wedding dessert

[Julie in AZ]

I am looking for a dessert to serve at a wedding reception. I am doing all of the food and because of the stress factor, was going to have the bride purchase something from Costco/Sam's Club- However, I don't want to make all of this wonderful food and then have a boring dessert. So does anyone have any suggestions on something I can make that is relatively easy, can be made a day ahead, and at the same time, is delicious and elegant. I don't want much do I?

[Kerri]

You poor girl, but what a good friend you are! What about pound cake? I made one a few weeks ago, cut it in half, ate half (not all at once) and froze the other half. Then when I had company over I took the other half out of the freezer and it tasted great. You could make this a week ahead of time then freeze it. This can be a boring (simple) or as complicated as you want. You could add fresh berries and whip cream to the table and the guest can pile on what they want. CL had a feature where they had many different flavors in March, I think.

Good luck!

[goldilocks]

Julie,

Something that I saw recently (I was just married) that is becoming popular are cupcakes arranged in a tier fashion. You can buy/rent different sizes of cake stands and stack them on top of one another and arrange the cupcakes artfully. You can do different flavors of cupcakes on each tier. This is very trendy now and much easier than doing a layered cake. You can bake and frost a day before. With a little flowers and tulle, it would look stunning. You can even put a little bride and groom cake topper on the top layer of the cupcake!

If that idea does not appeal to you, cheesecakes are always good because you need to make them ahead of time to chill. The White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake in May 2000 is delicious, and very elegant. They are time consuming/labor intensive though. Another idea is Tiramisu. You could serve them in martini glasses. How many guests will there be?

From my experience, not many people eat dessert at weddings. I think the purpose of the dessert/cake is to be beautiful and artful. It will be in pictures and admired by the guests. Good Luck!!

[mightyh]

Here's a picture of a gorgeous (and over-priced, if you ask me) cupcake "cake." Friends had a baker copy it for their reception and it was stunning (and delicious). Thought the picture might give you ideas if you want to go that route.
http://tncweddings.women.com/tc/planning/cakes/29area11.htm

I originally logged on to suggest cheesecake, as well--specifically the lemon swirl one from May 2000? I'd practice it a few times before, though, so you can get it down. There are a million threads on how to make this recipe, so please take a look at those.

One final idea is cream puffs. They're pretty elegant and look like they're difficult to make, but they're really not. The only problem is that you'd have to fill them fairly close to reception time. I have a good recipe, if you'd like to try them.

Good luck. I'm sure it's stressful, but also exciting to be catering this!

[debg]

We served cheesecake at our wedding reception and it was a great big hit! We had tiers of other "cake", but the cheesecake was the 1st to go! I've seen them served in individual "cupcake" servings. So, you can make the cupcake tier using all the different flavors of cheesecakes! YUMMY! Anyway, I think you may be able to freeze some so you can cook ahead of time. Good luck and HAVE FUN!

[AndreaU]

I like debg's suggestion of cheesecake. Also, Kerri mentioned pound cake- how about taking it one step up on the fancy scale & making a trifle with fresh fruits and custard?

[Jessica]

I bucked tradition at my wedding and did not have a cake. Instead, we served chocolate and white chocolate dipped fruit and small cookies and pastries. The fruit is easy to do with melted chips and you can bake many cookies and things ahead of time and freeze them. It is not the most exciting dessert but it is tasty and fun, and a lot of people prefer a smaller and lighter treat.

[SusanL]

mightyh-it has been a long time since I looked at wedding websites, but I truly loved the idea of the cupcakes, that was very impressive and seems easy to make! Also, I think Jessica's ideas would be easy and economical to do, while still being impressive for a reception.
Julie, let us now what you are making, when you have time from all of your cooking/baking
http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif