Fandango Catering Offers Ideas for Serving Dish Desserts

Often people are unsure how to serve "dish" desserts such as dessert shots, sorbets, mousses, etc. nicely.  Today we offer ideas for serving these types of desserts attractively.

There are really only two things to keep in mind:

• Will the desserts be served buffet style?
• Or will they be served at a sit-down dinner?

Buffet Style
If these types of desserts are served buffet style, the best thing to do is to already put them into their small dishes a while before your event starts if you have room (say in the fridge or freezer).  If you don't have room in the fridge or freezer, serve or have someone serve them right before your event. 

The point is that having some kind of large serving piece--a bowl, trifle dish, casserole, or whatever--on a buffet from which people are to serve themselves desserts leads to two undesirable outcomes: 1) serving from these large serving pieces as people help themselves (or even if someone serves them) will leave the serving pieces messy with drips or crumbs or both and 2) guests will be more hesitant to serve themselves from a large dish than if the same desserts are already put out in small dishes or glasses for guests to take.  This is why there's less waste if you serve these types of desserts in small dishes or glasses before your event starts. Plus it just looks nicer if the desserts are dished up, no spills or crumbs, beforehand.

Seated Dinner
If these types of desserts are served at a seated dinner party, it looks nicer to put them on small plates, slightly off center, one dessert dish-on-plate for each guest.  To fill in the rest of the space on the little plates put a berry or two, a small cookie or profiterole or truffle or chocolate, a sprig or two of a fresh herb, a cherry or crabapple with stem, or a tiny cluster of champagne grapes.

Another idea for a seated dinner is to have someone serve the small dessert dishes only, no little plates under them, by going around the table and laying one at each place when time comes for dessert.  In some ways this is easier BUT someone, volunteer or hired, must be willing to go around the table doing this.

Or if you decide to have dessert and coffee in another room, opt for buffet style as above to serve these types of desserts, or take in trays with the dessert dishes already prepared and lay them on a table or sideboard in the room you'll be taking dessert and coffee in.

Warmly,

Kristina

Fandango Catering and Events
(713) 522-0077
www.fandango-catering.com