Passover Dessert

[archer]

Need to bring a cake to serve 8 to seder. Preferably from bakery in Beverly Hills/Beverlywood area, but Sherman Oaks to No. Hollywood would be fine as well (would rather not go east of La Cienega, West of Bev Hills or in Valley, west of Sherman Oaks, which unfortunately rules out Bea's) Also, nothing too expensive, no more than $25 at most. Used to get delicious apricot/marzipan dessert fr: European bakery that's now closed. Would love to find something similar, but open to all suggestions.

[wienermobile]

Clementine has their Passover Menu up with some nice treats on it like their Chocolate Truffle Torte.
http://clementineonline.com/docs/menu...

[ocshooter]

If they are not observant and more traditional, you could get a flour-less chocolate cake from the bakery of your choice. No, it will not be "Kosher for Passover" because the bakery will not be under the supervision of a rabbi, but none of the ingredients are forbidden for Passover. You can even make it yourself, though it still won't be Kosher because your kitchen isn't Kosher.

I love it as a Passover dessert. Because it is rich and very cake-like, a lot of people don't think about it as being permissible, but it is. You could call up your local Gelson's or Whole Foods and see how much they charge. I don't know if Trader Joe's has one, but it might be worth a check in the freezer section.

You could save enough to go out and buy a decent bottle of Passover wine and save yourself from the Concord Grape monstrosity that dominates this time of year.

[latindancer]

Oh, but what would a Passover Seder be without the presence of, what you call 'the Concord Grape monstrosity' ?
Sure, a lovely assortment of Passover wines are nice, but the traditions are also what are important here, right?

[ocshooter]

Lord no. I suffer enough with the Matzo. No where in the Haggada does it specify that wines have to be made of concord grapes. There are some decent passover wines out there (and some horrible ones), it is time to relegate the square bottle with the screw top to the kids table, it is one step above grape juice anyway.

[latindancer]

Oh please :).
You're obligated to eat Matzo ONE night....that's it and you 'suffer' with it?
We'll always have a bottle of it at our table....
Tradition!!

[archer]

For tradition's sake, we have a few sips of the old Concord Grape during the Seder service, but decided long ago to then defy tradition and have good, real wine (non-Kosher/passover) w/ the actual dinner.
Thanks to all for excellent suggestions, which I will definitely explore. I'm thinking that the Victor Benes' fruit tart sounds good (and very convenient to pick up); I also want to check out other possibilities. Delice Bakery in particular looks interesting.

[latindancer]

That's exactly what we do...
For those who like the Concord Grape (and there are a few) we have a couple of bottles for the Seder and then have many bottles of Kosher for Pesach wines for the long meal.

[ocshooter]

And what does Elijah get, the good stuff or the concord? I am betting the concord. Maybe THAT's why he has yet to show up.

And we may be obligated to eat matzo for one night, but it was pretty much the only starch available for the whole 8, so we used to make it through the whole 5 pound brick as a family, probably more. PB&J, matzo brie, plain with margarine, even lox and cream cheese...

[latindancer]

Well, I don't eat it because it's not healthy (we all know why) and I just choose not to eat it for the duration. Lots of people eat it because it's the one time of year we can make those dishes (ie: matzo brie) when, otherwise, we wouldn't. I'll eat my lox and cream cheese without it just fine.
To each their own :).

[ocshooter]

I am not observant, but I like the traditions around the holiday (concord grape wine excepted). It has been about 35 years at least since I knowingly ate bread over Passover. Without doing a roll-up, how else can you eat lox and cream cheese, or PB&J, or make a fake pizza, without matzo over these 8 days?

[latindancer]

I don't eat bread during Passover.
I just don't eat the matzo...it's not something I enjoy and I'll eat the lox and cream cheese, as you say, rolled up or whatever.
I make matzo rolls, 'just about everything' made with matzo but I can't bring myself to eat it.

[lad1818]

Heck, something at Porto's has got to fit the bill. And it would not be expensive. And it would be good. (Technically Burbank but on the cusp of North Hollywood.)

[coffeebrownies]

This kind of startled me since I have been avoiding taking my GF husband to Porto's--do you think there is anything flourless there?

[wienermobile]

Portos does make a chocolate flour-less cake but I think that's it.

[wienermobile]

Viktor Benes Bakery in most Gelson's Markets have a very nice and tasty selection of Passover deserts. They also take pre- orders .
http://www.viktorbenes.com/

[Jwsel]

I've found that Benes has two flourless chocolate cakes and sometimes one Gelsons bakery will have a different one that the other. The one I like has chocolate meringue and cream and is pretty light. The other is a very dense flourless chocolate cake and, imho, not very good. Last year, I placed a phone order and inadvertently got the second cake. So you might want to ask them to describe their Passover options to you.

[wienermobile]

Viktor Benes Passover fruit tarts at Gelsons are wonderful. Made with all fresh fruit and berries.

[Arthur]

Does the cake need to be kosher for Passover? You'd better check that out with your hosts. If they are religiously observant, they might not allow anything that is not kosher for Passover to even pass through their front door during this holiday.

Offhand, I can't think of anything that qualifies as a traditional Passover dessert. Certainly, there are no traditional Passover cakes. If you need a dessert that is certifiably kosher for Passover, I recommend checking out the kosher markets on Pico, e.g., Glatt Mart, and also posting this inquiry on the Kosher board. If it doesn't need to be kosher for Passover, I suppose anything with a Passover imprimatur from any good bakery ought to do. For example, here's what Clementine is offering (scroll down the linked page for desserts): http://clementineonline.com/docs/menu...

[archer]

Thanks for the tips. This is not at all an observant group so it just needs to be appropriate for Passover, not certifiably kosher (i.e. flourless is fine). However, I suspect that I will likely find the best selection in a kosher bakery.

[Bugg Superstar]

Delice Bakery is has very good passover desserts : http://www.delicebakery.com/special.html

The "Apricot Roulade" might be what you are looking for in terms of flavor and price. Eilat bakery also has this: http://www.eilatbakery.com/Bakerypage.... both are on pico west of la cienega. good luck!