As promised last week I will finally show you the dessert table that I created for my mum for her 50th birthday just over a week and a bit ago. Planning for this table was difficult because I was in the throes of pretty severe morning sickness and quite honestly I didn't have the mental capacity to try and think of how to put things together. The thought of any type of food sweet or savoury turned my stomach and my mum was pretty worried I wasn't going to be able to pull it off.... and I was a little worried for awhile there as well.

Thankfully we had a bit of time up our sleeves to carefully plan and brainstorm ideas over a period of time when I had moments of feeling like I could talk about food. We drew our inspiration from some of the tables of Amy Atlas and other's we had found on the web. I presented mum with a few different colour scheme ideas for her to choose from. We eventually settled upon pink, white and red with polka dots and stripes.

The next thing we had to decided was what on earth will we put on the dessert table. I knew I didn't have the time, energy or stomach power to cook and make a heap of little desserts to put on the table. I came across the "ice cream parlour" or make your own sundae idea in one of my web searches and it seemed do-able for me. All I had to do was make the cupcakes and we bought the rest of the lollies etc to go with the ice-cream. I chose lollies that matched the theme of our table and I really had fun buying these. We chose things like: - pink & white M & M's, strawberries and cream, raspberries, jaffa's, milk bottles, Corinthians, wafers, Turkish delight, honeycomb and sprinkles just to name a few.

Excuse the glad wrap on the containers. I took this photo thinking I would get another chance to take some more but never did. So imagine it without the cling wrap! :-)

I purchased matching fabrics for the backing board and table cloths and found similar coloured paper and card stock for the labels. I created the little cupcake toppers and mini flags myself as I could not find anything to match the colour theme we had created. I also went ahead and made the bunting flags and signs around the table also to fit the theme. I did all of this while I was lying on the couch!

Instead of buying heaps of different containers to display the lollies in, I raided my cupboards to see what I had that would match in with our theme. I came across martini glasses, tiered glass serving platters, ramekins, saucers, egg cups, and tea cups. I used these to create height and interest on the table and saving myself and my mum money in the long run.

The main cake for the party was a BIG chocolate cupcake with butter cream icing. I again made the "Happy 50th Birthday" cupcake topper and the bow on the cake itself. The rest of the normal sized cupcakes were Chocolate Cherry Ripe cupcakes with Butter cream icing. We supplied white noodle boxes to people at the end of the party to take home their cupcake if they hadn't eaten one and to take some left over lollies for the trip home. This went down a treat.

Chocolate Cherry Ripe Cupcakes

{Print Recipe}

Makes 24 Cupcakes

Ingredients:

150g Butter

1 ½ cups castor sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 ¼ cups water

2 ¼ cups plain flour

1/3 cups cocoa

1 ¼ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

3 x king size cherry ripe bars, cubed

Butter cream icing:

250g butter, room temperature

250g copha, room temperature

2 tsp vanilla essence (or cherry essence if you want)

750g icing sugar

1 ½ tbsp Pavlova magic

¼ cup water

Method:

Pre-heat oven

Beat the butter and sugar until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until combined. Sift together in a bowl – flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Transfer wet ingredients to a large bowl and carefully mix in dry ingredients and water. Slowly mix in cherry ripe pieces and stir until thoroughly combined, do not over beat though. Place spoonful of mixture into lined cupcake tin.

Butter cream icing: Add the copha, butter and vanilla into an electric mixer, beat until combined. (Make sure these ingredients are at room temperature or you will not get a smooth consistency) Add the icing sugar a cup at a time until combined. Add the Pavlova magic and water (add more icing sugar if the mixture is not thick enough) and beat on high for about 10 minutes. Colour in whatever shade you desire. Make sure the butter cream is covered when not using as it will form a

So all in all the dessert table ended up being a success. I was glad with how it turned out and it really made the night extra special. I know mum had a great night!