Chocolate Dessert Board for Hosting

Who doesn’t love a beautiful platter of sweets?

Ditch the basic cheese board this year and create a Pinterest-worthy appetizer that your guests (and their Instagram followers) will never forget.

Now, originally my intention for this dessert board was to create it as a NYE date night-in for two. Let’s just say that I went a little overboard on picking out pretty candies and chocolates for that to be feasible at this point. Our pantry may or may not be totally stuffed with desserts from now until Valentine’s Day.

In any case, this chocolate dessert board is ideal for hosting special occasions like a fancy dinner or date night, housewarming, baby shower, wedding shower, engagement, Galentine’s Day… you name it. It is a wonderfully sneaky way to get out of slaving over the stovetop and/or oven all day, and instead throw together a gorgeous board in a matter of minutes. Minimal effort = major impact.

Today, I wanted to share how you can easily recreate this chocolate dessert board without breaking the bank.

Below, you’ll find my grocery list and tips for styling:

My agate serving platter is from Anthropologie and currently online for less than $80 which is truly shocking for the quality. For me, I know it is a piece that I will be using for years to come for everything from mini platters for date-night to a cocktail mixing station, and even a centerpiece base for flowers on our dining room table when hosting.

If you love it, I recommend snagging one now because in the last few times that I’ve popped into Anthropologie I’ve only seen 1 (and I bought it), which leads me to believe that they may be phasing them out.

They also have matching agate coasters if you really want to feel fancy (shop here)!

How to shop

I bought about half of the desserts from 2 local spots (a candy shop and a cafe) in Williamsburg and half from Trader Joe’s. You could easily grab everything you need in one grocery store run, but I love supporting our small businesses here in town, so I wanted to do a bit of both to keep the cost reasonable.

My shopping list:

French Macarons
Specialty Chocolate Truffles
Sea Salt Chocolate Caramels
Chocolate Peanut Butter Crisps
Chocolate Covered Pretzels (Trader Joe’s has a great variety pack)
Vanilla Meringue Cookies
Chocolate Cocoa Batons (rolled wafers)
Coconut Covered Cashews
Pink Roses (for decoration)
Baby’s Breath (for decoration)
Optional: Add in some fresh fruit in season like raspberries, strawberries, and figs. This adds an extra dimension to the board and an easy swap for guests that don’t eat chocolate.

How to style

Start with the largest dessert items first. For me, this was my meringue cookies.
Slowly add in dessert items from large to small, spacing them out in thirds so that your board is balanced and your guests can easily grab any item from either side. Don’t worry about items hanging off of the board; I personally think it looks better when it’s bit imperfect.
Leave the roses and baby’s breath for last to pop them in wherever you have white space to fill.

I would LOVE to see how your Chocolate Dessert Board turns out! Tag me in your post or stories on Instagram (@lifestylebyannaelizabeth) for a chance to be featured.

Want more recipes? Check out my Holiday Hot Toddy Recipe and Gluten Free Apple Cinnamon Blondie Skillet.

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xo Anna Elizabeth

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