When My Daughter Turned Two: The Other Dessert Table

We are all too familiar with the children’s party scene nowadays. The host prepares a long table filled with delicious food. Then at the other corner of the room, the host spreads out an even more elaborate spread of food  — this time filled with delicious looking desserts! Obviously, this dessert table becomes the most popular and most photographed section of the party because this is where the prettiest things are displayed : the gigantic birthday cake, the cute as a button cupcakes, the thematic cookies, the chocolate covered cakepops plus all the colorful macarons, donuts, marshmallows and candies you can ever imagine!

But then we are also familiar with how most of the time, we (the adult guests) in the party, leave without tasting any of these desserts because we just know all too well that they are either : a) too sweet or b) too bland for our taste. In my case (being a dessert fanatic), more than half of the time, I am disappointed with the quality and taste of these very pretty desserts. They are pretty, yes, but they are also made of poor quality chocolate, laced with an enormous amount of white sugar and then covered in thick butter icing or frosting.

The kids are obviously not complaining and are perfectly happy with it. This is where they get their sugar-high anyway, much to the disdain of their mummies! 🙂 But what about us? What happens to the mummies, daddies and the other guests of the party who want to end their meal with a good and yummy dessert too? (Or is this really just me??)

Don’t get me wrong. I have my own share of children’s party dessert tables too — and honestly, I don’t think I will stop having them. As long as I still have my children’s parties, this will be a big part of it. Dessert tables are pretty and so fun to do! 🙂  But one thing I learned and which I want to share with all of you : always make sure that the bakers you get will not scrimp on the quality of the ingredients used, so that the taste  of your desserts will not be sacrificed in the name of cuteness. In short, you want a pretty looking cake that tastes like real cake. You want a chocolate cupcake that tastes like chocolate and not just sweet butter icing. You want a cookie that’s nice and pretty and one that you can actually eat and enjoy without destroying your teeth. 🙂

So at my daughter’s 2nd birthday party, I decided that aside from the dessert table filled with a lot of pretty sweet things for the children, I had another dessert table just for the adults only – who like me, are also looking for real and delicious desserts in a party.

Here’s what the other dessert table had :

Strawberry Fraisier Cake from Chef Miko Aspiras

He really doesn’t do Strawberry Shortcakes but since I requested him to do one for this party (I am a big lover of fresh strawberrries on cakes!), he willingly obliged. Truth be told, it came out well and the guests and I were just all praises for this delicious cake! As a side note, this young talented chef who is now with Raffles Fairmont Hotel, recently won a gold medal in the Hong Kong Food Exhibition last May 7-11,2013. Congratulations, Miko! 🙂

I’ve written about some of his cakes here, here and here.

Nutella Sansrival from Lovely Palanca

Imagine Nutella in crunchy meringue sansrival form. ‘Nuff said.

Butter Bars, also from Lovely Palanca

Moist, chewy, buttery. If you love butter – and this is good butter, this one is THE real butter cake.

Chocnut Cheesecake by Indulgence by Irene

I love my cheesecakes plain, simple and cheesy, but I also love the “Pinoy classic chocolate”, Chocnut. So when I found out that there is a baker who effectively combines both in one delicious dessert, I grabbed the chance and ordered it for the party.

Salted Caramel Chocolate Torte by Mara dela Rama of Dessert Du Jour

Of course anything Salted Caramel, I love. Imagine it mixed with Chocolate. Now, that’s even better! This is one perfect example of a sweet-salty combination that I couldn’t get enough of.

(I’ve written about this particular cake here and her other cake here too.)

Artisanal Ice Cream by Fog City Creamery

I’m big on ice cream. And nowadays, with the proliferation of artisanal ice cream makers, I feel even better! 🙂 Amongst the many homemade ice cream brands out there, I find that Fog City Creamery delivers the most premium quality. They make their ice cream creamy but not overly milky or sweet. The flavors of each ice cream are so pure and evident, as if I’m eating the real thing (and not just some bits and pieces of something that were added to some plain ice cream flavor). Their Ensaimada ice cream is the best example for this burst-in-your-mouth goodness.

For this party alone, there is one flavor from Fog City Creamery that I customized according to my liking. Guess which one it is? It’s the Banana Peanut Butter Nutella Ice Cream – a combination of all my favorite things in one scoop! 🙂

I’ve also written about their (other) Peanut Butter ice cream, this time with Reese’s and Chocolate Chips, here.

Ice cream toppings…

…and more ice cream toppings!! 🙂

Golden Spoon

For the “health conscious” guests in the party, I also had my favorite frozen yogurt, Golden Spoon.

 

They brought their best flavors : Old Fashioned Vanilla, Belgian Chocolate, Simply Tart, Strawberry and my ultimate favorite, Peanut Butter! 🙂

Everything was good especially when you have more bowls of yummy toppings like these!

The adult guests in the party had a wonderfully confusing and sweet day! They told me that they couldn’t decide which dessert to try first —  the cake, the ice cream or the frozen yogurt? In the end, I had a wonderfully sweet time too watching the mummies and daddies get their ultimate sugar high! 🙂

Chef Miko Aspiras – 0927-387-2703

Lovely Palanca – 0928-324-4051

Indulgence by Irene – 0922-830-3900

Mara dela Rama- 0917-803-6272

Fog City Creamery – 0917-883-3344

Golden Spoon – 0917-535-0062

Special thanks to Krissy Rodriguez Kairuz and Rica de Jesus for the photos!

**If you want to backtrack a little and see how I did my daughter’s 1st birthday party, click the link here : My Daughter’s First Birthday.