Ideas needed please ???

[Chelsea (Thermie Groupie)]

For our Christmas dinner celebration I have been asked to bring a pasta salad and chocolate ripple cake.  Feeling slightly uninspired by my required dishes I have been checking out the forum to see if I could find something similar - but perhaps with a special tweak.  I have printed JulieO's pasta salad recipe which looks yummy and now need something for dessert.

Does anyone have any ideas for a chocolate dessert or cake that I could take??  Preferably not a cheesecake (or biscuit base) as that is the other dessert of the evening.  Has anyone tried the double chocolate cake from the UK cookbook??  Or perhaps the dirt pudding from the Budget Busters booklet?  I thought that may be nice in a big bowl served with berries (without the worms).  Any ideas appreciated.

[chocdoc]

How about the yule log made by gluing together chocolate biscuits with chocolate whipped cream.  I noticed that there is recipe on the UK TMX site for the biscuits.  Clicky here for recipe and guess what - it has the recipe for the cake made with them too.  I add some cocoa to the cream - or make a ganache with a bittersweet chocolate then whip it for the chocolate whipped cream. 

[Chelsea (Thermie Groupie)]

I just want to hug you Chocdoc! Off to look at them now. 

[Chelsea (Thermie Groupie)]

Now on to my next question.  Does anyone have any suggestions for what I could do with a double batch of very gritty shortbread.  I have 60 divine looking shortbread that I made using rice flour that I milled in the TMX (grrr). We can't eat them because of the rice grit.  I heard about a yummy cheesecake recipe today that uses shortbread as the base, but I think I would have to mill my shortbread too fine to get the grit out (if it's even possible).  Perhaps they are destined for the chooks??   

[cookie1]

Break them up and mix into some icecream with berries and nuts. Maybe even some liqueur.

[Thermomixer]

Sorry Chelsea - should have posted this ages ago !!!  Made it for the Thermomix Recipe comp but decided that it was a bit tooooo much for people to do.  Thought that I had posted a pic here, but I just sent it to Tenina 

Had to laugh when I saw the recipe from UK Thermomix that chocdoc linked - I spent ages composing the recipe and it already existed !!!!   



It is basically Paul's biscuits or similar (now you have the UK version) held together with cream with cocoa, sugar and marmalade and fairly sloppy mix so that the biscuits don't get too dry.  Then covered with more cream, sugar and cocoa.

The shortbread - I would also blitz them then add butter to make a crumb for that cheesecake.  Just think of recipe that use digestive biscuits for crumbs  - they are gritty.