Setting Up A Dessert Bar

Hola smarties! Here's a thought we believe in. Love is affection and sometimes a confection. If you can't decide what dessert you want to serve at your wedding or looking to display all your favorite sweets beautifully on your special day? The answer to that dilemma has a dessert bar. Hear us out. A dessert bar or buffet is the perfect way to let your guests use all five senses to take in the sweetness of your big day. Smarty takes pride in having everything you need to set up a delicious dessert bar your guests will eat right away for a budget-friendly price (minus the desserts, of course ...we ate all those already)!

Setting up a Wedding Dessert Bar is easy! But, first, let's figure out what you will need.

Elements needed to set up a dessert bar are as follows:

Cake Stands - we used white cake stands in 3 different sizes 9.75", 11.75", and 13.75."
Desserts
Kraft Paper Boxes and printables
Cocktail Napkins
Rectangle Trays

Start with your cake stands. We stacked 3 white cake stands (9.25 inches, 11.5 inches, and 13.25 inches) for an elegant tiered look and placed scrumptious fruit tarts and mini pocket pies on them. You can choose to have more than two types or just one kind of dessert on the stand. We used rectangle dessert plates as trays for our larger desserts (we served vanilla and chocolate napoleons). Next, we suggest stacking kraft paper boxes at the end of the dessert bar next to cocktail napkins. The boxes have a wax lining, so they're great for desserts with or without napkins, but the napkins allow you to incorporate your wedding colors and add a little pizzazz.

You might wonder why you need kraft boxes. We got this idea from a party favor we got. Using our kraft paper take-home boxes, guests can fill their dessert box with scrumptious mementos of the happy occasion to take with them at the night's end. We've included our "All You Need Is Love & Dessert" printable on each box.

Download All You Need is Love & Dessert printables for your boxes and print on sheets of sticker paper.

Since we are already talking about desserts, we thought of sharing two or three recipes of desserts we enjoy with you all. Good idea, right?

1. No-Bake Oreo Cheesecake

To make this yummy dessert, you will need only a few ingredients:

Oreo cookies
Butter
Cream cheese
Confectioner's sugar

How to make the cheesecake:

First, put the Oreo cookies in a ziplock bag and bash the bag with a rolling pin to crumble the cookies. The crumble should not have coarse bits. You can also use a food processor to crumble the cookies finely.

Next, put the cookie crumbles into a bowl. Melt the butter and pour it in. Mix until the crumbs are coated in butter and are moist.

Then take your tray and put the cookie-butter mix in as a layer. Press down to make the layer even and firm.

Then, beat cheesecake and confectioner's sugar (icing sugar) together in another bowl. Mix pieces of Oreos into the mixture.

Put the cream cheese mixture on the tray as the second layer. Smooth the top with the help of a spatula or knife.

Sprinkle crumbled Oreos on top.

Finally, refrigerate for at least 5 hours.

2. Mini Fruit Tart

To make these tasty minis, you need to gather,

All-purpose flour
Icing sugar
Salt
Butter

To make the crust, mix 1 and ¼ cup of flour, ⅓ cup of icing sugar, and a pinch of salt. Then put the flour mix into the food processor and one stick of cold butter. Cut the butter into small cubes to make the process easier. Blend them once crumb-like consistency forms. Then add a dash of cold water and pulse again. This will help you make the dough in the right texture. Next, take the dough out and make cup-like structures in a muffin tray. Now, for those who don't have a food processor, you can make this dough by hand. Instead of putting the flour mixture into a food process, followed by the butter, simply put the butter into the flour bowl and start to crumble by hand. Then add water and kneed to the right consistency.

Bake for about 15 minutes at 190c. Set it aside to cool.

Then, start making a pudding, custard, or cream cheese frosting.

You need cream cheese (we recommend using softened cream cheese for easier handling)
Icing sugar
Vanilla

This is how we make our cream cheese frosting.

Put the softened cream cheese and the icing sugar into a bowl and beat until smooth. Then, add a dash of vanilla extract and beat again. Keep it aside.

Since this is a fruit tart, let's slice up some fruit, right? You can use any fruit you like. Remember to slice them thinly. We love using strawberries, blueberries, kiwi, oranges, and pears.

Now, let's assemble the mini tarts. Take the mini cups you set aside to cool. Fill the cups up with the filling of choice. Then place the slices of fruit in a beautiful pattern over the filling. Then place the mini fruit tarts in the refrigerator until they need to be served.

3. Peanut Butter Bars

First, beat butter, icing sugar, graham crackers, and peanut butter until well combined and smooth. Next, put the mixture into a tray, press it down and smooth the top with a knife. This layer is the base layer. Keep the tray aside. Put chocolate chips and peanut butter into a double boiler and melt them together. Stir to combine the two. Then pour the chocolate over the base layer. Then refrigerate for at least one hour. Then cut into the desired size and enjoy.

What other fun food station ideas do you have for weddings? What is your favorite dessert? Let us know!

I'm hoping these tips will help you create a fabulous dessert table. And remember, you don't just have to serve sweets like this; appetizers and brunch parties also look fantastic when displayed this way!