Cake Pop Stand and Dessert Buffet – For Weddings, Showers, Parties, etc.

My cousin had asked me to do her wedding for her – but with one detail – NO cake!  Instead she chose what she wanted, and I made cheesecake, mini cheesecake with cherry topping, cake pops, Caramel filled cookies, and shortbread.  It was so much fun!  Totally better than eating fondant (yuck) covered dry (sometimes) wedding cake.  All the guests got to ooh and ahh and decide what they wanted and eat their pops on a stick while heading off  to the dance floor.

So if you have an event to plan, this is an idea for you and how to plan and make it.  You could also scale this down of course and use the ideas and recipes for wedding showers, baby showers, graduation parties, retirement parties, birthdays, etc.  Or as another person put in the comments below – spray paint the styrofoam grey and use it as a graveyard at Halloween.  Use heart shapes for Valentines, stack squares for fun favors like the super easy marshmallow pops here.

The colors for this wedding were kelly green, yellow and black.

Dessert Buffet
yield 180 guests

5 plain cheesecakes (they requested no toppings like chocolate, caramel, cherry, etc.)
50 mini cheesecakes
50 pumpkin cake pops (my favorite!)
50 dark chocolate cake pops
50 Oreo truffle pops
32 shortbread wedges
80 Caramel filled cookies

1.  At least 6 weeks before event write down all the ingredients and purchase them.  Make double sure everything is in order and you always have extras like lollipop sticks.  Lollipop sticks can be found at Michaels or other hobby shops.
2.   4 weeks before wedding:  Bake Caramel filled cookies.  Allow to cool and place on plates and in freezer bags.  Freeze.  Double wrap if freezing longer than 3-4 weeks.  Thaw at room temperature night before.
3.  4 weeks before event:  Bake shortbread recipe.  Cut the recipe in half and use a springform 9″ pan.  10 minutes after it is out of the oven, release the ring around the pan and cool completely.  Freeze in freezer bag.  Double wrap if freezing longer than 1 week.  Thaw at room temperature night before.
4.  3 weeks before event:  Bake dark chocolate cake from scratch or a box in a 9×13 pan.  Mix with 1/4 cup +1-2Tb. of dark chocolate frosting.  Mix this up in a dough then follow the steps found on the Oreo Truffle Pop blog post to put the cake on the pop using a small cookie scoop (1.5 Tb.).  Dip in dark chocolate chips melted with 2 tsp. shortening or chocolate almond bark.  Freeze in freezer bags.  Thaw in FRIDGE first overnight, then set out the day of the event.  Or the chocolate will have condensation on it.
5.  3 weeks before event:  Bake pumpkin cake from scratch or a box in a 9×13 pan.  Mix with 1/4 cup +1-2 Tb. of cream cheese frosting.  Mix this up in a dough then follow the steps found on the Oreo Truffle Pop blog post to put the cake on the pop using a small cookie scoop (1.5 Tb.).  Dip in white chocolate chips or white almond bark.  Freeze in freezer bags.  Thaw in FRIDGE first overnight, then set out the day of the event.  Or the chocolate will have condensation on it.
6.  1 week before event:  Bake and make Oreo Truffle Pops.  Store airtight in the fridge.  Don’t freeze cream cheese – it is not very good when it thaws.
7.  Day before event:  Bake Mini Cheesecakes using recipe here.  **TIP** For super smooth awesome cheesecakes: always always have everything at room temperature.  The eggs, cream cheese and flavorings need to be at room temperature.  These taste great using 2 Tb. lemon juice, or 1 Tb. of vanilla.  Top with cherries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, drizzled chocolate, caramel, chocolate chips, etc.
8.   Day before event:  Bake your favorite cheesecake recipe.
9.   Day of the event:  I drizzle the pops and cookies the day of just in case it cracks.  But you could do it before and just freeze it if you are not going to have dozens of people taking photos.  Drizzle with almond bark, chocolate chips mixed with 2 tsp. shortening, candy melts mixed with 1-2 tsp. of shortening or almond bark, etc.
10.  Place everything on plates and styrofoam and enjoy!  The pumpkin pops below were placed normally.  The chocolate pops had a few placed at an angle through the styrofoam making that neat zig zag on the outside.

To Make Styrofoam Tiers

You will need:  scissors, ribbon, sewing pins and 3 tiers of styrofoam

1.  I purchased the styrofoam tiers at Dallas Foam.  They have all shapes and sizes and the least expensive I could find anywhere.  I used 1 – 14″ circle that was 3″ high, 1 – 10″ circle that was 3″ high, and 1- 6″ circle that was 3″ high.
2.  Purchase ribbon at Michaels or any craft store.
3.  Take sewing pins with small heads to attach the ribbon to the side of the tier.  Wrap around and cut and place with another pin.  Two pins this time to secure it.  The foam I had looked like it had a seam on one side of every tier, so I tried to match that up to make it look smooth all around.  Do this for every tier.

4.  Stack tiers and secure with masking tape under each tier or use small wooden dowel rods.
5.  Place cake pops in them.

Linked up to skiptomylou.org

http://saynotsweetanne.com/2012/sweet-sharing-monday-3/