Alle Jahre wieder...

This year, it was the 33. And as always, I celebrated the occasion with a little party at home. Alright, so we are in the UK: English people would expect to arrive to a party full of sausage rolls, crisps, beer. But then... hey, luckily I do not know many English people ;-)
So I can be a bit more adventurous when it comes to party food.
I decided to go for finger food only this year. Makes the tidying up after the party so much easier!
To find finger food that exceeds the usual canapes, puff pastry thingies, chicken skewers etc proved to be a rather difficult task! But after some online research I think I came up with a pretty good mix.
Drinks though always prove to be a challenge: exciting, yet simple. After all, I do not want to be the bartender for the rest of the night.
I do quite like G&T. In Cocoon in London they serve it in a tumbler with a slice of cucumber. Tried and tested at home: Looks good and tastes great. Still, I opted for a not quite so simple version of G&T for drinks: El Bulli inspired Jellied Gin & Tonic on lime crisps. Shame, somehow everyone forgot to take a picture of it :-( Plus, we had Dawa, an African Caipirinha... lime, brown sugar, vodka, crushed ice and a dowel stick dripping of honey.
The food: Cumin laced parmesan cones with horseradish ice cream, sweet and spicy broccoli cake, mini potatoes with wasabi sour cream and caviar, cream cheese filled wan tan cones, feta-mint parcels, buckwheat crackers with venison pate and rose wine jelly, almond gazpacho.

And of course, the cake: mini Sachertorte with peppery chocolate ganache. Yes, I do like my peppery chocolates ;-) Strictly speaking, it wasn't a Sachertorte: a real Viennese chocolate cake would be filled with apricot jam. However, apricots and peppery ganache on top? Nahh... raspberry jam works so much better. Step1: nick your daughter's Barbie cake tin or get yourself a mini sort-of-muffin tin.
Step2: "glue" 2mini cakes together with some raspberry jam (smoothen the jam by adding some raspberry schnaps or vodka while warming it slightly up - on a very low flame).
Step3: make a quick ganache with double cream, min 70% chocolate, butter and egg yolks.
Step4: cover the top of the cakes with ganache and sprinkle over some crushed pink peppercorns.
Step5: eat!