For a dandy-themed graduation party in Hollywood, Canvas & Canopy designed a dessert buffet that eschewed the twee look in favor of a sophisticated display of treats on cake stands made from vintage candlesticks and shelves built using industrial pipes.
Photo: Jonathan Moore
Marcy Blum Associates built a bakery-style display case to offer guests breakfast-to-go treats from New York bakeries at the end of a wedding reception.
Photo: Eliot Holzman Photograph
An illuminated table held jars filled with candy.
Photo: Nancy Behall
The candy shop was brightly lit and filled with Ernst & Young's colours, yellow and white. There were four candy stations that had fudge, yellow cotton candy, a self-serve candy bar with branded plastic bags, and white-iced cookies and cupcakes.
Photo: BizBash
Stacks of books supported and decorated the dessert tables. Typewriters, globes, and open books added to the presentation.
Photo: Carla Warrilow/BizBash
Ridgewells provided two dessert stations with mini-sweets like pie bites and tiny macaroons for the after-party.
Photo: Neshan Naltchayan for BizBash
A candy buffet toward the entrance had a mostly blue palette.
Photo: 2Me Studios
Atlas's yellow and black display for the launch of Pilates NYC's pre- and post-natal programs.
Photo: Gemma Comas
At the Campfire Ball benefit for Children’s Oncology Services in May at Venue One in Chicago, Cork Catering set up a make-your-own s’mores station.
Photo: Gerber + Scarpelli Photography
Trend: Food and Beverage Carts
Inspired by the food truck craze, Abigail Kirsch in New York created roving carts to bring guests desserts and beverages, like gelato with dipped miniature cones and toppings, or sangria and punch.
Photo: Andre Maier
Godiva’s Lounge at the 'In Style' and Warner Brothers Golden Globes Party
Guests indulged in chocolates and baked goods while checking out the chocolate artwork inspired by artists such as Matisse, Van Gogh, and Jackson Pollock.
Photo: Nadine Froger Photography
Los Angeles Auto Show Sneak Preview Night
Colorful sweets topped a table at the preview night. "The day before and the day of Sneak Preview Night hosts nearly 10,000 media and auto industry executives, so it’s a challenge to set up for one event during another," the auto show's Callari said. "In addition to the limited setup time and juggling of events, the venue itself is vast, with high ceilings and thousands of windows. Making that space feel intimate and festive requires creativity. And we have to be conscious of costs since this is a charity event, but we do not want to lose the world-class look of the L.A. Auto Show."
Photo: Courtesy of Alchemist & Company
A lavender candy bar offered cakepops, cupcakes, and rock candy.
Photo: Daniel Swartz for Hpnotiq Harmonie
Occasions Caterers set up an elaborate dessert buffet in a separate room at the Anderson house with Cuban sweets like drunk pineapple, exotic fruit crème brûlée, coffee parfait, and cocktail arroz con leche.
Photo: Tony Brown/imijphoto.com
A baked-goods station had sweet bites, including mini brownie squares, sugary doughnut holes, and bite-size chocolate chip cookies.
Photo: Sara Jaye Weiss
BMW returned as the automotive sponsor this year with an all-white lounge area for guests—with a touch of color from this edible logo.
Photo: Tony Brown/imijphoto.com for BizBash
Kiehl's Amfar Ride Finish-Line Wrap Party
Kiehl's 10-day philanthropic motorcycle ride along the Eastern Seaboard wrapped up with a finish-line party July 20 at the Kiehl's Georgetown store. The event, which raised awareness for H.I.V./AIDS research and resources, had motorcycle-inspired decor and cuisine including a dessert display from Georgetown Cupcake.
Photo: Paul Morigi/Getty Images for Kiehl's Since 1851
Silver Lining In Flight Catering provided an extensive dessert bar at the after-party.
Photo: Elizabeth Renfrow for BizBash
Photo: Emily Clack Photography
Candies filled tabletops in a Food Network lounge-dining section. (Other tables had lazy Susans for easy dessert sharing.)
