Wedding Dessert Buffet Recipes (2024)

Table of Contents

Sorbet Bombe Cherry Blossom-Themed Desserts Frozen Strawberry Souffles Tropical Bombe Cold Cherry Soup Mini Chocolate-Covered Wedding Cakes Mini Doughnuts Champagne Gelee with Fresh Currants Lemon-Champagne Bombe Lemon Pavlovas Hazelnut Cheesecake Squares Miniature Candied Apples Meyer Lemon and Cream Cheese Pound Cake Blancmange Dessert-Wine Gelees with Citrus Fruit Marshmallow Tower Beignets Marzipan Cherries Roulade in Contrasting Flavors Miniature Angel Food Cakes Eggs in Nests Dessert "Potted" Chocolate Pudding Floating Islands in Rose Syrup Layered Gelee Sauternes Sabayon Mini Angel Food Cakes Strawberry Desserts Luster-Dusted Meringues Miniature White Cakes Old-Fashioned Yeast Doughnut Holes Sparkly Champagne Gelatin FAQs References

Sorbet Bombe

Chill out before your big day by making these delightful sorbet bombes. All you need is a mixer to soften the sorbet and a metal container or four (we used cake molds and a vase to get these shapes). Once the sorbet is smooth in consistency, spoon it into the containers (for visual flair, layer different flavors), and freeze overnight. At your wedding, just slice and serve! Lemon, peach, coconut, and pink-grapefruit sorbets are showcased in our versions, but you could easily substitute ice cream.

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Cherry Blossom-Themed Desserts

A coconut cake, mint candies, and rose melting moments cookies create a gorgeous pink color scheme for this cherry blossom-inspired dessert buffet.

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Frozen Strawberry Souffles

Perfect for a wedding with a color palette of pink or red, these souffles can be served at each table setting after dinner, or to make an even bigger statement, combine them on a dessert buffet with store-bought colorful pink and red candies, cakes, and cookies.

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Tropical Bombe

Shapely bombes, consisting of sorbets layered in molds and frozen, lend cool sophistication to a sweets table and are wonderful with cake. On the left, a tropical bombe made with lemon, coconut, and passion fruit.

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Cold Cherry Soup

Cold cherry soup is a wonderful dessert for guests to sip before or after the cake. Rubber-stamped napkins emphasize the soup's flavor and the felicitous tone of the entire day.

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Mini Chocolate-Covered Wedding Cakes

Fancy: Yes. Fussy: Not in the least. To make these mini chocolate-covered desserts, we poured a glaze over each cake and piped on lines -- and, in the case of the cake in the middle, circles -- of melted white chocolate. (Perch the cakes on a wire rack so excess glaze doesn't pool.) Then we gently dragged a toothpick through the lines to create the designs.

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Mini Doughnuts

End your wedding celebration with a few oh's (as in diminutive doughnuts) and ah's (as in the delighted response they're sure to evoke) by passing out these traditional breakfast treats. Serve with a cup of coffee (as shown here) or stack them on a dessert buffet for guests to enjoy.

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Champagne Gelee with Fresh Currants

This sophisticated and unique dessert idea is easy to make and beautiful to look at. Set it out on a buffet with like-colored desserts and you'll have a festive and themed after-dinner surprise for guests.

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Lemon-Champagne Bombe

This bombe features a mound of lemon and Champagne sorbets. It makes the perfect addition to a wedding cake, or it can be served on its own for a unique spin on a wedding dessert.

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Lemon Pavlovas

To create these whimsical pavlovas, clouds of meringue, perfumed with vanilla, are baked until crispy outside and marshmallow-soft within; each is topped with a pool of lemon curd and candied lemon slices. The desserts are presented on curvaceous ceramic saucers that echo the meringues' peaks and billows.

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Hazelnut Cheesecake Squares

These cheesecake squares blend three types of cheeses together with a hazelnut cookie crust for the ultimate in cheesecake squares. Arrange them with assorted yellow candies and sweets on Plexiglas trays, in addition to the wedding cake or in lieu of.

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Miniature Candied Apples

The diminutive scale of Lady apples transforms a fall favorite into a dainty nibble. Make guests feel like a kid again by displaying them on trays on a dessert buffet or serving them on passed trays after dinner.

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Meyer Lemon and Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Iced poppy-seed tea cakes are extra moist thanks to cream cheese in the batter. They make a great addition to a dessert buffet, or you can package them and give them to guests at the end of the night as wedding favors.

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Blancmange

For a delicious contrast, serve these puddings alongside chewy strips of candied lemon peel, available at gourmet shops and specialty candy stores.

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Dessert-Wine Gelees with Citrus Fruit

These sangria-inspired gelees, infused with sweet wines and subtly undercut with citrus flavors, are for sophisticated palates.

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Marshmallow Tower

Homemade marshmallows become even more special when dressed in a pastel version of your palette. When they're ready, stack 'em three high, spear with a cute, beaded toothpick (which comes in almost every imaginable color), and watch your guests gobble them up.

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Beignets

If you've ever been a guest at a wedding where a tired-looking cake lands with a thud on your plate toward the end of the night, you'll appreciate this grown-up twist on milk and cookies. Plush, pillowy beignets -- a New Orleans treat whose name is from the French word for "fritter" -- are spiced with nutmeg and dusted with sugar, and they taste really good with malted milkshakes.

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Marzipan Cherries

We covered dried sour cherries in marzipan and luster dust, then added faux leaves on top for a touch of gold. For the stems and leaves of these cherries, we dismantled gold plastic foliage.

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Roulade in Contrasting Flavors

Offer slices of roulade in contrasting flavors as an alternative to wedding cake. Yellow sponge cake is rolled with pistachio mousse, iced with whipped cream, and covered in white-chocolate bark. The Chocolate-Chestnut Roulade is filled and iced with a chestnut puree mixture and coated with dark-chocolate bark.

