Candy & Dessert Bar from Always & Forever Custom Cakes

So, here it is, our first Dessert & Candy Bar. It débuted at a recent local Bellingham wedding and wow…we could barely get the items on the table!! We also dropped off a five tier wedding cake but the focus was definitely on the dessert bar time, which was a new one for us! We pretty much had full rein so of course we went to town. Cake pops, check, chocolate covered pink marsh mellows, check, chocolate covered pretzels, check. The weather did not cooperate to add in the pink macaroons (the double sided color coordinated cookies that everyone is crazy about!) or the pink meringue cookies, but maybe next time. Next one is coming up fast, next week, so that should be fun too. Hmm, purple macaroons…

I have to say the hardest part about putting this one together was balancing the display. We’ve gathered many jars, plates, bowls and various other glass and porcelain containers in our travels to try and give us plenty of options to choose from, and I’m wondering if we’ve actually gone a bit overboard. (What us, go overboard? Is it even possible to have too many options?? Naw!!) At last count we have about twenty different glass jars, vases and containers either with or without lids, five different plate options and lots and lots of cake stands. OK, maybe we did go a little overboard. What can I say, we were really psyched about getting this project going and making sure we had enough variety to keep it fun for every new customer!! See the pink and silver table runner in the right hand side? The bride’s mother in law did that one for us; that is one talented lady! Nice work!

Putting it all together

It took about three hours to go through all our jars, pull the right ribbon, set it up and figure out the right combination of containers. Luckily the color scheme was pretty straight forward, but even that still took time as we had to pull the ribbon…man, do we have a lot ribbon…but I’ll save that one for another post.

 These materials are mostly the things used to pack and store the containers, as well as a few ‘rejects’ that didn’t’ quite make the cut…Debbie said these jars on the right  reminded her of beta fish bowls…so, back in the box for you!! And the rest of it? All the stuff you need to keep all that glassware safe from point A to point B. I wish I’d taken a picture of the car with all the bins and boxes in it. Who knew a few jars could take up so much space!!

So, as you can see, we had a few different candies picked out, almost entirely based on the colors we were trying to incorporate; pink, white and silver. We even had a few pink Canada mints thrown in there…we debated quite a bit on those, but turns out it was a very good idea…several folks commented when we went back to pick up the remnants, and I do mean remnants, that they were a huge hit…wintergreen mints? When there was so much else on the table?? Two words…beer breath… ‘nuff said.  Definitely a keeper for those adult soirees.

Luckily my partner Debbie snuck in a little holiday down the coast before the event and she brought back some fabulous salt water taffy that perfectly matched our theme. The picture doesn’t do it justice but that’s about two feet of salt water taffy in the big jar on the right. Yum!

See the little plastic ladle lying on the pink table cloth above? It doesn’t really go there…or does it? Something else we learned; it’s good to provide serving method options!! Some folks just dug in with the hands, which if it’s got a nice little wrapper on it works well, but for those candies that don’t like the Good & Plenty bits, it’s always a good idea to present the guests with more, er, genteel methods of helping themselves.

So, what was the most popular item? You mean after the mints? The cake pops of course…the bride had one before the last one was on the plate. (We would have been in big trouble if these hadn’t turned out…this was one laid back bride, but on the cake pops, there was NO negotiating.) These ones are strawberry cake (pink of course!), with pink icing and white chocolate ‘almond bark’ on the outside and drizzled with a little bit of pink chocolate. Pops are definitely a popular C&DB item these days and we expect to be doing a lot more of these…in fact, I think you’ll probably see a class for them on the schedule before the end of the year…a fun holiday treat!

To the left of the pops are some little premade treat bags, so anyone who wanted a quick snack to go didn’t even have to lift a spoon. Aren’t we nice? Of course, most folks wanted to do to their own, so we left plenty of empties as well, with a few scoops thrown in for good measure.

Next on the list? Pink chocolate covered marsh mellows. Again, a huge hit. Lucky for us we made lots  because there wasn’t a stick left when we went back! All in all a very successful event. I wish I’d brought the camera for the ‘end of the evening shot’ as if there was any debate as to how successful this offering was, that would have ended it!! Nothing but empty plates, jars and crumbs!!

We have two more events already scheduled, a charity event this Saturday for a Relay for Life party (more pink!) and a purple and yellow birthday party for a 13 year old in a few weeks.

Well, it’s time to get back to the cakes, but this was a lot of fun! We hope we get to do a few more soon!

Here’s a sneak peak on some really beautiful gum paste flowers. More on those and the cake, next time!