DIY Dessert Table Trays

As a dessert table designer, I'm always looking for creative ways to display goodies. I've seen these framed dessert trays a few times, and found this tutorial on Ruffled that I thought you guys might enjoy.

Simply remove the backing and glass from your frames, spray paint them, and then add decorative paper to "line" the tray underneath the glass when you reassemble the frame.

Of course, you don't have to use red for your design. The Party Dress featured this white frame display for escort cards, but you could use them to showcase your sweets. This would be wonderful to highlight an all-white dessert table.

The more detailed and ornate your frame is, the better it will look once painted. The beauty of this project, is its affordability. You can paint wooden, plastic, or metal frames of all sizes and various shapes, which you can find at The Dollar Store. Keep them all the same color, and the shapes can vary a lot without looking chaotic.

What do you think of the framed dessert idea?

Royal Desserts

Ok, I've been pretty oblivious to the details of Will and Kate's upcoming royal wedding, but when info about the couple's cake and desserts was released, I finally paid attention. According to People, famed British baker Fiona Cairns has been tapped to make a traditional, multi-tiered fruitcake, and I decided to check out some of her previous work.

More from People: "Cairns explained that each of the tiers of icing-covered, brandy-flavored fruitcake will have a different theme. Detailed piping is being used to make 3-D scrollwork, flowers, leaves and other decorative touches, while the flowers of the four corners of the U.K. will be represented by the English rose, Scottish thistle, Welsh daffodil and Irish shamrock."

Since we have Sweet Tooth readers from around the world, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the prince's upcoming nuptials. 

Have you caught royal wedding fever, or do you think it's much ado about nothing?

Pretty as a Peacock Cakes

I've noticed a lot of different peacock-inspired cakes lately. Of course, peacock blue is a favorite color for the treats, but the cakes can come in a variety of shapes and colors while still representing the lovely birds. The styles can ranges from intricately decorated small cakes to hand-painted, shimmery tiered cakes.

There are so many ways to mimic the beauty of a peacock's plumage on a cake.

Do you like the traditional blue colored cakes, the cakes with birds on them, or the unconventional henna-like cakes best?


images via Pinerest

Week In Review & Designer Cupcakes

Food and fashion, who could ask for anything more? I found these designer cupcakes by Made Fresh Daily on The Demoiselle, and I just love the tiny details captured on each miniature luxury bag. Just look at the "stitching" on that little Gucci bag (pic #4).

Along with these designer delights, we had several other delectable posts this week.

On Sweet Tooth:

We chatted on Facebook about which of these designer cupcake boxes we liked best.

An asparagus cake and these sweet veggie gardens made greenery a little easier to swallow.

I saw a crown jewel cake for the first time, and immediately found a great cookie to pair with it.

We all practiced pronouncing "croquembouche" and learned a little about the towering French dessert.

On The Sweet Life I reviewed Thomasina's Cashew Brittle.

If you find pictures of delicious desserts that you want to share, upload them to the Shauna Younge Dessert Tables Facebook fan page. Or, swing by to leave comments on the pics that other readers are sharing.

Have a great weekend!

Croquembouches

I'm designing a dessert table that features a croquembouche, so I thought I'd share a few inspirational images with you. If you've never seen a croquembouche (pronounced "crow come boosh"), then you're in for a treat. These towers usually feature profiteroles, which are cream-filled puff pastries. They're piled high in a pyramid shape and surrounded by spun sugar or caramel. Each little puff can be removed from the cone and eaten. This dessert is a traditional French wedding cake, but it's also common at baptisms and first communions.

Do you like the idea of a croquembouche for special occasions, or do you prefer traditional cakes and cupcakes?

image 1 & 2: Style Me Pretty, image 3 & 4: Martha Stewart

Rainbow Brite Sweets

Last week, we revisited this classic Sweet Tooth post that was full of a spectrum of desserts. After the cold, rainy day that plagued Minneapolis yesterday, I was in the mood for a little more rainbow-y goodness. My search resulted in a crown jewel cake and spiral cookies by Sprinkle Bakes. I've never seen a cake quite like this before.

