[Tomaito]

Hey everyone!

I've come out of lurkingville to ask this question.

My birthday is coming up and i've decided to hold a chocolate buffet

So far i have chocolate cake (of course), chocolate mousse pie, chocolate fondue w/ fruits for dipping, mini brownies, choco chocoalte chunk cookies and mini vanilla bean tofutti cheese cakes w/ a chocolate cookie crust. i also found a recipe online for vegan truffles that I would like to try out before the party- if they're good I'll add them to the lineup.

thing is, i don't know much about alcohol so I don't know what drinks will work best with this lineup. any suggestions? I heard hot chocolate might be good, but is that chocolate overkill? (ha! like that's possible)

 

[IamJen]

Oh! I was going to suggest hot chocolate! (did you ever see the movie Chocolat?) It's especially good with cinnamon in it.

Definitely need some chocolate "ice cream" in there. and/or maybe a chocolate milkshake. Chocolate no-bake cookies are simple, but one of my favorites since I was a kid. Maybe some chocolate coated almonds?

Yum. I'm going into a sugar coma from just reading this thread.

 

[raddish]

you could serve mochachinos, too.

definitley make truffles! if your recipe doesn't work out then I have an ace recipe for chocolate truffles that uses tofutti cream cheese..mmmmm

 

[WonderRandy]

clearly, you need chocolate martinis... Also would be good to have on hand some Gran Marnier and/or some Drambuie.

As for the menu, I would suggest some non-dessert-ey chocolate dishes. Mole enchiladas, Cacao and chile crusted tofu, Chocolate Tamales (Cacao originated in the early Mixican civilizations.... something from it's roots (Mexican Hot Chocolate comes to mind)...

 

[kpickell]

oh.my.god. please invite me.

 

[Flexi]

Could you hire a chocolate fountain? (You could just provide straws and drink out of that!)

Do the truffles need to be vegan? I know a fantastic website that does vegetarian truffles and chocolate bars and truffle logs - completely gorgeous!

It's based in the UK though - don't know if that's a problem?

http://www.aballutruffles.co.uk/

(Hope I haven't boken a rule by inserting a link - sincere apologies if I have!)

Happy Birthday in advance!

 

[IamJen]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kpickell

oh.my.god. please invite me.

Heh. I was thinking about writing that too.

<<notes that she was the first to respond, that counts for something, right?

 

[compassionate1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tomaito

Hey everyone!

I've come out of lurkingville to ask this question.

My birthday is coming up and i've decided to hold a chocolate buffet

So far i have chocolate cake (of course), chocolate mousse pie, chocolate fondue w/ fruits for dipping, mini brownies, choco chocoalte chunk cookies and mini vanilla bean tofutti cheese cakes w/ a chocolate cookie crust. i also found a recipe online for vegan truffles that I would like to try out before the party- if they're good I'll add them to the lineup.

thing is, i don't know much about alcohol so I don't know what drinks will work best with this lineup. any suggestions? I heard hot chocolate might be good, but is that chocolate overkill? (ha! like that's possible)

 

[rincaro]

You might try making some Cincinnati style chili (has cocoa in it) if you want some other sort of main dish.

 

[Azalea]

whoa.

 

[Tesseract]

Don't certain champagnes go really well with chocolate? I don't know the first thing about wines, but it seems I've heard that.

Hey, here's a couple of handy articles I found:

http://wine.about.com/od/winerecomme...echocolate.htm

http://www.arborfood.com/columns/win...hocolate.shtml

 

[jeneticallymodified]

um.. dunno if these are all 100% vegan, but worth a look anyway:

tia maria- its a rich coffee style liquer- good in coke, and there is a list of other cocktail type drinks you can make with it here: http://www.drinksmixer.com/desc353.html

you could get some creme de cacao (alcoholic chocolate sryup) and make some of these drinks: http://www.webtender.com/db/ingred/333

and i think they probably do some random cookies and cream style vodka/martini/schnapps coolers, if you look around for them.

i bet something coconutty like malibu rum (again, i used to drink this with coke) might work with chocolate too.

