shf roundup - the sweetest thing
 
2007-07-08: shf roundup - the sweetest thing

Ok, so I think I may have bitten off more than I can chew with this month's Sugar High Friday! As I write this, I am still in the hospital, and feeling not quite up to much of anything, much less making a dessert. But by golly, I can at least write about desserts. Sure it's a little bit late (actually a lot late!), but here now is Part 1 of my rundown of all the fabulous dessert cravings everyone created for this month's Sugar High Friday: The Sweetest Thing. They are in no particular order at all. (Part 2 will be here on Tuesday.)



We start with an Dhana from Fresh Kitchen who presents this lovely Mille Crepe Cake with Vanilla Custard, a cake that has as many layers as there are entrants into this month's event. Sunny, buttery, soft and very enticing.

Julie from The Persnickety Palate has a delightful Carrot Cake. The plain cake is topped by decadent slap of icing,and it sounds and looks just perfect.

Lisa from La Mia Cucina made what she likes to call The Mothership, a cantankerous foe and delicious lady made of chocolate cake and Italian meringue buttercream. I'm pretty sure I gained 5 lbs just ogling that thing.

Meeta from What's For Lunch, Honey? made a picturesque Strawberry Mille Feiulle. She started out with a goal of putting chocolate in it, but midway through ditched the chocolate for the freshness of the berries.

Johanna from The Passionate Cook has reintroduced herself to SHF with a fantastic creation, Mexican Churros, a confection she'd been craving for 17 long years. I'm glad we've helped snap that particular dry spell.

Maninas from Maninas: Food Matters checks in with a Date and Nut Loaf, a unique choice. Who needs all the chocolate and whip cream cliches when you can capture a perfect afternoon moment with this dessert to go with a hot cup of tea or coffee?

Pamela, the Cooking Ninja (whose blog moniker I admire enough that I briefly considered changing mine to Jennifer the Samurai of Blogging From A Hospital Bed) has fashioned an Apricot Tatin. Perfectly seasonal and gorgeous.

Ulrike from Küchenlatein has created Dulce de Leche Ice Cream, an achievement of which I'm envious since it was next on my list of freezer treat objectives. Looks really fantastic, Ulrike.

Steph from the A Whisk and a Spoon participated in her very first SHF with a classic submission, the nutty, decadent German Chocolate Cake. I made this cake a few years ago and blogged about it, and judging by my annual site counts, a LOT of people share Steph's craving for this cake because it always shows up in my top searches.

Monica from Gilded Fork has created a lovely Blueberry Peach Crumble. Another seasonal choice, and what a perfect capper to an evening spent among the crickets in a country cottage somwhere.

Ivonne from Cream Puffs in Venice has created Coconut Cream Cake, a dessert so shockingly beautiful it has to be seen to be believed. Hurry over and click!

Zorra from Kochtopf presents Chocolate Foam Kisses Ice Cream. I love this type of dessert, a crisp shell surrounding a soft or spongy interior. Excellent.

Andrew from Spittoon Extra comes to us bearing a fresh Strawberry Mascarpone, always a reliable contrast with the pleasing heft of the mascarpone and the tangy freshness of the berries.

Alanna from A Veggie Venture proffers a luscious Custard with Rhubarb Sauce. I have to say, on a personal note, that while I am a big fan of all the ingredients in this recipe, my mother actually loathes rhubarb. She does enjoy her custard however, and since it's one of my personal cravings to tweak my mother every now and then, I think this dessert will be high on my list to make for her very soon.

Sarina from Trinigourmet makes a major entrance to the SHF scene with a dramatic Espresso Cake. You simply cannot lose with this, at all. (On another note, I counted seven smiley faces in Sarina's entry! Call me crazy, but I think she's happy!)

Shirley from Melting Wok is into the fray with a very unusual Coconut, Rose and Pandan Agar Agar Jell-O. Colorful, cool and sassy and, apparantly, very simple to make.

Johanna from Green Gourmet Giraffe offers a Wattleseed Mud Cake, gloriously sinful with its chocolate sludginess and infusion of whisky and Australian wattleseeds. I am not only craving this cake, I am craving a bath in it.

Dayna from Vegan Visitor made Creme Brulee. Actually, I'm not really sure if she made the brulee or made love to it. Near the end of her entry, I believe there is even some pillow talk en francais.

