Catering Ideas

At the South Beach Wine & Food Festival earlier this year, the Sweet 15 Dessert reception included a take on birthday cake and ice cream from Jean Georges Vongerichten's Matador and Market restaurants at the Miami Beach Edition hotel. Crème fraîche cake, vanilla bean crémeux, confetti nitro ice cream, raspberry gel, a white chocolate candle, and 23-carat edible gold flake comprised the dish.

Strawberry milkshakes from Elegant Affairs Off-Premise Catering & Event Design in New York accompany sirloin sliders as a late-night snack for guests—a sophisticated twist on kid-friendly diner fare.

At the Engage! wedding summit held in Colorado in 2014, the event's dessert party offered an easy-to-eat lollipop version of campfire s'mores. (The event's rustic location inspired other various camp-inspired details.)

Last year, Abigail Kirsch Catering in New York began offering colorful mini ice cream sandwiches for events. Flavors include pistachio coconut pineapple and carrot butter pecan caramel, served in matching foil for easy, neat eating.

For the Recording Academy's official Grammy Awards after-party in Los Angeles, known as the Grammy Celebration, new caterer Patina this year set up dessert buffets where cotton candy hung from tree branches.

At the so-called "Anti-Gala" for the Lowline in New York in 2012, ice cream sandwiches and gelato provided by Lower East Side food vendors Melt and Il Laboratorio del Gelato served as kid-style dessert that appealed to adults.

At the Elton John AIDS Foundation Oscars benefit bash earlier this year, the after-party included espresso milkshakes topped with mini doughnuts on straws.

Abigail Kirsch in New York created smoked cheddar-glazed mini doughnuts dusted with peanut brittle for a surprising sweet-and-savory twist on a classic glazed doughnut. To serve them, the caterer repurposed a plate display rack by turning it on its side and threading the doughnuts through.

Sterling Engagements hosted a party in Los Angeles last year to celebrate its 10th anniversary. The array of catering options there included a sophisticated milk-and-cookies dessert bar including various flavors of milk.

New York’s Elegant Affairs Caterers created a dish of Pop Tart lollipops available in flavors like apple cinnamon, strawberry, and s'mores.

For its Fall Ball in 2014, the New York-based art nonprofit Creative Time created a sleepover followed by a late-night dance party. For the sleepover portion, a bar served milk and cookies. But instead of milk, the offering was white Russians served in milk bottles.

At Allison&Partners’ Late Night Saloon at South by Southwest in 2014, pastry chef Dominique Ansel debuted what was then his newest creation: the chocolate chip cookie milk shot. (His famous Cronuts made cameos too.)