A graduation dessert table

Last week, my husband graduated with his PhD. Finally. After the ceremony, we had a lovely backyard barbecue, with requisite dessert table.

I made cookies n' cream cupcakes (his favorite, my own recipe), brown butter rice krispy treats (recipe from Smitten Kitchen), double-chocolate cookies with sea salt, cake pops, and champagne lollipops. Yum, yum. I was going to make chocolate French macarons as well, but luckily, I had a reality check. And a short time frame.

I was reading someone's blog post about dessert tables a couple of weeks ago (not a great story because I can't remember what blog), but the main point of this post was that "this awesome dessert table was done for only $40!" I thought, hmm. My tables never cost that much! Thinking about it, and looking at these photos, I think it's because I never buy anything new for my tables. The stands the cookies are on- I've had those since I was a professional cupcaker-ist. They are little glass ice cream dishes epoxy-d to glass plates. All from the thrift store. (Except for that silver one, that's inherited from a grandma.) The platter holding the rice krispy treats is one of my everyday white platters, and the cake pop one is from the dollar store. Cupcake tree- I have like 4, and they were all gifts. When you make a lot of cupcakes, most of your birthday and Christmas gifts involve cupcakes. Go figure. The owl lives on my credenza normally- he just got a quick cardstock and yarn graduation hat, along with those gold spray-painted sticks. And the fabric is just a large piece of white satiny stuff from my craft room. So really, for me, dessert tables come down to little details. And a color scheme! I make my own labels with just cardstock and sometimes ribbon, using this method to fake calligraphy. The rice krispy treats have little sticks in them (cheap on Etsy) with ribbon flags at the top. The background cost like $.50 in streamers from the dollar store. But overall, the effect is terrific. Right? And cheap!

Closer view of the sticks with ribbon flags. There in the corner are the lollipops. I love making them for my dessert tables, although they don't often get eaten. They are ridiculously easy. Sugar + water + corn syrup + flavoring, poured in little pools on a greased cookie sheet. Insert stick, add sprinkles, package in small plastic bag. Done. 

Another successful dessert table. Love doing these. Especially now that I have my credenza! Most favorite piece of furniture ever.