A fun presentation for any dessert is “dessert on a stick.” Simply take your favorite dessert, cut it into a piece that’s 3-4 bites in size, skewer it, garnish it (if desired) and arrange. Below are some helpful hints to get you started.
- To create the right-sized pieces of pound cake, use cookie cutters. You can cut ½-inch slices of pound cake into heart, flower, or other seasonal shapes. Decorate as you would a sugar cookie, by dipping the pound cake in chocolate, drawing on it with icing, or putting down a white icing base and sprinkling colored sugar on top.
- For cheesecake bites, it’s great to have a mix of cheesecake and graham crackers. Defrost a cheesecake thoroughly and mix the filling and graham cracker crust together, then portion into small balls using a melon baller. Decorate with sugar, chocolate, nuts, and/or icing, then skewer. Freeze slightly before serving so the bites hold their shape.
- Layer cakes, such as chocolate or coconut, benefit from separating the layers and skewering each layer separately. To do so, take apart a layer cake at the layers. Cut each layer, with its icing, into manageable pieces. Skewer, decorate and serve.
- Skewered desserts are amazing with dipping sauces. Serve them with an assortment of your favorite jarred toppings. Or, for a quick berry sauce, puree a cup of washed berries (any kind, making sure to remove any stems) with ½ cup of powdered sugar and one teaspoon of lemon juice. Strain through a fine mesh strainer. To make a thicker sauce, add more powdered sugar. For a thinner sauce, add water.
- Once you have an assortment of desserts, you can display them either on platters or plates. Or you can stand them up in decorative vases and tall glasses by putting florists’ foam into the vase and inserting the skewered desserts into the foam.