i've seen a vegan baileys receipe around somewhere too- might have been here, might have been www.vegweb.com- sounds like fun too.

erm....don't forget to remember your alcohol free friends too

(like me hehehe), so.....

why not make some cool milkshake drinks like a chocolate, banana, and ricemilk smoothie: put some chocolate sryup/cocoa powder in a glass with a peeled frozen banana, and some ricemilk, and blend. add ice to taste.

or, a reeses style chocolate peanutbutter milkshake: mix 50/50 vanilla and chocolate ricemilk to make a pint, with a tablesppon of peanut butter (not crunchy!) a teaspoon of cocoa powder, and sugar/stevia to taste. blend, as before. and add ice, if ya want.

oooh, oooh, and no party is complete without 'coke floats' (we used to do these when i was a kid, lol) pick your fizzy drink of choice (7up, cherry coke, raspberry cream soda, weird chocolate flavour soda if you can find it, lol, whatever you like) and fill to 2/3 or 3/4 of a glass, then top with a big scoop of vegan icecream, and a straw to twirl it with and poke it with (and drink it with....don't try and drink it without a straw cos you'll get icecream and froth in the nose) and if you feel like it, add a marachino cherry or 10 lol. it goes all fizzy and creamy and floaty and frothy, and its just LUSHARAMA!

i feel a bit sick thinking about all this rich and creamy stuff now, lol. and i want a coke float. damn.

 

[asp3]

Port goes very well with chocolate. There are even some ports which are infused with chocolate. If you're in a state that allows shipping of wine you could probably get some if you can't find it at your liquor store. I believe Trentadue out of Sonoma County has a chocolate port. I also think that Westover in the Livermore, CA area has a chocolate port.

Another good idea with chocolate is a late harvest Zinfandel. Make sure it's one with some residual sugar though. I've run into some late harvest Zins that are dry.

If you decide to go with a mole you can also serve a Zinfandel with that, although I usually prefer beer with mole.

 

[synergy]

I would second the recommendation for a chocolate fountain, or at least a fondue.

For beverages, don't forget about chocolate stout ale!

To get my address for my formal invitation, please PM me.

 

[Tomaito]

whoaaaaa.....some insane suggestions here

hot chocolate is a definite go- but what is a mochachino?

raddish- I would be very grateful if you posted yours, I would try both out at the same time

I never thought of just having grand marnier straight- what about khalua? would that work?

if you guys are in ny you're definitely invited, just let me know

I will probably stay away from non-desserty stuff since it starts at 10- it's more of a late dessert buffet.

I definitely will do the non alcoholic drinks because most of my friends don't drink, and I barely drink myself- probably once every 4 months tops.

Thank you guys so much for the suggestions, I will be posting pics for you guys nowhere near NYC

thank

 

[Tomaito]

oh, and i'm definitely doing a fondue because I have a set already (I would've had to buy the fountain)

 

[Tomaito]

hoodedclawjen- those websites you posted for mixed drinks are out of this world! i'll probably go with the chocolate martinis

 

[SallyK]

Mmmm...how about "chocolate cake" shots? Made with Frangelico and vodka and sugared lemons. This sounds like a fantasic party! I might steal these ideas for my 30th birthday on New Year's Eve.

 

[nigel]

If you're look for savory items, you can make seitan mole or pasta with chocolate flaked into it. If you like, I can post some recipes for these.

 

[Tomaito]

Hey guys!

So my birthday chocolate buffet was last night and it was an amazing success. I ended up making punkmommy's brownies, with walnuts, peanut butter, or raspberry puree swirled in. I also made cocoa cloud cookies that were posted somewhere on this site with Akasha's chocolate chip cookies, fondue with fruits, chocolate martinis, truffles from another website, mini cherry and chocolate cheesecakes from PETA's website, chocolate mousse pies from VegWeb and a black forest cake (chocolate cake with brandied cherries in the middle and vegan buttercream frosting)

. It was a lot of fun and I really appreciate all of the help you guys gave!

The pics are weird because the photographer was a bit drunk lol