Cakes, Cupcakes, and Other Sweet Treats
In my opinion, every party needs a sweet treat! Birthday cakes are always a wonderful choice, but there are many other great alternatives, such as cupcakes, cookies, ice cream sundaes, french macaroon towers, donuts, cake pops, or even a chocolate fountain.
Check out some of the fun sweet treat ideas we have used:
When I first started throwing parties, I obsessed over the beautiful cakes that I would see on various party blogs... AMAZING!! There are so many talented cake decorators with beautiful and delicious creations perfectly carrying out a theme. I am in awe of their work, but have come to realize that replicating them is not my strength. Baking for a party, in addition to all the other crafting elements, kinda stresses me out. For that reason, I now purchase the majority of the sweet treats displayed at parties.
There are times when I genuinely think that an event is worthy of an elaborate cake. Typically events aimed at adults (such as my recent 40th Birthday) can justify fancier cakes. Lucky for me, my dear friend Bobbi is a fantastic baker with an amazing creative eye. She created a pink champagne cake perfect for the occasion and incredibly tasty! In addition to Bobbi who bakes as a hobby, I am also a big fan of Amazing Cakes by Natalia.
After throwing quite a few kid-themed parties, I have learned a few lessons about dessert. I’ve watched so many slices of delicious (and often expensive) cake or cupcakes go into the trash - some untouched, others with just the frosting licked off. It stung my frugal core! Now, I tend to go with inexpensive grocery store items and embellish them with paper toppers or even small toys.
Our local grocery store is willing to make plain cakes or cupcakes to order and then I use my Silhouette Cameo electronic cutter to make cupcake or cake toppers (you can purchase toppers too!). I use tiered stands or stacked cake plates to create a centerpiece with the cupcakes. This way the treats look nice, don’t take too much time to create, don’t stress me out, and don’t upset me (as much) when I have to compost most of each serving.
Check out some of these Silhouette tutorials if you are interested in making your own cake or cupcake embellishments:
Halloween Shrink Paper - Cupcake Topper Tutorial
Silhouette Cake Topper Tutorial
Flamingo Cupcake Wrapper Tutorial
You can buy adorable cake or cupcake toppers on Etsy, too. Check out these vendors:
Custom Cake Topper from Cutesy Candas
Toppers from Inspired Engraving
Before I had my third child, I liked to make themed sugar cookies for parties. Wrapped in bags and embellished with ribbon and themed tags, they make appreciated party favors or are a big hit when they are served. Unfortunately, I don’t quite get to making them any more, but I am lucky to have an amazing cookie baker friend, Erika of I Dream of Parties.
For other parties, we have moved away from traditional cake products. For my daughter’s 12th birthday, we make a tabletop donut wall and the guests enjoyed Krispy Kremes. It was just as impressive as cake for that crowd.
