Recently, my sister-in-law, Eva, was honoured at an Alice in Wonderland-inspired baby shower… just two months before the anticipated arrival of my future niece or nephew! My mom and sisters and I had so much fun planning the details- a card box shaped like the Mad Hatter’s hat, red roses arranged in paint-dripped paint cans (“you can always paint the roses red”), pink flamingos (no croquet though!), a ‘guess-the-tea’ game (sure beats the ‘smell-the-diaper’ game!), framed quotes from the book/movie, skeleton keys, playing cards, etc… and of course theme-related desserts! With my younger sister being a Pastry Chef, the “regular” dessert planning was no problem at all (her beautiful dessert table display is pictured at the very bottom of this post). However, with the shower honouree being the one who usually prepares the gluten-free desserts for us (you know her best as Eva of Pastel Bakery), I was tasked with the challenge of taking over the GF desserts to give her a much-deserved rest on her special day!

With inspiration from Pinterest, Catch My Party, Google Images, my Pastry Chef sister and my own crazy mind, I enjoyed creating the following gluten-free treats for Eva and I (pictured above):

• Don’t be late’ blueberry macarons: Cuorenero brand macarons (found at Winners) with ‘clock details’ piped in Betty Crocker vanilla frosting
• We’re all mad’ strawberry teacup macarons: Cuorenero brand macarons with Efruti fruit slice candy ‘teacup handles’ (found at Whole Foods Unionville)
• ‘Down the rabbit hole’ brownie bites: Bob’s brownie mix brownies placed inside mini mason jars, piped with coloured Betty Crocker vanilla “grass” frosting (using Wilton grass tip #233), and topped with Annie’s vanilla bunny cookies
• ‘Queen of hearts’ raspberry tarts: El Peto tarts (found at Nature’s Emporium)
• ‘Paint the roses’ banana cupcakes: Betty Crocker GF yellow cake mix with organic banana added in, topped with coloured Betty Crocker vanilla “grass” frosting and Goody Good Stuff strawberry cream candies (found at Whole Foods Unionville) that looked like mini white and red roses
• ‘Always tea time’ rice krispie teapots: Rice Krispies brown rice flavour mixed with Kraft Jet-Puffed mini marshmallows and Let’s Do Sprinkels, then cut into teapot shapes using a Wilton teapot cookie cutter

To artfully display these GF treats (yet keep them safely out of the ‘gluten-contaminated’ hands of others at the party), I decorated a tall glass cake stand with blue tulle and a white ‘apron’ to look like Alice’s famous dress (pictured below) and placed ‘for-Eva-and-Mel-only’ signage on top (plus Eva made a “hands off!” announcement before the dessert table was officially “open”). Our family knows better by now, but it’s always best to be safe.

In the end, the shower was a success! Everyone seemed to enjoy the food, desserts, games and company! And most importantly, our guest of honour- adorned in her custom ‘Queen of Hearts’ headband- went home with a smile as big as the Cheshire cat’s!

Check out more of this party on Catch My Party.