Dessert Table: A Candy-Coated Shower

The newest issue of MSW features candy store owner (and daughter of fashion designer Ralph Lauren) Dylan Lauren's pink and yellow bridal shower. Of course, the event is filled with tons of candy of every kind. Since MSW editor Darcy Miller hosted the party, there are also a lot of great details throughout.

Be sure to notice the gumball backdrop, sugar flower bouquet, and candy rings. Also check out the gumball garland on the stairs. You can make your own using the same concept I used in February to create these gumball bracelets. Check out the tutorial here.

I love the idea of a candy-centric shower, and those custom candy rings are awesome. What's your favorite element of the party?

images via MSW

Week In Review & Chocolate Salted Caramel Cupcakes

My friend, Maddy, made these addictive chocolate-covered, salted caramel cupcakes and shared the recipe on her blog, Somewhere Splendid. Be sure to check it out!

This week on Sweet Tooth:

We talked about these non-ice cream versions of Neapolitan sweets.
I shared the tutorial for my chalkboard cookies.
This week's Sweet Brands post featured this Jekyll & Hyde inspired popcorn design.
Mariel submitted this dessert table for a Guest Desserts feature.

This week on The Sweet Life, I wrote about Kemps Next New Flavor contest. Enter and you could win $2500 and get your ice cream carried in stores.

I'll be taking off Monday for Memorial Day, but I'll see you all back here on Tuesday. Have a great weekend!

Guest Desserts: Dramatic Quinceañera

Today's Guest Desserts feature is a dessert table created by recent culinary school grad, Mariel. She designed this table for a girl's quinceañera in Guadalajara. This is Mariel's very first dessert table, and she made almost every dessert on the table rather than using store-bought goods.

Mariel in her own words: The birthday girl chose a purple and black vintage theme. I baked mini cinamon roll pops, mini pop tarts, oreo pops and blondies. I also added some rice krispie treats, caramel popcorn bags, PB & jelly squares, and oreo and toffe chocolate squares.

I haven't ever worked with a purple and black palette, so I like seeing what you guys come up with when you create dessert tables. Thank you for sharing your work with us, Mariel.

Sweet Brands: Joe & Seph's Popcorn

This week's Sweet Brands feature was designed by UK-based Designers Anonymous. They created the branding for Joe & Seph's gourmet popcorn. When owner Joseph Sopher approached the designers, he didn't have a name for the popcorn line so they were tasked with not only designing the brand, but also coming up with a name that fit the company's image.

In the designer's own words: Our solution was inspired by a Jekyll & Hyde like personality, where the chef role is represented by a chefs hat, and with a clever twist, becomes the top hat for role of connoisseur. Both roles were represented in their own typeface.

I love how much thought went into developing this packaging and the logo. The Jekyll/Hyde symbolism is cleverly executed without looking cheesy or gimmicky. What do you think of the packaging for Joe & Seph's?

images via Lovely Package

Chalkboard Cookie Tutorial

I didn't realize how much you all would love the chalkboard cookies I designed for the Graphic + Glitz dessert table. Many of you have asked for a tutorial, and I found some time to do a little demo yesterday. You'll notice that the original cookies were squares, but the ones I used yesterday were some rounds that I already had on-hand. You'll be pleasantly surprised at how easy these designs are to create. We talked about dessert stencils last week, and this tutorial relies on custom stencils. Enjoy!

You'll only need a few simple tools for this DIY. It's so simple!

Supplies:

printer & paper
X-acto knife
parchment paper
condiment bottle
royal icing for cookies
baking supplies from Bake It Pretty
- square cookie
- black coloring
- white lustre dust
extract of your choice

Directions:

Bake your cookies and allow them to cool. Prep your royal icing and tint with black coloring. Flood your cooled cookies with the royal icing and allow to set.

Choose a font and print a 1" letter of your choice on regular printer paper. Using a fine-tipped marker, trace your letter onto parchment paper.

Use your X-acto knife to cut out your stencil. Remember to cut out the part of the letter you want to fill in with "chalk". For the O, I left a small strip of paper attached at the top and bottom of the center of the O to keep it in place while I filled in the stencil (see image #4).

Dip a toothpick into your extract, then sprinkle the open areas of the stencil with lustre dust. Using the toothpick as a pencil, gently fill in the stencil. Typically, you would use a brush to apply the lustre dust, but in our case, we want the definitive chalk-like strokes that the toothpick gives rather than a smooth finish of a brush.

Set aside an allow to dry.

image 1 & 5: paper antler

Neapolitan Notions

Warm weather always stirs up a longing for ice cream and other cool treats. These Neapolitan goodies turn the classic ice cream flavor into unexpected desserts. I've also been a big fan of a pink and chocolate brown color palette. It's feminine, but not too girly.

