I work as a baker in a cafe, located in our public library here in Kansas. For different holidays or other special occasions we try to have theme meals. Once we even had peanut butter and banana sanwiches for Elvis Presley’s birthday.
So, St. Patricks Day will be coming up and we were trying to put together a meal idea. We can’t serve alcohol, more’s the pity. And we don’t want to do the same old corned beef and cabbage that everyone else does.
As the baker, who usually does desserts, does anyone have any recommendations for that part of the meal? It can’t be too labor intensive, or it wouldn’t pay to make it. Would Irish soda bread be considered a sweet? There’s a lot of recipes out there for that.
I’d sure appreciate it if anyone could give me some good ideas.
Oh, definitely barm brack (only ever heard it spoken until thirty seconds ago, I presumed it was two words…). You could have fun even with tailoring the items inside to suit the sensibilities of the people involved.
I can’t think of any dessert that is traditionally Irish. Brack doesn’t really work (for me at least) as it’s for serving with tea as snack rather than in the context of a larger meal. I suspect this is because what people think of as ‘traditional irish cookery’ does not come from a tradition of multi-course meals
Ireland does however have many good cheese producers, perhaps a selection of such would be appropriate? I realise this doesn’t play to your strengths as a baker, but it might work.
You could if allowed small amounts of alcohol make a chocolate+espesso mousse version of Irish coffee that would look good and taste good too. might have to do some experimenting ahead of time for that one though.
However, the whole context in which this is being asked is nothing to do with any traditional setting, so there’s not the necessiaty to rule things out in this way before they even start!
counsel wolf and Harriet the Spry have given me an idea. We have flavoring syrups for coffee drinks such as lattes, and flavored sodas. There is one flavor called Irish Cream.
I could make a good, moist chocolate torte and flavor the cake and the icing with that. And we have used small amounts of alcohol in baked goods,(although not too often) so the Guinness chocolate cake might be an option
Or maybe a chocolate cake with green icing. I could use creme de menth. I’ve actually made that before, although not for St. Patrick’s Day.
Neither of the above is authentically Irish I realize, but they’d at least keep up the theme.
To hijack my own thread, I once made a friend a cake for St. Patrick’s Day. I iced it bright green. Then he cut into it and I’d tinted the cake itself orange. James Patrick Michael ******* pretended to be angry. But it was all in fun and he did eat the cake.
Black Forest gateaux used to be perhaps the most common dessert here, especially in the '70s/'80s. It is still a common dessert but I always thought when I was a kid that it was Irish. My German friend has never had it and I’ve eaten it dozens of times.
Other possibilities would be fairy cakes and currant buns but they’re not really specific to Ireland either.
Until a friend of mine had a Black Forest cake at her birthday party a few months ago I was only aware of it through British/Irish books. Kind of like how I’ve read books mentioning fairy cake for years but never even seen it in person. For some reason I remember a scene involving Black Forest gateau in a kids’ book (which must have been written in the 80s), and I believe the author was Irish or Scottish. Never really thought about it, though.
I’m a big fan of dessert and I spend a lot of time in Ireland and, no, there’s not much dessert-wise that is distinctly Irish. There’s chocolate cake, usually very chocolately but dry. My wife, who is from Ireland, says that the Irish make the worst cakes in the world, but I enjoy them. There are biscuits (cookies to us Yanks). There are many very good Irish chocolates.
Rhubarb pie is the dessert I associate the most with Ireland. Apple Crisp is another one you’ll find commonly served, but rhubarb is a bit more exotic to American ears.
Bailey’s Cheesecake. Made the euro way. You don’t bake it.
My favourite dessert.
100g of butter
250g of digestive biscuits, crushed
600g of Philadelphia cream cheese (other brands will do as well)
1 generous measure of Bailey’s Liqueur
100ml of icing sugar
300ml of double cream, whipped
Add the crushed digestive biscuits to the melted butter in a saucepan (you can also melt the butter in the microwave)
Use a wooden spoon to mix
Place the mixture into a lined 18cm tin (the tin has to have a removable bottom)
Flatten down with the palm of your hand and place in the fridge until cool
Use a wooden spoon to beat the cream cheese
Add the measure of baileys and the icing sugar
Fold in the cream
When everything is mixed add the mixture to the biscuit base
Cool in a fridge for at least two hours
I usually make an Irish Cream bundt cake for St. Patrick’s Day – it’s really, really yummy! Here’s the recipe:
1 cup chopped pecans
1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
1 (3.4 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
4 eggs
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup Irish cream liqueur
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup water
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup Irish cream liqueur
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease and flour a 10 inch Bundt pan. Sprinkle chopped nuts evenly over bottom of pan.
In a large bowl, combine cake mix and pudding mix. Mix in eggs, 1/4 cup water, 1/2 cup oil and 3/4 cup Irish cream liqueur. Beat for 5 minutes at high speed. Pour batter over nuts in pan.
Bake in the preheated oven for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then invert onto the serving dish. Prick top and sides of cake. Spoon glaze over top and brush onto sides of cake. Allow to absorb glaze repeat until all glaze is used up.
To make the glaze: In a saucepan, combine butter, 1/4 cup water and 1 cup sugar. Bring to a boil and continue boiling for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in 1/4 cup Irish cream. (this always makes too much glaze for me, though.)
This year, though, I might make the Stout Cake from Smitten Kitchen. It looks gooooood.
As a person of Irish descent, I am thrilled to hear that Black Forest gateaux is an Irish thing, as that’s my all-time favourite dessert. Having said that, I always kinda assumed that a typical Irish dessert would be potatoes and milk. Then again, I’ve never been to the Homeland, so I’m just going by my perception of the way of things, from half a planet away.
And we don’t want to do the same old corned beef and cabbage that everyone else does.
