All vegetarian buffet lunch year 4 - new cakes & salad

4th year running - can't be bad!

As they let me come up with menu choices I try and add in new things each year. This year there were 2 vegans as well - so we had a few different things for them as well.

• Black forest cupcakes Who can resist the old classics? From recipe here.

• Blackberry and apple shortcake

• 

I raided a few recipes from over here - the first being this one. If you want a recipe you know is going to work go for one on a blog - you know it's tried and tested :) I just added blackberries as well.

• Individual tirimisu cheesecakes - quite possibly the ultimate cheesecake flavour!

Base
250g Amaretti biscuits

125g Unsalted butter

Filling

270g Ricotta

270g Marscapone

120g Caster sugar

2 1/2 Eggs

180 ml Creme fraiche

2 1/2 tbsp Cornflour

2 - 3 tsp Coffee essence

2 - 3 tsp Tia Maria

For method see normal recipe. The amaretti biscuits seem to soak up more butter than others - so you need more butter. I also did a vegan version - with nice biscuits and the same kind of filling but using alpro soy dessert with coffee essence & tia maria set with gelatine.

• Vegan beetroot and chocolate cake. From recipe here. Last minute. com topping was sweetened soy milk with vanilla thickened with cornflour.

• Pineapple puff pastry tarts - "That was lush!" said the guy we had helping us with the washing up. Eevryone had to try one. He was right. They were! Recipe again from here. I tried adding a bit of lemon curd under the pineapple slices. Seemed to work well. Other than that - maybe you could try frangipane. These literally came out of the oven and went straight on the road - can't beat that for freshness. So busy didn't manage to get a photo of finished tart - this pic actually comes ©Ms Marmitelover from this event we did.

• Cauliflower, fennel, red onion and radish salad. Earlier in the year at a dinner party we were serving I had made a cauliflower and fennel coleslaw when those were the only ingredients we had left, and we had found ourselves with a little bit of extra time as guests sat down late. It seemed to work very well, and I tried it out as a salad here bound with mustard vinaigrette. A few basil leaves finish it off.

• Benedict bars
Another hit. These were the two off-cut pieces. A photo at dusk earlier tonight - now you see why I'm a chef not a food photographer. Another recipe via Lucy made in this case with hedgerow jelly from Dove Cottage in Broadway made from berries picked from the local fields.

Related posts

All vegetarian buffet 2008 (whole host of vegetarian sandwich ideas)

All vegetarian buffet 2009 (new vegetarian ideas + vegan cakes)

All vegetarian buffet 2010 (vegetarian salad ideas - my favourite was the tex-mex)