Haalo from Cook (Almost) Anything has made some fluffy Pikelets. Simple ingredients and easy to make, just ready for the topping of your choice.

Zulaiha from Oven Haven is another newcomer to SHF, and she invites us to a sweet surrender to her Chocolate Cake. By the way, my husband is looking over my shoulder right now and he looks about ready to cry at these mouth-watering pictures.

Jen from Milk and Cookies took a circuitous route to finding her eventual SHF entry, Chocolate Pistachio Surprise Cake. How great would this cake be warm, with the chocolate melting naughtily over the buttery dough?

Sheryl from Crispy Waffle is here with a refreshing Chocolate Malt.Mmmm, I want this! Now!

Tara from Should You Eat That? (my answer is always: yes, yes you should) has finally put her high school home economics textbook to good use by adapting this Self-Saucing Chocolate Pudding. I'm sure for a second there early in this run-down everyone was wondering where all the chocolate was among people's cravings. And now we've reeled off a chocolate streak!

Myriam from Once Upon a Tart appears to be thoroughly addicted to the great Arragoste, a dessert made from phyllo pastry and pate à choux and filled with vanilla cream. Myriam however did not make these herself, but got them from her local dealer...er, baker. However, she is actively looking for good recipes, so if you know of one, give her (and me!) a shout.

Melody from Fruit Tart, has a craving I can't blame her for, the always delicious Nanaimo Bars. Although I do like the alternate name she came up for them, "Earthquake Bars", due to the way their tops have a tendency to explode when they're out of the pan.

Abby from Eat the Right Stuff brings the delicate Rose-Scented Apricot Brulee. It's her first foray into the magical world of taking a blowtorch into the kitchen, and we all heartily welcome you, Abby!

Kristen from Dine and Dish arrives with the eye-catching Chocolate Wafer Icebox Cake. There is something about this cake that makes you just want to grab at it barehanded and shovel it into your mouth hungrily like Cookie Monster. I don't know, maybe that's just me.

Vic from Ooh! Cake presents us with a healthy and satisfying Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free Blueberry Muffins. Her own version of an American staple.

Janet from Janet is Hungry gives us her childhood favorite, Peach Squares. Graham crackers, peaches, whip cream... my goodness, talk about American staples! I'm sure there's a Norman Rockwell painting out there with this dessert front and center.

Tara from Seven Spoons managed to resist the giant temptation to go for chocolate and turned to this Strawberry Swirl Ice Cream. A perfect cold and fresh treat, and curshingly pretty.

Becke from Columbus Foodie, on the other hand, could not resist the siren song of chocolate. She gives us her Black Forest Chocolate Cake, a cake which has always seemed to me to deserve its own classification among desserts. It's royalty, as far as I'm concerned.

Arfi from Homemades returns to her childhood with a very interesting post about her grandmother, whose Indonesian Rice Pudding with Palm Sugar Syrup Arfi has gamely attempted to recreate for SHF.

Boo from Masak-Masak made it her mission to find the most chocolatey dessert she could find, finally coming upon these awesome Chocolate Cupcakes. Boo likes her chocolate quite bitter, because as she tells it, she finds it "more virtuous to consume loads of bittersweet chocolate versus the sweeter variety." Sounds like a pontiff in the First Church of the Cocoa Bean to me.

Cin from My Favorite Foods had trouble choosing just one craving, but eventually settled on Indonesian Layer Cake. It turned out to be a time and resource-consuming effort (there's quite the art to grilling layers and layers), but the result has such a fragile niceness to it. I would love to have a taste of this dessert.

Cenk from Cafe Fernando bursts on the party with a Chocolate Nutella Ganache Tart with White Chocolate Nuts. It looks amazing and just the word "Nutella" is a shorthand for sinful tastiness, at least in my household.

The blogger behind The Experimental Gourmand takes Nigella Lawson for an inspiration in creating something equally voluptuous, Chocolate Hot Pots. This is a crowd favorite, and just the ideal thing to end a dinner party with a bang.

Jerry from Food and Photo also took to Nigella, but she wasn't able to help this time. Instead, it was the dependable Original Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies. Chewy and nutty and just small enough that you can justify eating a lot of them!

Grace from Easy Bake Oven helps us end on yet another chocolate note... but this time it's white chocolate, with her exquisite White Chocolate Muffins. They look just spectacular.