8 Adorable Desserts to Make for the Summer Olympics

While chips, dips and everything cheese-covered might suit your typical game-day buffet, there's something about the enterprising spirit of the Olympics that calls for a more special spread. These desserts are unmistakably on-theme, honoring the sports and symbols we typically see only every four years. But they also boast crowd-pleasing flavors and stay unfussy in their construction. In other words, they earn a gold medal for sure.

Fill sugar cones with your favorite cake batter, leaving some space at the top. Steady the cones in a muffin tin by bunching aluminum foil around the base of each one. Bake and let cool before adding a little frosting on top of each cone cake. To make the flames, melt orange and yellow candy melts and spread across a sheet of parchment paper in wavy strokes. Allow the candy to set, and then break it into shards and stand the pieces upright in the frosted cakes.

Bump, set, spike! This cake is the perfect serve (er, serving?). Spread blue frosting on top of a 13-by-9-inch cake in a rectangle shape, leaving an un-iced border about an inch wide. Then, fill in that border and the sides of the cake with vanilla buttercream. Pipe red frosting around the rectangle and twice across it to make the lines on the court. Then, pipe a single strip of white frosting across the middle to create the center line. Press brown sugar onto the sides of the cake to give it a "beach volleyball" theme (or leave the sides plain if indoor volleyball is more your style).

 

Fashion a net with two skewers and a strip of white paper taped in place. Finally, turn a white gumball into a mini volleyball by drawing on it with a black food-coloring marker.

Prepare three 3-ounce boxes of blue gelatin according to the package directions. Pour it into a clear 13-by-9-inch glass dish and refrigerate until set. Arrange graham cracker bears on top of the gelatin in a circle to make a team of synchronized swimmers. Line the pan with candy necklaces to create a buoy rope, and hang a mini bunting between skewers for extra decor. Now, who do we petition to make bear synchronized swimming an official Olympic sport?

Crisp-wafer chocolate candy bars make a sturdy base for this teeny-tiny gymnastics equipment. Use melted chocolate to attach pretzel rods to the candy bars. When the chocolate is set and the pretzels are sturdy, gently press cream-filled snack cakes on top.

We love a barbell you don't need Olympian-level strength to lift. To make these not-so-menacing cupcake toppers, cut a jumbo marshmallow in half and press the cut sides into each end of a pretzel rod. Dip the marshmallows in melted chocolate, sit the barbells on parchment paper, and let stand until the chocolate is firm. Use white icing to draw on some heavy-duty poundage, and serve on your favorite cupcakes.

Frost a 13-by-9-inch single-layer cake with green frosting. Pipe a line of white frosting around the edge of the cake to represent the sidelines. Then pipe a center line, a center circle and boxes on both ends of the cake to complete the field. Soccer-themed flag picks (which you can find at most party supply stores) make the cake extra festive.

This artistic sport inspires a snack with a fancy flourish. Dip large pretzel rods into melted white chocolate or white candy coating and allow to dry on parchment paper. Then, embellish the dipped pretzels with silver sugar pearls. Footlong fruit snacks make a fun, edible stand-in for fabric ribbon. Attach them to the ends of the wands with a little more melted chocolate or candy.