How to Build a Beautiful Fruit and Dessert Board

 Create a beautiful fruit and dessert board to display mini desserts along with fresh fruit and lemon dip!

Put the finishing touch on your meal with a beautiful dessert and fruit board that everyone will love!

Love to linger over dessert? Extend your dinner table talk time with friends while they nibble on one-bite desserts, fresh fruit and berries and a luscious lemon dip.

A dessert board solves the problem of what to make for dessert when you’re entertaining friends.

While you may love pumpkin cheesecake,  strawberry rhubarb crisp, or bananas flambé, your friends may not share your tastes. Are they on a special diet? Avoiding sugar? Gluten-free?

Building a dessert board with a variety of choices keeps everyone happy. Those avoiding sugar can nibble on fresh fruit, and you can offer mini desserts for any special diet:  gluten-free, vegan, keto, paleo or low-calorie.

This dessert board includes three tiny desserts:  Mini Gluten-Free Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting, Sweet and Salty Chocolate Cashews and Lemon Curd Tarts.

Those one-bite wonders are surrounded by fresh grapes, strawberries and skewered blackberries, just waiting to be dipped into my favourite Lemon Curd Fruit Dip.

All of these items can be made days in advance and refrigerated or even frozen. Thaw and arrange on the day of your party!

Here’s what you’ll need to create this beautiful dessert fruit platter.

INGREDIENTS TO MAKE THIS FRUIT AND DIP DESSERT TRAY

• Fresh fruit: grapes, strawberries and blackberries (or your choice of fruit, keeping in mind to choose a variety of colours and textures and to choose in-season fruits)
• Easy Lemon Curd Fruit Dip
• Sweet and Salty Chocolate Nut Clusters
• Mini Gluten-Free Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
• Lemon Curd Tarts
• toothpicks
• a serving board, tray or platter

MAKE MOST OF THIS DESSERT BOARD IN ADVANCE

1. Begin by making 5-Minute Microwave Honey Lemon Curd. You’ll use this in the Lemon Curd Tarts and in the Lemon Curd Fruit Dip. You can make this up to a week in advance, or even longer if you freeze it.
2. Next, prepare the baked goods (Mini Gluten-Free Carrot Cake Cupcakes,  Lemon Curd Tarts and Sweet and Salty Chocolate Cashews). These mini desserts can all be made a few days in advance. Store in tightly covered containers or freeze.
3. Prepare Easy Lemon Curd Fruit Dip and store in refrigerator. You can make this up to a week ahead of time.

TIPS FOR ARRANGING A STUNNING FRUIT BOARD

1. For best flavour, choose fruit that is in season. Wash the fruit and berries and pat dry. Cut grapes into clusters of 4 – 6 grapes to make it easy for your guests to serve themselves. Skewer blackberries on toothpicks to make for easier dipping.
2. On the day you plan to serve this dessert fruit platter, arrange all items artistically on a board, platter or tray. Begin with the container of Lemon Curd Fruit Dip, put chocolate cashews in paper baking cups (if desired), position cupcakes and tarts, then arrange the fruit and berries to fill in the gaps.
3. Just for fun, tuck in mint sprigs or edible flowers like calendula, pansies, nasturtiums and lavender.

Serve to appreciative guests!

Use this guide to inspire your own fruit tray ideas! If you make a dessert board, I’d love to see it. Snap a photo, post it on Instagram and hashtag it #flavourandsavour!

How to Build a Beautiful Dessert and Fruit Board

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: North American

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Advance preparation time: 1 hour 50 minutes

Servings: 6

Calories: 79kcal

Author: Flavour & Savour

 Create a beautiful fruit and dessert board to display mini desserts along with fresh fruit and lemon curd dip!

Print Recipe

Ingredients

• 4 cups green grapes
• 12 strawberries
• 18 blackberries
• 6 lemon tarts
• 6 mini carrot cake cupcakes
• 6 chocolate nut clusters
• 1 cup lemon curd fruit dip

Instructions

• Prepare baked goods (carrot cake cupcakes, lemon tarts and chocolate cashews). 
• Prepare Easy Lemon Curd Fruit Dip and store in refrigerator.
• Wash fruit and berries and pat dry. Cut grapes into clusters of 4 - 6 grapes  to make it easy for your guests to serve themselves. Skewer blackberries on toothpicks. 
• Arrange all items artistically on a board, platter or tray. Begin with the container of Lemon Curd Fruit Dip, put chocolate cashews in paper baking cups if desired, position cupcakes and tarts, then arrange fruit and berries to fill in the gaps. 

Notes

Nutrition information is for fruit only, as it depends how much each person chooses to eat!

Nutrition

Calories: 79kcal | Carbohydrates: 20g | Sodium: 2mg | Potassium: 238mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 17g | Vitamin A: 1.6% | Vitamin C: 22.5% | Calcium: 1.6% | Iron: 2.8%

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