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Miniature Angel Food Cakes

Though it's not often served at weddings, angel food cake never disappoints. Guests will be delighted by these individual versions of the heavenly confection; each one is glazed and then topped with a single sugared flower (an edible rose, viola, or primrose), making them elegant enough to present either in lieu of a classic wedding cake or as part of a dessert buffet. Cake stands dusted with pale-pink sanding sugar give them the stature they deserve.

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Eggs in Nests Dessert

Like a tiny blizzard, spun sugar swirls around an eggshell filled with white-chocolate ice cream. This sweet dessert can be served preceding the cake or in place of it.

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"Potted" Chocolate Pudding

Celebrate the season of buds and new beginnings with pretty seedlings for guests to admire -- and savor. Composed of flowering herbs nestled in chocolaty "soil"-covered pudding, the decadent desserts are a sweet, witty symbol of your fresh start.

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Floating Islands in Rose Syrup

The light meringues and concentrated flavors of our floating islands in rose syrup require a wine with ample acidity yet enough sweetness to hold its own. Croft's Pink Port ($19), the venerable producer's first ever, fits the bill and then some. The dessert sipper has tickly sweet notes of raspberries, sour cherries, and oranges; a great, balancing acidity; and subtle notes of baking spices that accentuate the nutmeg sprinkled on the meringues.

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Layered Gelee

Poured into simple, modern glasses, these graphic layers of flavored gelee (rose water, ginger, lychee, and rose Champagne) elevate the childhood staple to wedding-worthy haute cuisine. Top them with a single cherry blossom.

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Sauternes Sabayon

Rich yet airy, this smooth dessert gets its lift from the whipped cream and can be incorporated on a dessert table with fluffy sweets such as macaroons and pavlovas.

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Mini Angel Food Cakes

Little in the pastry world is more charming than a perfectly constructed individual dessert, especially when it's drenched in icing and topped with a spun-sugar crown.

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Strawberry Desserts

Mini berry desserts make for enticing accompaniments. Vacherins (meringues topped with rose-water whipped cream and a slice of strawberry), panna cotta capped with strawberry gelatin, and strawberries and creme fraiche tarts all pay homage to the petite fruit.

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Luster-Dusted Meringues

One would think that meringues can't be improved upon, but dip them in a mix of luster dust and orange extract, and you'll think differently.

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Miniature White Cakes

Who says plain cake has to be, well, plain? Cut pieces from a sheet cake, frost them using a few simple techniques, and watch as your guests -- and their sugar cravings -- delight in their delicious differences.

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Old-Fashioned Yeast Doughnut Holes

Late-night snacks can feel as tired as the wedding guests who devour them. These doughnut holes, however, are a wake-up call in the form of a sugar rush. Simply ask your caterer to whip up a big batch in a variety of sugar-coated hues, and serve them to your (grateful) guests in metallic-gold paper cones.

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Sparkly Champagne Gelatin

For grown-ups only, our Champagne gelatin, paired with fresh whipped cream, will delight the young at heart and sophisticated of palate. (Use rose Champagne for a pink hue.)

FAQs

What is the most popular dessert for weddings? ›

Though wedding cake is arguably the most popular big-day dessert option, it's far from your only choice. If you and your partner are in the midst of dreaming up your wedding menu and want to offer something sweet in addition to or in place of a tiered cake, consider building a dessert table.

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What are easy wedding desserts? ›

Fruit tarts, chocolate strawberries, brownies, cookies, mini cheesecakes, and much more are all great options that let you and your guests enjoy whatever they want. You get to have your tasty cupcake, while your partner gets to scarf down a few cookies, win win for everyone!

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How many desserts do you need for a dessert buffet? ›

We recommend 2-4 items per guest, but don't worry, we'll help make sure you have enough servings to go around!

How much dessert for 60 people? ›

So how many desserts do you really need? If you are offering a full size dessert like a cupcake or a full size brownie, count on 1-2 per guest. With smaller desserts like cookies, macarons, bite size brownies, or mini tarts you can count on each guest taking 3 items from the various options.

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What is in a dessert buffet? ›

Your dessert buffet menu should emphasize easy-to-grab items. Bite-sized options like cupcakes, cookies, cake pops, macaroons and truffles are all easy to display. Chocolate-covered fruit and pretzels are a fun addition as well.

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Is a dessert table cheaper than a cake? ›

Here are a few things to consider when deciding if a dessert table is right for your wedding. They are more expensive! The most common misconception is that you save money because you have a smaller cake and then include less expensive desserts. While that's great in theory, it's not reality.

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What is the traditional dessert most couples serve? ›

Wedding Cake: a classic choice, and must-have dessert at many weddings; you can choose from various flavors, fillings, and designs to match your wedding style and theme. Cupcakes: if you want a fun and trendy alternative to wedding cake, consider serving cupcakes.

What is the most common food served at weddings? ›

In Western culture, a traditional wedding dinner often includes a salad course, a meat-based main course (often beef, chicken, or fish), and a dessert in addition to the wedding cake. In other cultures, wedding dinners might consist of many different courses, or even be buffet-style with a variety of traditional foods.

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What is the most common wedding cake? ›

Vanilla. It's no surprise that vanilla is the most popular wedding cake flavor. "Vanilla is timeless and classic," says Anna Bakes, a baker in Florida.

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What desserts are good for bridal party? ›

French favorites like macarons and eclairs are beloved options for bridal showers, as are classic sweets like brownies, cupcakes, and cookies. For a brunch, try muffins, scones, or crêpes, and for a warm-weather soirée, consider frozen desserts like ice cream or sorbet.

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