10 double batches of cheesecake to make 200 small round cheesecakes (Using 20 moulds).
200 chocolate trees.
600 decorated chocolates (holly sugar sequins attached to chocolate mints with royal icing).
200 chocolate-covered marshmallows.
6 large piping bags of whipped cream.
3 batches of strawberry coulis {Click here to find the recipe}.
200 white chocolate discs.
200 frosting edible image school logos adhered to chocolate discs.
2 kgs royal icing, 8 batches of gingerbread and 8 ounces of sanding sugar to make 200 gingerbread snowflake cookies.
And lots of hours put in by my enthusiastic students!
All for our annual Christmas Cabaret evening.
Every year our secondary school hosts an evening event called the Christmas Cabaret, where dance, drama and music classes, as well as auditioned acts, perform in front of an audience of parents, teachers, students etc.
My classes prepare food for the event.
This year we hosted a Christmas dessert-themed Cabaret. Gingerbread snowflake cookie favours were placed at each table setting, and the main dessert was New York style cheesecake topped with strawberry coulis, whipped cream and a chocolate edible ink image disc. On the plate; green chocolate swirled trees, mint chocolate presents, strawberry coulis sauce and edible gold flakes.
If you’d like to see more of what went on that night, here’s a little video. Thanks to Kim for taking the photos and to our student videographer for the video footage!
{Video} Christmas Cabaret 2011
Click here if you can’t see the video.
The dessert was plated as follows:
1. Chocolate-coated marshmallows adhered to plate with melted chocolate.
2. Trees adhered to plate and with chocolate and marshmallow support.
3. Chocolate presents added with royal icing
4. Dollop of whipped cream to keep cheesecake in place.
5. Cheesecakes added to plate.
6. Strawberry coulis on cheesecake and dots on plate.
7. Whipped cream added to to cheesecake.
8. Chocolate logo disc placed on whipped cream.
9. Edible gold flakes sprinkled on dessert and plate.
10. Icing sugar dusted over tree and dessert.
Time to serve!
If you’d like to try this rich and delicious cheesecake, here is the recipe, slightly adapted from one of my cookbook heroes, Ina Garten, a.k.a. The Barefoot Contessa:
*
New York Style Cheesecake Recipe
{Click here for the printable recipe}.
An event like this is takes a village of people to put together and there are so many people in my community that I’d like to thank.
Thank you to Ms. Blondin for doing a fantastic job of working with the servers to train and lead them night-of, Ms. Schuh for her unwavering support and photography talent, Ms. Smith and her team for setting up the tables and decorating, Ms. Flynn and Ms. Correa for assisting and supervising the coffee area, Ms. Rogers for picking up and dropping off the rental dishes, to the Cafeteria staff; Ms. Beamish, Ms. Cruz, Ms. Kirbyson and Ms. Hunte for their support during Cabaret preparation time and to all other staff who helped out in any way, shape or form leading up to and after the event. Thank you to everyone! It couldn’t be done without your support and patience!
In the on-line world, I also had a team of people helping when timing got tight and we needed an extra helping hand. Huge thanks to Niner of We Choose Organic for editing our school logo to suit the Christmas theme, Mia at Ticings for the edible ink image logos for our dessert when our edible ink printer clogged up and we didn’t have time to order cleaning cartridges and fix, and to Katreece of The Chocolate Addict for answering all my chocolate questions in record speed!
Last, but certainly not least, thank you to not only the students who volunteered that night, but to all the students who helped prepare during the time leading up to Cabaret! You made this event happen and you did an amazing job!
xo,
Mrs. P
p.s. If your’e reading this post and have any comments or questions for myself or the students, please feel free to leave a comment here, on Facebook, twitter or instagram. We’d love to hear from you!
sue @ Cakeballs, cookies and more says
Oh my goodness!!! What a great set up, wish I went to your school, if you ever need printed items I also have a printer and am in Toronto if you are ever stuck. Tell your students that what they learned is going to serve them well in their futures all the hard work and pride they must feel about it. You did a great job.