Crown jewel cake can feature as many colors as you choose. Simply color unflavored gelatin to match your party's theme. I like how the sprinkles are dusted on the tabletop like edible confetti. It's so festive (and inexpensive).

A cake as colorful as the crown jewel needs an equally vibrant counterpart. These colorful spiral cookies are perfect.

Both of these colorful desserts helped brighten what was a dreary, grey day. They both just seem so, well, fun. There's nothing stodgy or serious about them. 

Have you seen a jewel cake like this before? 

Dessert Trend: Veggie Cakes

Remember this incredibly life-like asparagus cake? Yesterday, I came across these cakes that are made to look like vegetable gardens. I don't remember seeing a lot of veggie sweets as a kid, so I wonder if this is a newer trend as people strive to get more and more creative with their confections.

No garden is complete with a gnome or two.

I love that the first cake even has the picket fence around the garden. That's a great touch that really completes the theme. I think the gnomes would be great party favors for the green thumbs in your life. I'm going to attempt my own veggie garden this year, and I'd love to have a veggie cake awaiting me when I finally get the garden up and running. Perhaps I'll whip one up.

Clever Cupcake Boxes

We've all seen those plain, white boxes that bakeries use to package cupcakes. Even when the shop slaps a customized label on the package, it's still just a white bakery box. I found these cupcake boxes at Meri Meri, which would make homemade cupcakes just a little bit more special.

I think the patisserie box (image #2) is my favorite. Did you notice those potted plants flanking the side window? The bottom two boxes would be great for baby showers or kids parties. Since you might not want to give each guest four cupcakes, the site also offers smaller one-cupcake versions of each style. 

Which box is your favorite?

Luck O' the Irish

Last week, I shared this DIY gold bars treat with you. Today, I'm back with even more St. Patrick's Day goodies. If this is just a little too much green for you, perhaps your pot of gold is at the end of this post full of rainbow desserts.

Those leprechaun cookies are too cute, aren't they? Hopefully you all remembered to wear a little green today. Happy St. Patrick's!

layered cake, green velvet cupcakes, cookies, favor boxes

Dessert Trend: Pinwheel Cake Toppers

Over the last couple of weeks, we've discussed some different DIY cake topper ideas like this bunting and this flag trend. When I saw this pinwheel topper, I knew it should be added to the debate. There are tons of pinwheel tutorials online, so this is another truly doable topper concept.

So, now that we've got a third DIY topper in the running, which one is your favorite?

image: Ruffled Blog

A Succulent Cake

You probably remember this succulent filled dessert table and this succulent accented dessert design that I shared with you. Ever since I saw them, I've been on the lookout for succulents combined with desserts. This Erica O'Brien cake is so beautifully detailed and wonderfully shot by Charla Blue that it immediately caught my attention. Handcrafted fondant succulents sit atop three white tiers of cake, striking the perfect balance between simple and sensational.

This cake manages to be so lifelike, that it's hard to differentiate the real blooms from the fondant ones.

Ice Cream Cake 2.0

Seems like every time I turn around, every gadget is getting an upgrade. But, I came across a few delicious pics of some edible upgrades. These ice cream cakes put the tradtional Dairy Queen variety to shame. Cake pops, cakes, and milkshake cupcakes all celebrate ice cream in cake form.

While this trend is popping up in a lot of different ways, it seems that pink is the go-to color for ice cream inspired treats.

ice cream cone cake pops, ice cream cake, and milkshake cupcakes

Week In Review & The Anatomy of a Cupcake

This week on Sweet Tooth:

One lucky little girl was gifted with this all-pink dessert table for her birthday.
These Chanel ice cream cones make me wish Summer was here already.
A reader submitted her Parisian Chic dessert table for a Guest Desserts feature.
The cookies on this teal and turquoise dessert table were my favorite.
Tissue paper garlands make these homemade cakes worthy of a second look.
I fell in love with the simplicity of these DIY edible gold bars via Twig & Thistle.

