I'm noticing a lot of "sweet boards" at events, parties and online these days, alongside the regular savoury cheese and charcuterie boards. What better time of year to put together a sweet treat board, than at Valentine's Day.
A sweet board is perfect for kids parties, large family events, and even for adult only events, as nothing gets two people talking like memories and stories of candy and childhood. Seeing as Valentine's Day, the largest candy sales day of the year, is fast approaching, go for it - let your candy dreams fly! (Disclaimer: While I usually keep a tight reign on my sugar intake levels, I do believe that everything in moderation is a healthy approach to eating, so I'm letting go a bit with this board).
When building my "Sweets For My Sweetheart" board I was intentional about the ingredients I purchased. Here are the three things I looked for:
1. A good mix of textures - some soft options, some crunchy, and some hard.
2. Keep an eye on flavours, ensure that all palette preferences are included - sweet, sour, savoury and spicy (hot).
3. Keep the colour palette festive, using pink, red and ombre effects. Look to included some neutrals (popcorn) and darks (dark chocolate) to ground the board and provide balance.
When building a board, both savoury and sweet, presentation is important. We eat with our eyes first, so displaying a variety of Valentine's Day colour co-ordinated ingredients in different heights, shapes and sizes engages people with what they are eating.
For this sweet board, I started a large white tray. I wanted to keep some consistency with the base colour (flavoured popcorn, a neutral). A relatively neutral board base allows the colours of the candy in the ramekins to pop! To highlight some Valentine's themed colours & patterns I added "pie" shaped accents to the base using Hershey hugs & kisses. I then added different candy to vessels of different heights and colours - some metal charlotte molds (with heart handles), small red ramekins, an individual pink cake stand and large white ramekins.
The candy or ingredient varieties you choose to use when building a "Sweets For Your Sweetheart" board is entirely up to your personal preference. Availability of candies will make a difference to your board. I have provided a starting point for you, with a list of the ingredients I used and readily found in shops, below.
Sweets For My Sweetheart Treat Board Ingredient Suggestions:
For The Base
Popcorn (plain or flavoured - white chocolate or white cheddar keep the neutral palette)
Hershey Kisses & Hugs
Twizzlers liquorice as dividers
For The Filler (shown in photo below, clockwise from the top)
Gummy Cupidmix hearts
Red citrus flavoured gummies
Australian raspberry liquorice
Cinnamon hearts, small
Dark chocolate covered cranberries (love the tart and sweet combo!)
Heart jellybeans
Swedish berries
Jelly Belly candy coated raspberry hearts
Sour cherry gummies
Conversation hearts (in the middle)
For Some Height
Strawberry Pocky
Chocolate heart/lip lollipops
I hope you have fun building "Sweet Treats For Your Sweetheart" boards! Please make sure to comment below or post photos to #mykuratedlife - I'd love to see your creations.
Stay tuned for my savoury Valentine's Cheese and Charcuterie Board, coming soon to the blog...
Happy Sweet Treat Day,
Krista xo
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