Image by Platings and Pairings 

Ah, dessert. The grand finale to a perfect meal!

You may already have your favorite desserts picked out, but this year, there is a wave of new dessert dishes trending across the globe. Now is the perfect time to find a new favorite!

2020 has brought a lot of changes to our lives. One of the things it has taught us is to celebrate the little victories in life. Whether you made it to work without getting sucked into the usual morning traffic jam or you got your to-do list done early, everyone deserves a treat sometimes! Dessert is one of the best ways to treat yourself, but maybe you’re looking for something a little bit more exciting than your usual chocolate-chip cookie dough ice cream. If so, this is the perfect blog for you! While watching 2020 unfold and pave the way for the course of 2021, we’ve identified a number of dessert trends that are beginning to spring up and are sure to make big waves this year. We wanted to share them with you so that you can have a chance to explore them early and find new favorites to share with your friends and family or impress party guests! 

1. Dessert Charcuterie Boards

Image by @zoesugg on Instagram

Designing charcuterie boards is a hobby that has been blowing up on social media. It’s not surprising considering how beautiful these boards can be, both aesthetically and in being so appetizing! 

There are so many resources to learn how to create these gorgeous dessert spreads, including yours truly! Not long ago, Table & Thyme helped cater a marriage conference for Church of the Highlands. The graze boxes we created for the event were filled with delicious treats that are sure to satisfy anyone’s sweet tooth, including our famous Chocolate Chip Cookies! For more info on that event and what went into those graze boxes, check out our blog post about it! 

Image by Kelly Nan 

Dessert boards are perfect for celebrating any holiday from Christmas, to Halloween, and of course Valentine’s Day. As we near Easter, creating a delicious spread of candies and sweets is an awesome and fun way to get into that Easter spirit! 

Image by unsplash.com

2. Petit Bites

2020 has impacted a lot of food trends by pushing for food and drink to be single-serve and individualized to prevent cross-contact with others and slow the spread of Covid-19. Despite the end of quarantine approaching in the coming months, this way of serving foods seems like it may continue for some time. Therefore, desserts are beginning to be catered to meet that specific goal; a growing popularity is forming on smaller servings for one in a variety of desserts!  

Mini-Layer Cakes

Image by Wood and Spoon

Lately, tiny cakes have been blowing up the internet! You might be thinking, “wouldn’t those just be cupcakes?” Not quite, rather, a cake for one (or two!). In shrinking down normal cakes, people have come up with an adorable style of dessert. There are a wide variety of these tiny cakes as well, from the typical layered cakes to Bento Box Cakes made for easy meal prepping! 

Macarons

Image by Bakers Royale

Macarons are not a new dessert by any means, but there seems to be a growing interest in delicate pastries and pastels in dessert as of late. Macarons, of course, fit this description perfectly! Not only are they beautiful little dessert bites, but macarons are a favorite sweet treat for a many for a reason! And, they are super easy to make. With this recipe by the Preppy Kitchen, you can have homemade French Macarons in less than 45 minutes! To really bring them to another level, check out some macaron painting inspiration to create your own masterpiece! 

Micro-Weddings

Image by Wed Me Good

In following the trends set by the events of 2020, making all aspects of events fit into a single-serve framework is something than you can probably expect for the next year or so. This means reducing guest lists and making dining experiences much more individualized at events such as weddings. With micro-weddings on the rise, a new tradition of shrinking the wedding cake into a collection of mini-cakes is starting to become popular. Again, these are not necessarily the same as cupcakes as they possess different tastes and textures as well as act as different design elements for the event itself. Regardless, these adorable and exquisite mini-cakes are the perfect touch for any wedding or event this year!

3. International Inspired Desserts

As we’ve moved our entire lives virtual, we’ve been exposed to a lot of new things from all around the world. This has led to the popularization of a number of international treats that we are sure you’ll love!

Japanese Mochi

Image by Bigger Bolder Baking

These tiny dessert balls may not look like much, but they are absolutely filled with flavor! Japanese mochi is a dallop of ice cream wrapped in deliciously sweet rice dough and served as tiny dessert bites! They are incredibly customizable so we encourage you to use this recipe by Bigger Bolder Baking and make them your own!

Dango

Image by Bokksu

Though this dish may look similar to the Japanese mochi, Dango is a totally different Japanese dessert that is highly celebrated by a lot of people! Also made with rice flour, dango is a scrumptious skewer of a few little dumplings with a variety of toppings! This particular dish is called ‘Hanami Dango’ and is created to reflect the passing of winter and blooming of spring (hint: look at the colors!) Who wouldn’t want to try something so sweet and unique while spring rapidly approaches? 

Japanese Sweet Roll Cake

Image by Indulge with Mimi

Finally, many people have been enjoying the fun of creating designs in their sweet roll cakes! Especially for people that enjoy desserts and sweetness when not in excess, this delectable Strawberries and Cream Roll Cake recipe is a great option!

There is no time like the present to try new things and when those things are desserts there’s really no way for anything to go wrong! We hope you enjoyed this list of up-and-coming dessert dishes for 2021 and if you tried any or found yourself a new favorite, be sure to let us know! 

For more information on Table and Thyme, contact them today! Follow us on our social media: Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and Pinterest to see the other amazing events, lavishing grazing tables and beautiful graze boxes we have created.