Ice Cream, Candy, Lolli Cake, Oh My!

We've seen ice cream cone cakes before, but this English Cake Lady cake is what my little one dreams about. I mean, the decorations are straight out of Candy Land. Can't you just imagine a birthday party with that theme and this cake as the centerpiece? Too much to tackle? Perhaps top cupcakes with mini lollipops and candy.

by English Cake Lady

Dessert Table: Lemon Lime Licious

When she likes sweet and he likes salty, it only makes sense to create a dessert table that includes lots of both. This lemon lime hued spread was captured beautifully by Lemon Lime Photography, which was designed by Sandra Denneler. Cupcakes, M&Ms, macarons, and jelly beans are just a few of the sweets on this citrus-y display.

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 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.

Candy Shop Tour: Sugar Sugar

If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, then you already know I spent last Saturday meeting with Maddy of Inspired Bride and Amy Hardy of Design 8 Days to discuss an upcoming project. After that, I visited Sugar Sugar to meet Joni and discuss candy options for a dessert table I'm designing. Next, I met with Kirsten of Fab.you.lous Event Design and her client to discuss the tropical dessert table I'm designing for her wedding.

Since so many of you liked the photo tour of Minnesota's Largest Candy Store that I shared with you over the summer, I figured I'd give you a little peek inside of Sugar Sugar. It's a small shop, but the curated collection of unusual, hard-to-find candies makes it great. A wall of sweets greets customers, while chocolate rings sit under a glass dome on the front counter.

A variety of candy bars with fabulously designed labels line the shelves of the counter. Check out some of the Komforte Chocolate bars. Ramen noodles? Who knew?

 Hand-painted truffles are on display under the glass counter top.

 Of course, there are lots of traditional Valentine's candies on display as well.

If you're in the Twin Cities, you should definitely visit Sugar Sugar's Minneapolis shop. When I was there, a lot of regular customers came, talked to the shop owner, and even brought in their dogs. It's a great little community candy store that has big city sweets.

For other real-time updates on what I'm baking and designing, to ask questions, or share links, follow along on Facebook and Twitter.

Dessert Table: Valentine's Day DIYs & Downloads

This Anders Ruff Custom Design pink and red dessert table, which was featured on Hostess with the Mostess, is a cute overload. Becca Bond Photography had the enviable task of photographing each adorable shot. But even better than the Valentine's Day theme is the brilliant decor DIY idea that could translate to a lot of different themes. Paper plate poms.

That's right. Those gigantic, pink polyhedrons are made from standard paper plates! But, hold on, because the DIY goodness doesn't end there. Fabric flowers top candy dishes, paper heart toppers finish off cupcakes, and a heart garland adds a festive finish to the pink table cloth.

Want to make some of those paper plate poms yourself? Check out Anders Ruff's tutorial here. You can even download the labels and other paper goods at the Anders Ruff Etsy shop here.

Dessert Table: Cute as a Button

When I found this adorable button themed dessert table yesterday on Somewhere Splendid, I wondered "Why hasn't this been done before?" A button theme seems perfect for a kid's party, but I've never seen one before. This one designed by Sugar and Spice Specialty Desserts and captured by Tinywater Photograhy will be hard to outdo.

If you saw this post or this post, then you know I love when edibles are repurposed as bowls. In this case, blood orange rinds are used as sorbet cups.

You can see even more lovely images from this shoot at Somewhere Splendid.

Up, Up, and Away

Balloons have long been synonymous with parties, but lately they've been popping up as delicious desserts, not just dated decor.

This bright red heart balloon appears to take flight above a white-on-white, simple cake by Hello Naomi.

These Cookie Crumbs balloon cookies would be a cute favor for a mom-to-be who's expecting a girl.

Cocoa Confections offers custom chocolate lollipops. Choose colors to coordinate with your event palette, and people will assume you spent a lot more than you did to tailor make them.

There are even some great cards to invite guests to the party. These watercolor cards showcase the balloon theme without being cutesy or childish.

Jen of Green Wedding Shoes even created this balloon-centric inspiration board based on the movie Up! Can't you just envision a dessert table inspired by this collage?

Have you noticed balloon party themes popping up elsewhere? I think the challenge is to take a classically childhood icon and turn it into a more mature party element.

Dessert Table: Funky Romance

This darkly sweet dessert buffet was featured on Green Wedding Shoes. I love the votives scattered across the table to set a dark, romantic mood.

Images: Amelia Lyon

Couture Candy

Mel B (yes, Scary spice) introduced a line of couture lollipops. The bedazzled sticks come in a variety of colors and are practically keepsakes at $22 each. You keep the sticks and reorder lollipop "heads" in different flavors and colors to refill the crystal stick.

Just when you think you've heard it all, couture lollies come along. I might buy one of these as a gag gift for a particularly vain friend, but I have a feeling a $20 MAC gift card would be more appreciated.

Images (Sugar Factory)

Have a Little Bubbly

Happy New Year! If you can't enjoy a glass of bubbly at midnight, try these champagne lollies instead.