It’s carnival season, and that means one thing: it’s time to let the good times roll—straight onto the dessert table. If you are hosting a Mardi Gras viewing party or just want to bring some festive cheer to the office, the traditional purple, green, and gold color palette does all the heavy lifting. You don't need to be a master French pastry chef to pull this off; these ideas focus on vibrant colors and fun presentation to capture that high-energy parade vibe.
Quick goal: Create a stunning spread of carnival-themed sweets that look impressive but are surprisingly manageable to make.
Before you start (2-minute mindset)
Focus on the "Holy Trinity" of Mardi Gras colors.
- Purple represents justice, green represents faith, and gold represents power.
- Use gel food coloring for vibrant, saturated hues that don't water down your frosting.
- Don't worry about intricate piping; smooth swoops and sprinkles often look better than perfect rosettes.
The 10 ideas (easy wins)
Mix and match these concepts to fill your dessert board.
- Tri-Color Sheet Cake: Bake a simple vanilla sheet cake and use bold stripes of purple, green, and gold frosting for a graphic look.
- Individual Layer Slices: Cut a layered cake into clean rectangles to show off the colorful interior sponges.
- Masquerade Mask Cookies: Use a mask-shaped cookie cutter and flood with royal icing in the theme colors.
- Traditional King Cake: No party is complete without this brioche-style cake topped with glaze and colored sugar (don't forget the plastic baby!).
- Confetti Cookie Bars: For a denser treat, make blonde brownie bars topped with abstract swirls of festive frosting.
- Swirled Carnival Cupcakes: Pipe two or three colors of buttercream into a single swirl for a tie-dye effect on vanilla cupcakes.
- Dipped Pretzel Rods: Dip pretzels in colored candy melts and drizzle with contrasting colors for a salty-sweet snack.
- Gold Dust Cupcakes: Elevate simple cupcakes with a touch of edible gold glitter or luster dust on top of the frosting.
- Theme Macarons: Create a sophisticated platter with macarons in alternating purple, green, and yellow shells.
- Ruffle Buttercream Cake: Use a petal tip to pipe ruffles around the sides of a round cake for a texture that mimics parade float decorations.
Reference gallery
Use this like a mood board. Pick one that feels doable, then steal the idea — colors, shapes, and simple details.
Click any image to open it in the PixuVault modal.