Dessert Table: Brunch Bash

A pancake cake?!? I have to do this for breakfast one morning. It's sooo pretty, especially with powdered sugar sprinkled on top. I love when a tablescape incorporates delicious treats. Why interrupt good conversation to get up for sweets? This beautiful spread is stunning from every angle, including this birdseye view from Harwell Photography. Whoopie pies, pancakes, chocolate bars, and biscuits round out the offerings. The teams at Amy Osaba Events, Ginny Branch, and Erica Loesing put together the shoot for Atlanta Weddings Magazine.  

pics by Harwell Studios via Somewhere Splendid

Spider-y Whoopie Pies

These eight-legged treats are great for two reasons. First, they're incredibly cute, vegan, and gluten-free thanks to this recipe by Wing-It Vegan. Second, you can always swap out the homemade whoopie pies for bakery-bought ones and still add your own homespun touch by including the legs and eyes.

Swing by Wing-It Vegan for the recipe and how-to video to make the spider legs.

Dessert Meets Design: Mansion Matrimony

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of creating a dessert table for Kris and Gary's wedding at Cedarhurst Mansion. I had the pleasure of working with the team at Fab.You.Lous Events again and meeting photog Paige Winn who shot these lovely pics.

For this design, I replicated the couple's invitation on their chocolate bars, and offered custom cookies that featured their monograms and the unique heart symbol from their invites. I designed purple towers to vary the heights of sweets and showcase several varieties of cupcakes and macarons. Chocolate-dipped brownie bites, Neapolitan whoopie pies, and dessert shooters sat alongside cake pops.

Just to give you an idea of some of the other great details from this event, check out some of Paige's other pics.

Thank you to Buttercream and Sugar & Flour for your yummy contributions.

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.

Dessert Table: Hipster Happiness

In case you missed my post late yesterday, be sure to check out the video of my Valentine's dessert table segment on the KARE 11 Today Show. Ok, now on to today's yummy post.

This mod dessert table from Ruffled is full of simple treats and fabulous styling details. Photog Alison Conklin captured the images at this shoot styled by Beka and Kimberly of Styled Creative. An M&M cake makes a bold, youthful statement, while red velvet whooopie pies, heart shaped sugar cookies, and sprinkle-topped cupcakes in shades of red add vibrancy to an otherwise neutral palette.

You'll also see that the pooch at a party trend is alive and well (and wearing red shoes). Although we saw a horse at this dessert table shoot earlier this week, I don't think we'll see them quite as often as the pups.

Isn't the mini oven a cute prop for the cupcake picture? It's a nice change of pace from the traditional cupcake-in-hands shot that we see over and over again.

What do you think of the M&M cake? Cute or kooky?

Dessert Meets Design: XOXO Dessert Table for Mpls Photo Center

Yesterday, I shared some behind-the-scenes pics of photog Emily Steffen's workshop. Em asked me to design a dessert table for her students to photograph, and I was happy to do her that favor. She assembled a great team of talented women to pull off an inspirational wedding shoot, including Abby Rutchik of Mpls Photo Center, Melissa Stratton of Sadie's Floral, and Bethany Hway of b*spoke.

We set out to create a modern event using black, white, slate grey, and poppy red for the palette. This is the palette I created to help guide the vision. I also thought it'd be fun to incorporate an "xoxo" theme to tie the entire design together. For this table, I created a monochromatic cake, chocolate whoopie pies, and coconut cupcakes. I also designed xoxo popcorn boxes and candy bar wrappers to coordinate with the invitations and menu cards. Brownie balls, powdered donut holes, and macarons round out the selection.

Want to see the reception tables and the bride and groom? Here are a few shots, but be sure to check out Emily's blog for even more great pics.

This was such a great project, and I'm glad Emily invited me to join in the fun.

Contributors:

venue: The Mpls Photo Center
photography: Emily Steffen Photography
flowers: Melissa Stratton of Sadie's Floral
desserts: Shauna Younge Dessert Tables
styling: Bethany Hway
hair and makeup: Aubrey Thoren of Foiled Again Salon
bride and groom: Kayla & Elliot 
stemware, chargers and linen: Linen Effects

Reader Design: Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

Friday, I shared this whoopie pie dessert table with you. Sweet Tooth reader Rowaida saw the post and  sent me a few pictures from her Halloween dessert table, which also features pumpkin whoopie pies.

Rowaida added candy, cake ball pops, and cupcakes to her whoopie pie display. She selected ceramic and glass vessels to vary the heights of each treat.

