clients' and friends' holiday meals. The first is the traditional Bûche de Noël-- a vanilla (yellow) génoise filled and frosted with bittersweet chocolate buttercream to resemble the Christmas log for the fire. Topped with traditional marzipan leaves and berries, and meringue mushrooms, the cake is as beautiful as it is delicious. Wikipedia explains the possible origins of the festive French creation: "One popular story behind the creation of this dessert is that Napolean I of France issued a proclamation requiring households in Paris to keep their chimneys closed during the winter, based on the notion that cold air caused medical problems. This prevented Parisians from being able to use their fireplaces, and, thus, prevented them from engaging in many of the traditions surrounding and involving the hearth in French Christmas tradition. French bakers, according to the theory, invented this dessert as a symbolic replacement around which the family could gather for story-telling and other holiday merriment."



The second festive dessert highlighted this year was created for a family holiday gathering. It is a classic French tart with a lemon-almond crust, deep blueberry filling (combining fresh and dried blueberries with lemon), and an almond struesal topping. Together, these varied components create a rich, but refreshing and tart finish to any meal.