dame blanche

Vanilla ice cream topped with melted dark chocolate and whipped cream. If it’s not on a dessert menu, a dame blanche (woman in white) is nearly always a ghost.

Some say the great Auguste Escoffier invented this much loved dessert and named it after a popular opera, La Dame Blanche, of 1825. His version was apparently all white, made with almond ice cream, white peaches and white currants and a pale lemon sorbet.

The Belgians claim it too, although in Germany and Switzerland, they call a dame blanche a coupe Dänemark because another story claims it was invented by a harried chef in Copenhagen’s Tivoli Gardens, who had run out of desserts and threw together the ingredients he had left in the kitchen and made history.

Some places serve a deluxe version with crème de marrons, pieces of chocolate and little meringues.