I really like the popsicles. I remember making my own popsicles as a kid and mixing and matching flavors and colors. What an easy lazy-day project to do with the kids. Plus, if you use natural fruit juices, you won't feel nearly so guilty about eating two (or five) every day. 

On an unrelated note, I'll be making the Graphic + Glitz chalkboard cookies today. Depending on exactly when I finish them up, I'll either post them later today or first thing tomorrow. 

cake via Pinterest, cheesecakes via Bakers Royale, popsicles via Pinterest, cookies and milk via Sweetapolita, chocolate bar via Chocolate Editions

Week In Review & Banana Split Bombe

This Banana Split Bombe looks amazing, and perfectly cool for a hot summer day. If you have a glass bowl, a few pints of ice cream, and a cake recipe (or boxed cake), then you can make this and really wow guests at the next get-together.

This week on Sweet Tooth:

I really liked the creativity of the garland for this storybook dessert table.
I learned that cake stencils can be simple for birthday cakes, or really elaborate for weddings.
We chatted on Facebook about the simple beauty of this dessert table.
I liked how well white, milk, and dark chocolate were worked into this chocolate-y design.

This week on The Sweet Life, I wrote this post about Chocolat Celeste's new venture and free truffles.

I'll be back next week with the chalkboard cookie tutorial from the Graphic & Glitz shoot that many of you have been asking for, so be sure to check back on Monday. If you missed the cookies from the original post, you can see them here and here.

Have a great weekend!

image Martha Stewart via Pinterest

Dessert Table: Chocolate Overload

If you love chocolate in all its forms, then this dessert table is for you. Milk, dark, and white chocolate treats are everywhere including cupcakes, macarons, dessert shooters, and a great leaf motif on the cake. Simple white plates sit atop various glasses and vases. Remember when we talked about framed dessert displays here? Well, Green Wedding Shoes featured this design, which uses  golden frames to make the display visually interesting.

This design

Dessert Table: Simple Sweets

Earlier this week, I shared this book-themed pink baby shower with you. Today, I've got a bookish, pink tea party for you. Photog Jen Huang and Nine Cakes baker Betsey teamed up to create this design. Books covered in patterned white paper act as a riser for the cake and for a few mini cupcakes. Simple white cake stands and glass domed pedestals elevate macarons and cupcakes.

This shoot is a great example that you don't have to have perfectly matching dishes or even a lot of variety to create a lovely little display for a small group of friends. Something like this is totally do-able, even if you don't have time to bake. Just swing by a bakery, pick up some cupcakes and macarons, and voila!

images via Style Me Pretty

Cake Designs Made Easy

Lately, I've come across a lot of fabulous cake stencils. Some are simple, which are great for birthday cakes or holiday treats. Others are more elaborate and perfect for towering wedding cakes. Here are some of the stencils that have caught my eye.

You can find these birthday stencils on Amazon!

You can even create your own stencils using simple patterns and lines. These cupcake from Baking Bites are a good example. You could cut out a letter to make a monogram.

These Culinary Stencils are intricate enough to be wedding appropriate.

Aren't those amazing? A great stencil can make easy work of cake decorating. Have you ever used or made your own stencils? 

Dessert Table: Storybook Baby Shower

It's looking very Spring-y around here, and that means lots of baby showers. This storybook baby shower theme from Martha Stewart is a really cute idea, and the book garland would be great over a dessert table.

If you've been reading the blog for a while then you'll immediately notice the flag cake toppers like these and these. I also like the unfrosted cupcakes with the star toppers. They'd go really with these custom star lollipops I made for the Graphic and Glitz dessert table.

Aren't those lamb cookies just the sweetest thing? Since there isn't a lot of detail to them, they'd be really simple to make at home.

Decor Ideas: Confetti System

We've talked a lot about garlands, mini pinatas, and fringe but Confetti System has elevated show-stopping decor to an art form. Can't you just imagine some of these displays hovering about a variety of simple desserts?

And, if you go through all this trouble to create fabulous pinatas, you better have some equally amazing blindfolds right?

These glitzy pinatas and garlands turn kids classics into grown-up decor, don't you think?

Dessert Table: Cookie Tree

There are several great desserts on this dessert table that I found on Ruffled, but this woodland-inspired cookie tree is the standout feature. It's such a cute idea, that I think the party hosts could have made a few different trees in lieu of cake or tarts.

What do you think of the cookie tree? Have you ever seen something similar before?

images via Emily Johnston Anderson