Theresa Toms says
I saw your wonderful creations and thought that is a really neat idea. I will have to share this idea as a fundraiser for my girls’ elementary school. Keep up the wonderful work!
marian says
@ sue @ Cakeballs, cookies and more: Thank you SO much Sue! I’ll make sure the students get the message too. xo
@ Theresa Toms: Thanks for dropping by. =)
kang li says
The way the desserts are placed looked so professional!
Trisha says
OUTSTANDING …….what a delight to the eyes and taste buds I am sure. Wow!
marian says
@ kang li, @ Trisha: Thank you! We had lots of comments on the delicious taste of the cheesecake, if I may be so bold to share 😉 I hope you try the recipe too!
Melissa says
Wow! It looks like your students did an amazing job! All of the time and effort that was put into this event was I’m sure appreciated by everyone invovled. Great job!
Anne says
Wow – that’s a lot of work! But the end result was beautiful and I’m sure was very appreciated!
marian says
@ Melissa, @ Anne: Thanks for your comments!
katreece @ The Chocolate Addict says
Awesome job Marian ( and crew ), wow ! so festive and elegant. Thanks for the mention, how sweet of you, glad I could help 🙂
Happy New Year! xoxo
Laurel says
Marian, the cheesecakes look DELISH! Now I’m hungry for something smooth and sweet!
I have been perfecting my cheesecake recipe for years. I’m trying to get just the right texture. I’ve also been working on the crust. Most recently, I started using cinnamon graham crackers and adding in ground pecans. Goes GREAT with regular NY cheesecake, pumpkin, and praline cheesecake (NY with praline sauce).
I will DEFINITELY be trying the strawberry coulis. How do you get all the seeds out????
Laurel says
@ Laurel:
BTW, the students did a BEAUTIFUL job! Give them my regards.
mercedes says
Delicious, wonderful, my English is so poor That I’m not able to say everything I think. How nice this party. Thank you so much for share all this
Chari says
Great your work! Congratulations to all!
Greetings from Spain!
Happy New Year!
linda says
an incredible & most professional undertaking…truly an amazing accomplishment! kudos to you & your students (future chefs!)…they truly did an awesome job & the presentation was magnificent!
thank you for sharing with us & best wishes for the sweetest new year to all!
Holly says
Wow, they did SUCH a beautiful job! Kudos to them for all their hard work in turning out 200 professional dessert plates. And to you, too, for providing the guidance and opportunity for them to practice their new-found skills. I’m just gob-smacked.
carmeta says
wow¡¡ really really impresed¡ your students have a good teacher¡¡ happy new year from Barcelona, Spain
marian says
@ katreece @ The Chocolate Addict: Thanks! It was *so* helpful to have you to lean on for chocolate questions when I had them. Thanks to you the trees were easy to make!
@ Laurel: Most interesting! It sounds like your cheesecake is on a whole new level entirely! I would love to taste it!
For straining the strawberry seeds, we used a china cap. You probably already know what it is, but here’s an image for you:
http://www.amazon.com/8-Inch-Depth-Chinoise-Strainer-Stainless/dp/B000J3ZYCC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325077972&sr=8-1
@ mercedes, @ Chari, @ linda, @ Holly, @ carmeta: Thank you so much, and happy new year to you!
Paige says
I am lost for words. What can I say, GREAT job as per usual
Isabel says
MADRE DE AMOR HERMOSO! (like we say in Spain…)
Marian… It’s fantastic! I would like to be capable of doing something like that some time in my life!
You always amaze me.
Congratulations for you and all your crew! Very very good job!
Mia says
Congratulations, Marian, on another incredible project done so beautifully!
Ticings.com was delighted to help print the 200+ edible frosting rounds for the project, and welcome custom printing at any time. Thank you for the kind mention!
Angie says
Beautiful-love the trees.
