I am so pleased to welcome the lovely and talented Emily Smith of Tempting Cake to share a few of her top tips on creating a gorgeous dessert table for your wedding. Not only does she bake the most delicious cakes, cupcakes, cookies and treats but she presents them exquisitely too.

Tempting Tables are Tempting Cake's answer to a dessert table, cake bar, candy buffet and/or sweetie table. Each table is creatively styled around a theme or colour palette to perfectly fit each celebration, from birthdays to bridal showers and, of course, weddings.

Have a peek at her work and you'll see just why they're called Tempting Tables!

Pure White Tempting Table by Tempting Cake | Photos by Liesl Cheney Photography

See what I mean? Utterly gorgeous and I am a little bit in love with that wedding cake!

Ok over to Emily, our dessert table expert…

How To Create A Dessert Table 

Dessert tables have really hit the headlines recently and stylish table fayre is set to continue to be a huge trend for weddings and other events. A Tempting Table dessert table is a popular choice for many reasons, but mainly for adding interest and décor to what might otherwise be a blank corner of your reception space and for providing a spread of delectable desserts for your wedding guests.

If you’re looking to create some dessert magic of your own, here are our 5 top tips for creating a Tempting Table:

1. Dream it

Think of one key thing which will act as the inspiration for your Tempting Table. Maybe it’s the design of your invitations, your colour scheme, your flowers or perhaps a favourite dessert. Whatever it is, it helps to have a focal point around which to design the rest of your Tempting Table.

Purple and Turquoise Tempting Table by Tempting Cake | Photos by Liesl Cheney Photography

At the core of this Tempting Table were our company colours of purple and turquoise. Implementing a colour palette to be used across all the items on the table gives it a coordinated and cohesive look.

With this in mind, we created bites such as peppermint creams and mini cupcakes with lilac flowers, chocolate and lime sweeties and dessert canapés including lemon and vodka glitter jellies. Lavender was brought in a table top accessory and also referenced the Provencal style of the table. To prevent it becoming too contrived and over-styled, wicker and wooden display items were used.

2. Plan it

Tempting Tables take a lot of time, preparation and organisation to pull together, particularly since every one we do is bespoke, so make sure you leave yourself enough time to properly scope it out.

Lists are every bride’s best friend when planning a wedding and it will come as no surprise to know that Tempting Table planners use lots of them too to ensure that each one is delivered on time, on brief, to budget and with high attention paid to detail.

Moroccan Themed Tempting Table by Tempting Cake | Photos by Liesl Cheney Photography

3. Style it

There’s plenty to think about when styling your Tempting Table, including the backdrop, table covering, presentation dishes, labels and of course the sweet items themselves. And as the old adage goes, sometimes less is most definitely more so don’t be afraid of clear space on the table to give your Tempting Table the chance to breathe. Remember that the eye naturally seeks out order and a symmetrical design provides this structure.

This Tempting Table took advantage of the interior pillars and elaborate cornicing as the centre point of the design, with a huge spray of flowers providing a link between the table and the setting.

Pink and Gold Tempting Table by Tempting Cake | Photo by Bartek Wscisel Photography

If it’s well balanced with clean lines, a more unstructured look for a Tempting Table can also work well:

Black Tie Tempting Table by Tempting Cake | Photos by Liesl Cheney Photography

4. Make it

One of the benefits of a Tempting Table is that the design possibilities are endless and the potential to make it really unique for your wedding is huge. From a decoration perspective, if you can’t find what you’re after in the shops or don’t have a huge budget, then an option is to get creative and craft it yourself.

YouTube is a mine of useful tutorials and if you need to know how to make pretty much anything, from paper decorations to interesting labels chances are you’ll find a video on there.

The pale pink and ivory pompoms were introduced into this ballet inspired Tempting Table were created by decoration company Old Fashioned Knees Up to look like a ballerina tutu.



Ballet Inspired Tempting Table by Tempting Cake | Photo by Tempting Cake

Getting creative adds an even more personalised touch to your Tempting Table but will cost you your time, so enlist the help of your bridal party if necessary.

5. Taste it

Consider your guests when planning your menu. A Tempting Table catering for wedding guests aged 1-100 will involve different desserts and taste demands than one created for an intimate, adults only evening wedding reception. Introduce a mixture of flavours, textures and types of sweet items to provide variety and interest for your guests’ eyes and taste buds. Keep portions small and to bite-size dessert canapés.

And of course, do a trial run tasting session in the interests of quality control!

Seaside Themed Tempting Table by Tempting Cake | Photos by Liesl Cheney Photography

Many thanks to Emily for sharing her styling expertise with us today, find more tips, tricks and delicious treats on the Tempting Cake blog. These tips are a great starting point for styling your own wedding dessert table but bear in mind, if you do go the DIY route, it takes a lot of time and preparation.

Check out the Tempting Cake website to find out more about their gorgeous wedding cakes, cupcakes, cookies and bespoke Tempting Tables service. Tempting Cake is based in London, UK.

Which is your favourite Tempting Table?

(For me, it's a toss up between the pure white table and the seaside themed table!)