Wedding Trend: Dessert Buffets

In a trend away from the traditional tiered wedding cake, many brides and grooms are opting for dessert buffets. This choice has many advantages and is a nice alternative to traditional cake.

• Cater to a wide variety of tastes and preferences. We suggest including some traditional "cake," whether in the form of an actual cake slice or a mini cupcake, something for chocolate lovers (a rich brownie or a chocolate mousse cup), something light (such as a miniature fruit tart), something rich (like a cheesecake bite), and something for those who do not like chocolate (such as a pecan pie bar or lemon bar).
• Personalize your dessert menu by including favorites of the bride and groom, or favorites of family members.
• Allow your guests to enjoy dessert at their own pace throughout the event.
  

When considering a dessert buffet, you can forgo traditional cake all together, or incorporate a smaller presentation cake into the buffet. This way you can preserve tradition and offer variety.

When planning your buffet, consider the type of reception you are having. For instance, if you are having heavy hor d'oeuvres and then a dessert buffet, we would suggest allowing 2-3 pieces per person. Similarly, if you are having a heavier dinner, but then a long reception, you may also want to plan on 2-3 pieces per person, as people may graze after dinner and on throughout the night. Alternatively, if you are having a luncheon or a heavy dinner, then you may plan for fewer servings, such as 1.5-2 pieces per person.

Iron Cupcake Milwaukee -- Bacon

On Monday I participated in Iron Cupcake Milwaukee, a monthly local cupcake contest. Each month a theme is chosen and bakers, both professional and amateur (I use the term amateur here lightly, as you will see!), compete to create the best tasting cupcake using that theme. For a bargain price of $7 attendees can sample all of these offerings and then vote for the cupcake they think has the best flavor and also the entrant with the best presentation.

This month's theme was bacon....that's right, bacon! I was completely amazed and blown away at the creativity, thoughtfulness, and incredibly detail and labor that people put into their entries. The winning cupcake was painstakingly created by taking tiny circles of cake and layering them on a toothpick with bananas, peanut butter, and bacon, and was inspired by Elvis's favorite sandwich. Genius! And delicious! Another great idea was a play off of rumaki (bacon covered chicken livers). This "cupcake" was wrapped in bacon and although I didn't get a chance to taste it I heard buzz about it all night. Yet another favorite was a BLT cupcake that would make a great appetizer. It was a slightly sweet tomato cake topped with a mayonnaise butter cream and sprinkled with bacon and lettuce (and was created by a trio of cute young men dressed in coordinating black tuxes with pink satin bows, who ended up winning for best presentation)

I chose to participate to challenge myself to step outside the box of what I normally would make for the bakery. After several failed attempts (a bacon corn muffin with fig preserves and fig goat cheese butter cream, an apple cupcake with caramel butter cream and bacon toffee) I settled on a bacon cupcake with a blackberry jam schmear, vanilla butter cream and bacon toffee.

Second to the creativity and inspiration of the other bakers, the highlight of the evening for me was being able to see a cake from Bleeding Heart Bakery in Chicago that was presented to Iron Cupcake creator and founder Sandy Ploy in honor of her birthday. The owners of the bakery have competed on Food Network cake challenges and it was amazing to see there work up close and have a taste!

I am so intrigued by the custom people figures and definitely have that on my list of things to learn this year. What a fun and inspiring night! Who knew that bacon and cupcakes could bring so many people together? Next month's challenge is "Curry".......

Cupcake Segment on Fox 6 Wakeup!

We were invited to present a segment on cupcakes on the Fox 6 Wakeup Morning Show. What fun! But how does one condense all of one's enthusiasm and vast knowledge of cupcakes into 3 minutes?? I bet I could do a different 3 minute segment on cupcakes every week for a year!

Here is the first one:



Much thanks to Nicole Koglin and the rest of the Wake Up team. They were fun, witty, and put me at ease. Plus they kept saying the cupcakes smelled so good and started calling dibs on which ones they wanted. That makes a baker's day!

Keep an eye out for our new cupcake menu...coming soon!