Photo: BizBash
At the doughnut station, guests could top freshly baked plain doughnuts with white or milk chocolate sauce, powdered sugar, chopped nuts, or colored sprinkles.
Photo: Mireya Acierto for BizBash
Evoke designed a doughnut wall that Design Cuisine executed for a client in April and will continue to offer the concept this fall. The wall was constructed out of pegboard, with 1,200 wooden golf tees showcasing the chocolate-glazed chocolate doughnuts (forming a “J” for the guest of honor’s name) and the outlining cinnamon sugar and powdered white donuts. In coming months, a server with a step stool will be on hand to pull doughnuts off the wall for guests, who can carry the take-home treats away in brown paper bags with to-go cups of hot apple cider.
Photo: Kate Headly
Fox Upfront After-Party
Last year, Fox's after-party offered a wide selection of pies and this year the network tapped Brooklyn doughnut bakery Dough to provide its tasty treats for guests. Options include dulce de leche with almonds, salt and pink pepper, and hibiscus. Also similar to last year's outing was an area dedicated to photo ops with Fox talent. Organizers set up a series of stages where guests to meet and pose with actors and notables like Simon Cowell, Mindy Kaling (whose series The Mindy Project was picked up by the network), and Kevin Bacon.
Photo: Nadia Chaudhury/BizBash
No detail was spared for the preview party, not even when it came to the food. Creative Edge served a bevy of Italian-inspired hors d'oeuvres on custom, Missoni-inspired trays lined with patterns. The menu included colorful macaroons (pictured), as well as a lobster pop tart that had rice paper garnishes decorated with the signature zigzag print.
Photo: Courtesy of Creative Edge
Candy shark fins topped on-theme cupcakes from Washington's Georgetown Cupcake.
Photo: Courtesy of Discovery Communications
An ice sculpture held push-up pies in nostalgic flavors such as banana cream, cookies and cream, and mixed berry parfait. Nearby, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and oatmeal raisin cookies were served warm on griddles.
Photo: Rick Aguilar
A mosaic of mini cupcakes from Baked by Melissa played up Time Warner Cable's new ad campaign.
Photo: Nicholas Hunt/PatrickMcMullan.com
Dylan's Candy Bar also provided sweet treats with an array of candy that guests could scoop into a bag. Coffee Bean offered iced tea and coffee.
Photo: Scott Gries/Showtime
Whimsically presented desserts at the after-party included cupcakes on forks, towers of meringues, and cream puffs in birdcages.
Photo: Jessica Torossian for BizBash
The park's catering department set up an expansive candy display and station in Liberty Square that included full bags of candy as well as a variety of sweets for guests to create their own bags.
Photo: Charity de Meer for BizBash
In 2011, the South Beach Wine and Food Festival’s 10th anniversary party, “Let Them Eat Cake,” was hosted by Emeril Lagasse and Martha Stewart. More than 800 guests took elevators to the top floor of event hotspot 1111 Lincoln Road to sip champagne and cocktails and sample confections from a baker’s dozen of pastry chefs alongside the festival’s biggest stars. Top pastry chefs from around the country provided cakes honoring the festival's 10th anniversary.
Photo: Will Star/Shootingstarspro.com
When Phantom: The Las Vegas Spectacular celebrated its 2,000th performance in February, organizers looked to Las Vegas's Freed's Bakery to create a giant cake in the well-known shape of the phantom's white mask.
Photo: Erick Kabik Retna Digital
In March, guests of all ages came out for the screening of Mirror Mirror followed by a family-friendly party at the Hollywood Roosevelt. The event acknowledged star Lily Collins's birthday with a giant, apple-shaped cake by A Wish and a Whisk.
