New York dessert costs a record £12,500
By Tom Leonard in New York
Last Updated: 3:19am GMT 09/11/2007
A chocolate sundae served by a New York restaurant was declared the world's most expensive dessert after it appeared on the menu priced at £12,500.
The dish, "Frrrozen Haute Chocolate", is infused with edible 23-carat gold and is served in a gold-lined goblet, complemented by a small box of Knipschildt chocolate truffles which sell for £1,300 per lb.
Encircling the goblet's base is an 18-carat gold and diamond bracelet, and the sundae is served with a gold spoon decorated with diamonds which can be taken home.
The Serendipity 3 restaurant took two weeks to create the dessert, ordering in the ingredients from around the world.
What would you do with $25,000? Buy a new Toyota Camry? Pay for six months at Harvard?
Instead, how about some really fancy chocolate?
The people at the Serendipity 3 restaurant on East 60th Street announced today that they would offer a $25,000 dessert called the Frrrozen Haute Chocolate. The item, a high-end version of the venerable restaurant’s Frrrozen Hot Chocolate, was declared the world’s most expensive dessert today by Guinness World Records, joining the august ranks of publicity-stunt items like the Most Expensive Pie ($14,260), Most Expensive Cocktail ($1,431) and the Most Expensive Frittata ($1,000).
Joe Calderone, a spokesman for the Midtown restaurant, said the dessert is a mix of cocoas and milk frozen to a slushylike consistency. But it does not stop there. Five grams of 24-carat gold are mixed in; then, the chocolate is topped with whipped cream and — what else? — more gold. No ordinary cherry tops this sundae; instead, it is garnished with La Madeline au Truffe.
The whole mass is served in a goblet surrounded with a crown made, of course, of gold. And diamonds. If that is not enough, the spoon is gold, too.
The restaurant, which started to offer the item today, has not yet sold one, Mr. Calderone said. He said the lead time for an order is two weeks.
“Everything is created for the order,” he explained. “The truffle has to be flown in from France; we order the cocoas from around the world; we have the gold flown in from Switzerland, so it takes time to put it together.”
It might leave your stomach bulging, but the world's most expensive dessert will leave your wallet $25,000 thinner.
The Frrrozen Haute Chocolate mixes top-grade cocoa from 14 countries, spiced with 5 grams of edible gold and shavings of a multithousand-dollar truffle.
For the price, you can afford to forget to count the calories.
"Nobody's ever tried to figure out how fattening it is," said Joe Calderone, spokesman for upper East Side eatery Serendipity 3, exclusive home to the swanky sweet.
"Let's face it: It's not for everybody," said restaurant owner Stephen Bruce.
"I expect people buying this would be marking a very special occasion. They'd also be extremely wealthy."
The dessert was officially recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records yesterday - although the restaurant has yet to sell the first superpricey chocolaty treat.
"To qualify, it doesn't matter if it has been bought," said Guinness researcher Stuart Claxton. "It's enough that it's available for somebody to buy."
The choice chocolate is the latest pricey food served up in New York restaurants, which already have $1,000 pizzas and $55 macaroni and cheese on their menus.
It is served in a goblet dressed with a golden band dripping with 1 carat of white diamonds. It is eaten with a specially made spoon, encrusted with 3 carats of diamonds.
Chefs need two weeks' notice to prepare it.
"The ingredients have to be flown in specially from around the world," Bruce said.
"That's why it's such a special dessert."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main...dessert109.xml
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/20...hot-chocolate/
http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle..._a_bit_of.html
