Posted by Meredith Spears on June 08, 2010 09:38 a.m.
In a recent Girls’ Night feature, we raved about hosting a Dessert Bar for all of your girlfriends. Enjoying bite-size treats with all your best friends present is pretty hard to beat – until you turn the lights down low and put a romantic spin on it with your significant other. There is little that’s more romantic than curling up on a big blanket in the soft, romantic glow of candlelight with your loved one, sharing a bottle of wine and a sweet treat – preferably without the use of utensils! Whether you’re on the banks of a local lake in the summertime, or just chilling out in your living room watching a romantic comedy, skipping dinner and going straight to the dessert is a great way to have some R&R with your honey – have your cake, and eat it too!
A dessert sampler is easily put together with little to no fuss. And you can either opt to make the deliciously sweet concoctions, or you can head to your local bakery or grocery store to stock up on some sweet items. From cookies, brownies, cheesecake bites, lemon squares, and petit fours, there are so many options to choose from, and because it’s all about finger-friendly, bite-size portions, you won’t need to buy or make much.
Start with which desserts you want to feature. For a great sampling, choose something sweet and fruity, something tart, and something decadent and chocolatey. This way, you have a different type of sweet to tempt and tease the palate, while at the same time getting to sample a variety of delicious treats!
Petit fours are usually a mini, bite-size iced layer cake that usually features some kind of a fruity filling. I recommend purchasing these to ensure the highest of quality, but you can attempt to make them as well. Try a regular white sponge cake with strawberry jam or raspberry curd filling and top it with a basic buttercream frosting. These can be decorated any way you like. Again, they can be rather tricky to concoct, so check out your local bakery if you’d rather leave the production and decoration to a professional.
Lemon squares are the perfect sweet-meets-tart treat, and the best thing about them is that they can easily be made. From mixes to recipes, you can bake these by yourself no matter your level of culinary expertise (or lack thereof). To stick with the small, bite-size theme, take one or two of the regular sized squares and slice them into quarters. To cover all your flavor bases, select something indulgently rich – read: chocolate – to round out your sampler.
Brownies or fudge are the easiest and most decadent go-to chocolate fixes, and again, both can be easily made. But if you’re short on time or don’t want to risk it, simply head to your local bakery or sweet shop and stock up on professionally made treats. To wash these glorious goodies down, try a sweet dessert wine or champagne, but make sure it’s light enough so it doesn’t overpower the flavors of your desserts, which are the main feature.
For presentation, you won’t need a large plate or serving tray, since everything is so small. Use a rectangular glass tray to serve your desserts on. Try using chocolate, caramel, and raspberry sauces to create three decorative “swooshes” across the plate for a sophisticated, restaurant-quality finish. Arrange the desserts however you wish, and add some mint as a garnish.
And remember – no forks allowed! Nothing beats feeding your sweetie sweets with your fingers, and sharing decadently rich desserts in this intimate way will certainly put your man in an amorous frame of mind. Who knew the blue glow of the TV could be so romantic?