Dessert Club - "Internationale"

Bon jour! This month Dessert Club's theme was "Internationale" and I added the -e just so you would understand we are serious. And that flag collage above was not just randomly snagged from Google; I made it moi-meme because those are really the countries represented at our meeting. You won't believe the spread - I think it was 15 in all - and you may also be surprised by the winner.It was the first time in DC's short history that we did not have a tie for first place. Not that everything wasn't good - at least 9 dishes got votes - but CC's Sans Rivale (Philippines) was truly "without equal." One woman exclaimed, "It tastes like peanut brittle and popcorn with a creamy center!" (The prize was a copy of Nick Malgieri's A Baker's Tour: Favorite Baking Recipes from Around the World.)

And we also had...

Salted Caramel-Pecan Ebelskivers (Denmark - guess who?)
Danish Kringle (Denmark), Coconut Babingka with Passion Fruit Curd (Asian Fusion), Chocolate-Hazelnut Gelato (Italy)
Rum Cake (Puerto Rico), Almond Cookies (China, my favorite), Layered Mud Cake with Chocolate Mousse Mascarpone and Bittersweet Ganache Frosting (Italy)

Rice Pudding (Finland)

Chocolate Truffles (France), Japanese Cheesecake, "Frushi" (Japan-ish)

Black Forest Cake (Switzerland), Pavlova (Australia), Creme Schnitte (Austria)

I'm pretty sure it was our best Dessert Club yet, and that is saying something. But internationale is such a fabulous theme, tough enough to get us out of our comfort zones, and broad enough to offer a vast selection, but safe enough to guarantee yumminess. Seriously, you should use it for your next DC meeting. And if you haven't started your own chapter, maybe it's time.