Be sure to visit Rowaida's Flickr gallery to see step-by-step tutorials as she bakes all of these treats creates the dessert table.

Thank you for sharing your design, Rowaida. I hope that you'll upload them to the Shauna Younge Dessert Tables Facebook fan page for us all to see.

Dessert Table: A Gourd-geous Whoopie Pie Feast

I'm a big fan of whoopie pies. Anytime you can sandwich inventive frostings between two layers of moist, flavorful cake, I'm on board.

Like macarons, whoopie pie flavor options are nearly endless. You can find or make whoopies in tons of cake-y flavors like carrot, double chocolate, or pumpkin. Of course, you could try traditional vanilla if that's your preference. The options don't end there. You can also fill the soft sandwich cookies with all kinds of delicious frostings, like mint chocolate chip, chai tea, or coconut. Again, you could stick with traditional chocolate or vanilla buttercream.

When I saw this whoopie display yesterday on 100 Layer Cake, I knew I had to share it with you. You'll recognize the bureau trend that I wrote about here and here. Along with the trendy table, the stylist also added lush flowers, caramel and sunshine-hued gourds, and birch bark stumps to create a gorgeous Fall backdrop for pumpkin whoopie pies.

Simple brown bag favors are dressed up with custom flavor labels.

Want a little more whoopie goodness for your Friday? Check out some of the dessert tables I've designed using whoopie pies. I selected giant apple spice ones for this Autumn dessert table, and custom chocolate ones for this Alice in Wonderland dessert table for Nonpariel Magazine. These custom lavender vanilla ones were a big hit a MN Bride Magazine's Best of 2010 gala.

So tell me, have you tried whoopie pies? What flavor were they?

Image 1 (The LDS Grandparent Place), Image 2 (Scott Clark Photo)

SYDT in Mpls St. Paul Magazine!

Yesterday, I shared the cover of the current Mpls St. Paul Magazine with you. Today, I'm back with the feature. Editor Melissa Colgan's only requirement was that the table have a Fall theme. I chose to go with an unconventional color palette instead of the more expected red, orange, and yellow hues that are synonymous with Autumn. Thankfully, Melissa was on board with my concept. I hope you like it, too!

To further turn convention on its head, I made an all-white abstract leaf cake with a flowery brown topper. Custom bird cookies, these faux bois cupcake toppers, caramel chocolate apples, and pheasant feathers share the spotlight with whiskey-infused chocolate figs, white chocolate cocoa, and cinnamon truffles. I designed corduroy, burlap, and wool favor bags to bring some typical Fall fabrics to the design. I also chose chocolate brown velvet ribbon to add another cozy element.

Along with this full-page spread, the magazine also featured another page with some info about me and the firm.

I'm really thrilled to be featured in Mpls St. Paul Magazine, and I'd like to thank the awesome local bakers and artisans who helped bring my vision to life. Check out the article for more info about each vendor.

So tell me, do you prefer unconventional color palettes or traditional ones when you decorate for the seasons/holidays?

Pretty Little Cakes All in a Row

I stumbled across this gorgeous collection of cakes yesterday while perusing The Cinderella Project. Eclairs, truffles, and macarons mingle with several towering confections.

I absolutely love houndstooth. Here, the menswear pattern is translated onto cake with very pretty results. A traditional croquembouche, whoopie pies, and lemon tarts under glass finish off the charming display.

Have a great Friday, everyone! This weekend, I'll be celebrating Minneapolis' Aquatennial at the beach. Hope you all have a great weekend, too. See you Monday!

Images (New York Magazine)

Dessert Meets Design: Nonpareil Magazine Feature

I'm so excited to share the Alice in Wonderland-inspired dessert table I designed for Nonpareil Magazine's fourth issue with you. These lovely images were shot by my friend and fab photog, Tricia Little of Sweet Shibui.

Rather than design a flowery, tea party I chose to interpret Tim Burton's moodier version of the film, with its woodsy, cloudy, overgrown setting. Read more about my interpretation in the article. I also designed some great printables for the issue, so be sure to grab those. 

I hope you enjoy my ode to this classic tale.

Stay tuned. Tomorrow, I'll share some of the pics that didn't make it into the issue.

The entire fourth issue is a tour through various films reinterpreted by wedding industry pros, so be sure to flip through every beautiful page.

Dessert Table: Perfectly Pink

This lovely pink dessert table created by One Girl Cookies was created for a Martha Stewart event. Cupcakes, macarons, whoopie pies and other girly treats were served for this wedding event.

Check out Green Wedding Shoes for more yummy photos.

Images: Mel Barlow