This week on The Sweet Life, I highlighted St. Paul's BARS Bakery. The turtle bar is amazing.

image via Pinterest

DIY St. Patrick's Day Gold Bars

St. Patrick's Day is a week away, and Kathleen of Twig & Thistle created this super simple rice crispy treat idea. It's the perfect thing to pack in a kid's lunch as you send them off to school. Simply cut each treat to resemble rectangular gold bars, wrap them in parchment, and wrap them again in this lovely gold foil.

Since these treats are so easy to make, you can get the kids involved and make a few for their teacher or classmates.

Homemade Cakes Get Festive

These homemade cakes featured on Once Wed are perfect for a simple party or DIY wedding. Add in some colorful garland and coordinated risers to elevate each chocolate-y cake. Here, it's all about the presentation, not about creating perfect desserts.

Three small cakes means there's something for everyone to enjoy. Here, guests are treated to chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry cake. Ashley Meaders of The Flashdance styled this shoot, while Meagan Gibson photographed each beautiful image.

Dessert Table: Turquoise & Teal Treats

The team at Dooby Design created this turquoise and teal dessert table for a inspirational photo shoot that incorporated the talents of cake maker Sweet Heather Anne and the photographer Jessica Johnston. The cake and paper elements all mimicked the damask pattern on the bride's gown. Royal iced cookies, candies, and a towering cake along with custom chocolate bars all contribute to the table's design while keeping with the color palette.

The cookies are probably my favorite dessert from this design, but I love the color palette and lighting too. What's your favorite part?

Guest Desserts: Parisian Chic

Hopefully, you liked today's first Chanel ice cream post. I'm back with a Guest Desserts feature from Shandra Ward of Signature Design Studio. She created this red, black, and white dessert table for a bridal showcase and submitted the design along with some insight into her creation.

From Shandra: When you think of Paris, you may think of intrigue, romance, and styl[e]. Our latest sweet buffet creation is inspired by Paris. We love Paris, it’s one of our favorite places in the world – the city, the food, the fashion, their language, everything! So it felt very fitting to create a stylish buffet that screams intrigue, romance and style.

More from Shandra: We chose a dramatic color scheme of black and white accented with red. This unsung color scheme is modern and sophisticated and anything but boring. With classic sweet treats and modern style, our Parisian Chic sweet buffet is truly an affair to remember.

Thank you for sharing your design, Shandra! I love seeing the displays you all come up with for your events.

Do you have a recipe, dessert table, or DIY project to share? Visit the Submissions page for all the details you need to see your works here.

Dessert Meets Design: Chanel Ice Cream

You know that I love when desserts have an element of style or design incorporated into them, and several of Sweet Tooth's posts have been about how the fashion industry and sweet industry combine. Remember this edible wedding dress and this set of couture-inspired cakes? Well, last weekend while cruising the net I came across these Chanel ice cream images.

As far as I know, there isn't an actual Chanel ice cream cone on the market, but these ads are nice to look at anyway.

images via Pinterest

Dessert Table: Pink Profiles

I've featured pink dessert tables of every kind here on Sweet Tooth, but I think this one just might be the most adorable one yet. Photog Melanie Mauer shot this buffet for a little girl's birthday party. Elizabeth of Lovely Little Parties planned this silhouette-centric party using a profile of her daughter's face as a unifying accent throughout the event. Martines baked this pretty cake and macarons for the display. Cupcakes, marshmallows, and strawberry milk continue the pink palette.

Those custom silhouette cookies are just the prettiest little things. The delicate shade of pink is perfect. It's not too bright or too electric. A little pink ribbon adds the finishing touch and an unexpected detail.