Part Two - Food & Dessert
I wanted to serve food for Allie's 1st birthday that I haven't done yet- at least the general idea, I always have fruit & veggies. Since Strawberry Shortcake owns the Berry Bitty Cafe, I decided to serve cafe/deli style food (even though I'm pretty sure she only serves dessert & smoothies).
I made two signs because initially the cafe menu was going to be bigger. Then I just decided to print it up rather than writing it on the poster board and it needed that extra something- so two cafe signs it was.
Lunch
Maggie & Allie's Berry Bitty Cafe served: Turkey sandwiches with white and honey wheat rolls, pasta salad, potato salad, tossed salad with toppings, cantaloupe soup, quiche (tomato & onion, broccoli & cheddar and spinach), chips, dip & plum salsa, strawberry pretzel salad, veggies, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries & oranges. I forgot to take pics of the drink station but we served kool-aid (orange, lemonade and tropical punch) & water bottles. The food labels were included with the printable pack I found.
Dessert Table
As I mentioned in the last post, my dream would be to have a table for each character, but that's just not realistic, so I had one dessert for each friend and several strawberry items. Plum Pudding is the only one that didn't make it on the dessert table, I couldn't think of any yummy plum desserts, so I made the plum salsa for her.
Dessert was also included on the cafe menu and is listed individually below with pictures. I like to elevate the cake on a box so it's the focal point/higher than my cupcakes stands. I wrapped a couple other boxes to give more dimension to the table plus added some water bottles and the plates & napkins to complete the table.
The Cake
Though it's not the most favorite dessert, it's still the focal point for me. As usual, I had a variety of ideas, including strawberry's hat, but in the end, decided on a two tier cake. The bottom was two round cakes, stacked, iced and covered with white fondant then pink and green polka dots- this was Maggie's layer. The top was a strawberry, at least as close as I could get and keep it stable. It had pink icing, with Allie's name and the seeds piped on, plus fondant leaves on top with the candle. Both were homemade strawberry cake- more dense than a strawberry flavored cake, but still yummy with the fresh strawberries in it.
The Cookies
These also take a lot of work and need a sub-category of their own. I start the sugar cookies several days before the party by making and baking the cookies one day and icing them another day; I keep them fresh in the freezer after they're completely dry and ready for stacking. I did 1's and 5's plus strawberries; I didn't think it was necessary to try and fit in other characters. These were enough work but maybe I should consider doing more in the future, they're always a favorite and the first to go.
The rest of the dessert table included two more strawberry desserts- shortcake (not pictured) plus ...
Strawberry Gooey Butter Cookies
Cherry Cheesecakes for "Cherry Jam"
Orange Creamsicle Cake Bites (cake pops without the stick) for "Orange Blossom"
Chocolate Cupcakes with Raspberry Icing for "Raspberry Torte"
Blueberry Muffin Bites for "Blueberry Muffin"
and Lemon Bars for "Lemon Meringue"
Dessert is probably my favorite part of putting birthday parties together (though decorations are such a close second, it's hard to really distinguish). So I very much enjoyed putting this table together. I was surprised by some desserts- like the lemon bars going and having so much strawberry shortcake & cheesecakes left and not by others- like the cookies and cake bites going quickly and having tons of chocolate cupcakes leftover. Still, I love how the dessert table looks and tastes. :)