Maria says
What a wonderful job you all did, thanks to your talents and patince it turned out to be a great success.
You are amazing and special. “FANTASTIC PRESENTATION”
ML
marian says
@ Paige, @ Isabel: Thank you for visiting!
@ Mia: You were a lifesaver for doing those edible images so fast. xo
@ Angie, @ Maria: So lovely, thank you!
Casey says
just wanted to say what an amazing job you guys have done! this is an incredible feat, great to see so many people working in harmony. i know first hand organizing something like this can be so stressful. was a great pleasure to read!
Martha Walters says
Hi there, we’re professional bakers, and love and follow your website. Especially curious about your chocolate trees. If we use white chocolate and add enough color to make bright cutouts for decoration, the chocolate gets very grainy. Are you using white chocolate and coloring it? or do you use something already green and then swirl in the white? Loved this post! I especially love the looks of pride on the students. What a great event for them. Congrats for pulling it all together!
marian says
Thanks so much @ Casey!
@ Martha Walters: I should be more specific, we used Merckens ‘chocolate’ candy coating wafers. We used green first, put the white on top in ‘stripes’ and them marbled it, much like this process here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_WEGyQoe4M&feature=plcp&context=C318d512UDOEgsToPDskLI4wCzgqWz7sgxYNSfuRfk
Thank you so much for your lovely comment – it is truly appreciated.
Julie says
Marian, congratulations on making a wonderful event even more special with the work you and your entire “cast” supplied. I am amazed at your energy, enthusiasm and creativity for your students as well as Sweetopia. Thank you for all you do. Peace and joy in this new year!
Sarah says
To get that many desserts, that intricate and all to the same high standard is really impressive. You must have a really good lot of students 🙂
I hope you had a really great Christmas and New Year!
Jency AnnaMaria Sanchez says
That seems like a great idea! I will try to do the same:)@ Theresa Toms:
Lexy says
Marian,
I just found this and hope you still answer questions. I don’t understand how you marbled those trees…I hope it’s not a secret because I’d love to try doing this for next Christmas for my family. How did you marble so that there are big white circles and small circles. I’m trying to picture if you melted the green Merkens and then layed white discs…please please share a bit more info…This whole party looks to be tons of work but you and your students rocked it for sure. Great job.
If it’s too late to answer here, please email me. Big Thanks.
marian says
HI @ Lexy: I was going to do a video tutorial but ran out of time; still might for next Christmas, but in the meantime…
Melt the green merckens wafers and spread on a baking sheet. Immediately put the melted white merkens on top, using a spoon dipped in the chocolate, just drizzle it haphazardly in lines.
Put it in the fridge for 10 minutes.
Score lines for the trees using a pizza wheel.
Put it back in the fridge for 10 minutes.
Take out and break pieces apart (gently). Voila, that’s it!
Lexy says
Thank you so much Marian. I never thought about melting the discs. I was picturing you laid them in a pan, melted it in the oven and somehow got that cool design. I guess when you said (above) something about putting the whites in stripes ….. oh well, this makes much better sense. I think a video would be a great idea. It’s such a creative idea.
I think you are in Canada right? What a bunch of good looking kids, so clean and neat. Is that high school? Wish I had a teach like you…..what a gift to take into their adult life.
marian says
HI @ Lexy: Hope you have fun making them. They’re really easy, actually.
Yes, we’re in Canada, near Toronto, Ontario. Thanks for the sweet compliments! xo
Jesika says
Wow, Christmas Cabaret looked to be amazing this year!! How I miss your class, and by the way, I noticed your new storage unit by, what was the front of class when I was in it. Looks great, you must love having some organizing space now 😀
marian says
Hi @ Jesika: I love that you come visit me here and Facebook! It’s nice to ‘see you around’. And you know me so well… you noticed the storage units and knew how happy I’d be about them! 😉 Hope you’re doing good and Happy New Year to you btw. xo