Dessert Displays

Stacks of books supported and decorated the dessert tables. Typewriters, globes, and open books added to the presentation.

Ridgewells provided two dessert stations with mini-sweets like pie bites and tiny macaroons for the after-party.

A candy buffet toward the entrance had a mostly blue palette.

Atlas's yellow and black display for the launch of Pilates NYC's pre- and post-natal programs.

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.

Guests indulged in chocolates and baked goods while checking out the chocolate artwork inspired by artists such as Matisse, Van Gogh, and Jackson Pollock.

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.

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."

A lavender candy bar offered cakepops, cupcakes, and rock candy.

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.

A baked-goods station had sweet bites, including mini brownie squares, sugary doughnut holes, and bite-size chocolate chip cookies.

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.

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.

Silver Lining In Flight Catering provided an extensive dessert bar at the after-party.

Candies filled tabletops in a Food Network lounge-dining section. (Other tables had lazy Susans for easy dessert sharing.)

At the doughnut station, guests could top freshly baked plain doughnuts with white or milk chocolate sauce, powdered sugar, chopped nuts, or colored sprinkles.

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.

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.

Whimsically presented desserts at the after-party included cupcakes on forks, towers of meringues, and cream puffs in birdcages.

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.

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.

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.

An illuminated table held jars filled with candy.

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.

Once inside the party space, guests were met by a towering birthday “cake” composed of more than 40 whitewashed vintage TVs playing old Food Network clips. Two days later, the design was repurposed for the New York City Wine & Food Festival’s Tacos & Tequila bash, with the televisions playing clips from event sponsor NY1.

Staffers offered guests caviar and oysters from an ice bar that had brightly colored plastic sea creatures frozen inside.

An Illinois bar mitzvah on March 12 had a Candy Land theme. Designer Event Chicago planned the event, as well as the design and concept for a sweets table—actually part of an entire sweets room—over which colorful candies dangled from multicolored ribbons of varying lengths. HMR Designs handled decor.

The Boston Children's Museum’s 2013 gala included a rather meta dessert table: The entire display took the form of a giant cake, decorated with paper flowers, and set with desserts such as cake pops, mini whoopie pies, mini Twinkies, and chocolate-dipped strawberries.

Patina assumed catering duties for the Recording Academy’s massive “Grammy Celebration,” the official after-party for the Grammy awards in Los Angeles in February. At the Candy Land-inspired event, the caterer’s dessert station offered sweets like blue chocolate popcorn, Pop Rocks shooters, and liquid chocolate s’mores—plus cotton candy trees, where guests could pluck their treats right from the branches.

At an in-office preview for its clients' wares during the holidays in 2015, Los Angeles-based PR agency BWR offered a metallic dessert bar decorated with the word “Joy” in marquee-style letters.

Last year in Chicago, Restoration Hardware hosted an opening event with a dessert bar that consisted of vintage-style candies presented in apothecary jars and on glass cake plates.

To celebrate its 10th anniversary, Sterling Engagements hosted a party in Los Angeles in 2015, where vast catering options throughout the residential venue included a milk-and-cookies dessert bar.

In 2012, Tori Spelling and J.C. Penney celebrated the launch of the star’s line for kids, Little Maven, in Los Angeles. The glamping-style event included a sweets table where the dessert offerings sat upon rustic wood slabs.

In 2013, the New York City Opera staged the United States premiere of the opera Anna Nicole. The dessert table got a boudoir-inspired look, with a menu was written on mirrors in lipstick. Candy overflowed from jewelry boxes and glass jars, and Lucite displays offered pink cotton candy presented in paper cones.

In 2012, Toronto Public Library Foundation hosted its annual Book Lover's Ball. The evening invited guests to dine with big-name authors, and appropriately also included desserts inspired by literature. Books decorated the dessert tables, with typewriters, globes, and glasses adding to the literary look.

A 2012 launch in Los Angeles for Sh*t Girls Say played up the content from the book. To that end, speech bubbles decorated a candy buffet with messages like, “Can you do me a huge favor?” and “Shut up.” Brightly colored gerbera daisies also decorated the setup.

The Meridian International Center celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2010 with its annual black-tie Meridian Ball in Washington. There, the dessert table had black-and-white trompe l'oeil look. It included candelabras, arrangements of monochromatic roses, and—of course—copious desserts.

At the National Urban League’s annual conference in 2010, a Target-sponsored welcome reception included a sweets table dominated by red—the on-brand color for the mass retailer. Candies included Swedish Fish, red and black jellybeans, and red-and-white Starlight peppermints.

Former U.S. President George W. Bush surprised guests by providing the introduction to his wife Laura Bush's keynote speech. The former first lady currently serves as co-chair for the National Park Service's Centennial Advisory Committee.

EMT Productions used the Wolf Trap logo and tree-patterned gobos in shades of green and blue to add an outdoor element to the draped walls of the downstage dinner area.

Large 28- by 22-foot screens provided an up-close experience for guests during the speaking program and then showcased images of the national parks throughout the rest of the night.

Design Cuisine took inspiration from the Cape Code National Sea Shore for the first course of poached halibut in a clam chowder sauce with wilted baby spinach and potato hay.

Yellowstone National Park inspired the main dinner course of grilled bison, herbed risotto, and heirloom cauliflower garnished with spinach puree and elderberry sorghum syrup.

The Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area inspired the plated dessert option of apple pie with salted caramel ice cream, maple caramel sauce, and white cheddar crumbles.

Design Cuisine set up a "make your own s'mores" bar after dinner, complete with hot coals for roasting marshmallows.

For the performance stage, the production manager for The Barns at Wolf Trap created an open-air backdrop inspired by Glacier National Park.