Photo: Todd Williamson/Getty Images for Relativitiy Media
The Washington D.C. chapter of Les Dames D’Escoffier International and Tysons Galleria hosted the first annual “Let Them Eat Cake” competition in March, challenging three local pastry chefs to create fashion-inspired wedding cakes. Laurie Alleman Weber, chef and owner of the Swiss Bakery, won the judges' prize and the popular vote for her "High Volume"-themed cake.
Photo: Tony Brown/imijphoto.com
In March, Duff Goldman of Charm City Cakes and TLC's Ace of Cakes created a Washington memorials caked decorated with cherry blossoms specifically for the Pink Tie Party, an event that kicked off the capital's centennial celebration of the National Cherry Blossom Festival.
Photo: Imagelinkphoto.com
The James Beard Awards returned to Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall in May to celebrate the latest crop of culinary award winners, as well as the James Beard Foundation’s silver anniversary. In honor of the anniversary, Duff Goldman of Charm City Cakes in Baltimore created a cake in the shape of the James Beard House in New York. After being presented during the ceremony, it was later served to guests in the Urban Spoon lounge on the balcony.
Photo: Sharokh Mirzai for BizBash
In the summer, the Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Gold Coast opening in Chicago drew 500 guests, and featured a 3,000-pound cake created by Cake Boss star and New Jersey baker Buddy Valastro. With a "Chicago's Best" theme, Valastro's enormous dessert had replicas of city landmarks, a mini deep-dish pizza, and the Rolls-Royce hood ornament: a winged figure known as the Spirit of Ecstasy. Forklift operators helped unload the cake from its delivery truck, and the setup took 30 minutes.
Photo: Courtesy of Rolls Royce Motor Cars
To celebrate its 50th anniversary last year, designer discount retailer Daffy's hosted a "cakewalk" in Greeley Square Park, where models showed off 23 fall looks, walking around—and on top of—a four-tiered, 10-foot birthday cake created by Vincent Buzzetta of WE TV's Staten Island Cakes.
Photo: Courtesy of Daffy's
Chicago officially became a city in 1837, which means a 175th birthday party was in order earlier this year. Held appropriately at the Chicago History Museum, the afternoon affair had family-friendly educational activities and a four-tier, 80-pound birthday cake created by Vinny Garcia of Bleeding Heart Bakery. Decorated with symbols of the city's various neighborhoods—a sinuous, scaly dragon represented Chinatown, for example—the organic vanilla bean dessert was topped with vanilla bean frosting and Italian butter cream. Garcia used gum paste to add the logo, stars, and rings of the Chicago flag to the towering confection, which was several days in the making.
Photo: Courtesy of Bleeding Heart Bakery
On September 10, Chicago lifestyle publication Glossed & Founded hosted a one-year anniversary event for Atelier Azza. Held at the Public Hotel, the event had a glitzy, birthday party vibe, complete with a towering cake from Sugar Hills Bakery. The cake’s frosting had the silky look of fabrics from the Atelier Azza collection, while jewels and other embellishments evoked the line’s gilded, ornate look.
Photo: Kasia Jarosz
Bobble, the brand of water bottles with built-in, replaceable carbon filters, exhibited at the Home and Housewares Show at Chicago's McCormick Place in March. Company co-founders Richard and Stephanie Smiedt also hosted an after-hours bash at the Shedd Aquarium during the show to engage with buyers. The event doubled as a second birthday bash for the product, and a Bobble-shaped birthday cake from Amy Beck Cake Design stood on display all evening.
Photo: Barry Brecheisen for BizBash
The national tour of The Phantom of the Opera closed in Los Angeles in 2010, and after the final curtain call at the Pantages Theatre, guests moved to the W Hollywood for a party that borrowed its look and feel from the show's Palais Garnier opera house setting. A Wish and a Whisk created a cake that replicated the Parisian structure.
Photo: Silvia Mautner
The 2010 World Festival in Chicago—a fund-raiser for chef Art Smith's Common Threads charity— doubled as a 50th birthday celebration for Smith. In honor of the celebrity chef's special day, a V.I.P. area dubbed "Art's Birthday Lounge" housed tasting stations devoted to birthday cake. Sugar flowers and grass decorated a confection from Sarah's Pastries & Candies.
