Ive been asked to do a dessert bar.... besides cup cakes and cake pops or cookie dough truffles or the like.... what else do you suggest???? They are not interested in candy want mini desserts.

Chocolate covered pretzels and oreos!

You can make a choclate cake in a lammington pan - when cooked and cooled you can cut out what ever shape you choose (hearts/circles) - then either decorate with ganache/drizzled chocolate/ a fondant flower/fruit.

Or join two shapes together with ganache or whipped cream and then decorate the top.

Make mini tarts - filled with a dark ganache and a cetain liquere for taste.

A chocolate cheese cake - made in a square dish - when set and ready to serve it can be cut into small finger portions - if a dark chocolate one then fresh mint or a pale green decoration looks stunning on each little square.

Small pavlovas decorated with what ever fruit is in season.

Mini cupcakes - in different flavours

Small pots filled with a chestnut mouse with small dessert spoons sticking out of each little pot

Mini eclaires -


These are just some things i will be making for a dessert table in July for a birthday party....A Cocktail/Chocolate Party - two of the Birthday lady's favourite things



Bluehue

ooohhhhh... greate ideas! keep 'em coming.

paint the inside of cupcake liners with chocolate, pop in the freezer, peel off liner and you have a chocolate cup, perfect for filling with mousse. These are so cute when you do them with the mini cupcake liners. Kinda like "mousse shooters" lol

Mini cream puffs or cannolis, rum balls, lemon bars, brownies,and kind of bar cookie cut in shapes or cut very small & put in small wrappers. Is there a them to this event? If not you could stick with a common theme like hearts or whatever you want.

I'm going to take Bluehue's cheesecake idea in a different direction...

Graham cracker crust topped with apple pie filling, caramel, walnuts (optional), and then the cheesecake filling.

The pie filling and the caramel are a nice surprise. Bake and cut into squares as others have suggested.

Mini pecan pies with phyllo dough crust

Mini apple tarts/pies in a shortbread crust

Haystacks (chocolate covered chinese ramen noodles/marshmellows/peanuts/almonds...whatever you want to toss together and not have to bake!

Petit fours

chocolate and white chocolate covered strawberries

square of fudge (peanut butter/chocolate/dark choc/maple, etc) with small royal icing flower on top, served in mini candy cup paper

chocolate dipped large pretzel sticks that can be dressed up with crushed pistachios/slivered almonds/chocolate drizzle etc.

I make cheesecake stuffed strawberries dipped in dark chocolate. Those could be hard to keep out on a dessert bar.. could be messy !!

One thing I do a lot of is dipped fortune cookies. They are always a hit!! I can coordinate the colors to the event and you can even order specific fortunes if you want them. I just get my cookies at a Chinese grocery store. Shoot.. they are like $2 for a bag of 30... then I dip one side in chocolate of some kind and add sprinkles, etc.... really cute!

[quote="mcdonald"]I make cheesecake stuffed strawberries dipped in dark chocolate. Those could be hard to keep out on a dessert bar.. could be messy !!

Those things are absolutely sinful....

nope, it comes off really easily..........you waste the liner though because you do have to tear it to get it started, but it comes off super easy.

wow, such great ideas.... anyone have a recommendation for the butter tart shells... making them doesnt seem feasable.

All I can say to this WHOLE thread is freaking YUM! LOL! Everything sounds so good, you guys are sooo creative!

Bite sized squares or triangles of brownie dipped in ganache, then with a little ganache shell (piped) on top to cover where the toothpick hole is where you dipped them...

At the catering place we used to dip lots of stuff in ganache...tiny little cheesecake squares, the brownies, and then little brownie circles with a dollop of peanut butter mousse, and then frozen and then dipped in ganache (frozen of course so the mousse doesn't mess up when you dip them!)

Parfaits layered in champagne glasses are a fan fav at my place. You can even pipe rosettes on the very top. I like to match my rosettes to the color of the linens at the event.

Oh these are wonderful ideas!!! I now have to find a reason to make a dessert bar!!!

This is a recipe I have made dozens of times for eclairs:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Eclairs-II/Detail.aspx

I use a simple ganache to ice. I make these for my fiances father. He eats a dozen eclairs in one sitting, then complains that his pants go up two sizes. They are GOOOOD! Even though the filling is made with a vanilla pudding base, it is the bomb.

You don't have to pipe them in an eclair shape; you can do cream puffs as well. I think cream puffs would be faster and easier (I HATE piping eclairs).

I also recommend scouring the internet for Alton Brown's video on eclairs. It is very informative and helpful.

[quote="Kitagrl"]Bite sized squares or triangles of brownie dipped in ganache, then with a little ganache shell (piped) on top to cover where the toothpick hole is where you dipped them...

At the catering place we used to dip lots of stuff in ganache...tiny little cheesecake squares, the brownies, and then little brownie circles with a dollop of peanut butter mousse, and then frozen and then dipped in ganache (frozen of course so the mousse doesn't mess up when you dip them!)[/quotes]

sounds amazing!

Or like the mini desserts in restaurants - cheesecake or tiramisu or mousse in shot glasses. Or a s'mores buffet bar...