Photo: Eddie Quinones
To mark the 25th anniversary of Weddingbells in 2010, the magazine hosted a cocktail reception for 400 guests at the Windsor Arms Hotel and called on renowned cake designer Bonnie Gordon of the Bonnie Gordon School to create the decor—a display of 25 elaborate cakes. Gordon called on students to create the lavish confections.
Photo: Claudia Hung
Earlier this month, Neiman Marcus and Mattel Children’s Hospital U.C.L.A. hosted a cake-centric reception in Beverly Hills to celebrate funds raised for the hospital at the Kaleidoscope Ball, as well as the 30th anniversary of the retailer's InCircle loyalty program. The event partnered with top local pastry chefs to create cakes inspired by major local landmarks. The showcase included a replica of the Beverly Hills Hotel, courtesy of the hotel's pastry team.
Photo: Brandon Clark/ABImages
At the Neiman Marcus and Mattel Children’s Hospital U.C.L.A. event, the Butter End's Kimberly Bailey made a cake in the form of the La Brea Tar Pits.
Photo: Brandon Clark/ABImages
The Neiman Marcus event also included a cake inspired by the iconic entrance gate to Paramount Studios, complete with swaying palm trees, made by Christopher Garrens.
Photo: Brandon Clark/ABImages
Katy Perry’s video for “Birthday,” which debuted earlier this month, was filmed entirely at Duff’s Cakemix on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles. Confections included a cake covered in rainbow hearts and another that took the shape of a giant Rubik’s Cube.
Photo: Courtesy of Duff's Cakemix
Another cake created for the "Birthday" video included a six-layer treat covered in rainbow candies. Each inside layer was stacked in rainbow order, from red to purple.
Photo: Courtesy of Duff's Cakemix
A cake in the shape of a hamburger—lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, and all—included lyrics from Katy Perry's "Birthday" for the song's video shoot at Duff's Cakemix.
Photo: Courtesy of Duff's Cakemix
At this year's Governors Ball, hosted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Oscar night, Wolfgang Puck created a Hollywood-theme cake that celebrated 20 years of Puck's involvement with the bash. It was meant to recall the on-theme look of a zoetrope and included a motorized moving tier that spun around, as well as several other Hollywood-inspired decorative details.
Photo: Alesandra Dubin/BizBash
The cake at actress Kaley Cuoco's New Year's Eve wedding captured the industry's curiosity—and lit up social media. Kimberly Bailey of L.A.'s Butter End Cakery created a confection that appeared to be hanging upside down from a chandelier. Cuoco posted a photo of the cake to her Twitter and Instagram accounts during the wedding, and the bakery reported thousands of new followers immediately.
Photo: Claudia Craig Photography
For a Hennessy Black-sponsored birthday party for Chicago artist Hebru Brantley in 2013, Alliance Bakery created a piece imitating Andy Warhol’s famous Pop-Art soup cans. The red velvet cake with cream-cheese frosting weighed about 30 pounds.
Photo: Onasis Stoby
During New York Fashion Week in September, DKNY celebrated its 25th anniversary with a birthday bash that featured a larger-than-life cake in the shape of a New York City taxicab. During the cake presentation to guests, singers Rita Ora and Melanie Fiona sang “Happy Birthday.”
Photo: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for DKNY
Last year, the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre presented an enormous cake to His Majesty, the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah in celebration of the upcoming Hari Raya festival in Malaysia. With the theme of light, the confection included hand-crafted Islamic art motifs inspired by the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia. The convention center’s pastry team created the four-foot-tall cake that weighed 48 kilograms—or about 106 pounds.
Photo: Courtesy of Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre
In December, Flora Aghababyan, chief cake designer for Wynn Las Vegas and Encore, created a three-foot gingerbread replica of the Wynn surrounded by the boutiques of Wynn and Encore Esplanades. The all-edible work was handcrafted from 4,500 gingerbread tiles, rolled fondant, and sugar. It weighed more than 295 pounds and took 21 days to construct, with turrets, façades, and towers all housing various Wynn and Encore retailers—like Chanel, Louis Vuitton, and Cartier—with their logos reproduced in sugar icing and fondant. The cake was on display at the property’s buffet throughout the holiday season.
Photo: Eric Jamison/Studio J. Inc
Ocean Drive magazine feted its March 2014 cover star Eva Longoria in Miami, and the event was doubled as a celebration of the actress's 39th birthday. The party included a cake that bore Longoria’s likeness on all four sides—and jeweled logos from sponsor Ciroc, of course.
Photo: Startracks/Ciroc
Spring flowers in vibrant purple decked a cake from Chicago's Vanille Patisserie. The baked good got a slightly abstract touch thanks to a modern interpretation of the shape and dimension of petals, leaves, and stems.
Photo: Courtesy of Vanille Patisserie
An upcoming block party celebration of Beverly Hills’s centennial anniversary at the end of this month will feature a 15,000-slice birthday cake in the shape of city hall and Rodeo Drive. In partnership with the Luxe Rodeo Drive Hotel, Guittard Chocolate Company corporate executive pastry chef Donald Wressell created a model to share with the media and build buzz in advance of the event.
Photo: Barry King
Watermelon Pops
Chicago-based catering firm Catering by Michael's offers "frozen push-ups" including the "Frozen Watermelon Surprise Push Pops."
Photo: Courtesy of Catering by Michael’s
Frozen Bananas Foster
Chicago-based catering firm Truffleberry Market serves frozen cinnamon-rum-bananas-Foster mousse.Â
Photo: Courtesy of Truffleberry Market
Mint Juleps
For a different spin on the classic derby drink, Design Cuisine served mint julep snow cones at the 2011 Gilt City Washington launch party.
Photo: Tony Brown/imijphoto.com for BizBash
Sorbet and Champagne Float
At Enolo Wine Bar in Chicago, sorbet-and-champagne floats are on the menu. The treat is served in a coupe glass.
Photo: Courtesy of Enolo Wine Bar
"Shades of Red" Dessert
Moto restaurant in Chicago is known for experimental cuisine. The "Shades of Red" dessert course is infused with liquid nitrogen and was created by executive pastry chef Claire Crenshaw.Â
Photo: Amy Stallard
Bucket of Bonbons
The Dec at the Ritz-Carlton Chicago offers a bucket of bonbons. Mini scoops of ice cream are covered in chocolate and served in a smoking bucket of dry ice.
Photo: Galdones Photography
Passed Sundaes
In June, GE and Quirky hosted an event in New York to celebrate "Cool Story," a pop-up shop in Chelsea that features Quirky's air-conditioning units. In keeping with the cool theme, snacks included passed miniature hot-fudge sundaes from Brooklyn ice cream maker Hay Rosie. Peter Callahan Catering catered the event.
Photo: Quirky.com
Frozen Tiramisu Bar
Toronto's L-Eat Catering prepared a plate of mini desserts for a function last month. The center of the plate had a frozen tiramisu pop served on a stick.
Photo: Courtesy of L-Eat Catering
Spiked Snow Cones
City View Loft, a Chicago event space, hosted its opening bash in February. Adding to the evening's carnival-like vibe—which can be applied to Mardi Gras parties—Jo Snow had a "boozy snow cone" station. Guests ordered the treats in flavors such as grapefruit-rosemary with vodka.
Photo: Carasco Photography
Interactive Sorbet Station
At C2MTL, a Montreal conference that took place in May, Montreal-based caterer Agnus Dei created a popular interactive sorbet station. Rings of raspberry, mango, and coconut sorbet spun around a wheel, while guests simply had to hold up a scoop to the device to build their own cone.
Photo: Beth Kormanik/BizBash
