Pumpkin Frosting Dessert Board (Buttercream Charcuterie)

Sweeten up your fall parties and family gatherings with this easy to make Pumpkin Frosting Dessert Board. This eye catching frosting charcuterie board can be filled with all your favorite treats to dip into tasty frosting. It adds a festive touch to your holiday meals.

This frosting dessert board is a twist on the viral butter boards trend that has been going around on social media. Instead of spreading flavored butter on a board its been swapped out with sweet frosting to create a dessert board. While a traditional charcuterie board is filled with savory items like cheese and meat this board is made to satisfy your sweet tooth. 

What is a buttercream board?

This is a type of dessert charcuterie board that you make with frosting and your favorite sweet or salty dippers. You can spread on the frosting or pipe it on the board into a decorative shape.

You can use store bought cans of frosting or make your own homemade buttercream frosting.

Once you have your frosting putting together this board is so easy to do. Here’s what you’ll need.

Ingredients for this Pumpkin Buttercream Board:

Ready made frosting or homemade buttercream frosting – See below for tips on frosting

Orange food coloring – I prefer to use gel food coloring as this gives the frosting a more intense color

Tubes of premade frosting – you’ll want small tubes of green and brown premade frosting

Favorite dippers – offer a variety of cookies with your frosting board:

• Chocolate chip cookies
• Oatmeal Cookies
• Vanilla Wafers
• Shortbread Cookies
• Graham Crackers
• Gingerbread Cookies
• Oreo Cookies and Golden Oreos
• Sugar Cookies
• Vanilla, Chocolate or Strawberry Wafer Cookies
• Pirouline Cookies
• Candy – try Mellowcream candy pumpkins, fall shaped chocolate, toffee squares, chocolate chips and fall colored M&M’s
• Marshmallows – look for some of the fall flavored marshmallow such as Jet Puffed Pumpkin Spice Mallows or Campfire brand holiday flavored marshmallows (they have pumpkin, gingerbread and maple flavors) or go with mini marshmallows.

Use regular sized cookies and salty treats or go with a mini version. I’ve found mini cookies and mini chocolate chip cookies. Pick your favorite cookies to serve with the board. The best cookies to use are those that are firm enough to hold up to scooping the frosting.

You can also use other salty treats such as nuts and pretzel sticks to add to your frosting board. The salt flavor goes great with the other sweet treats.

You’ll also need the following items:

• Piping Bag or Pastry Bag – you will need 4 piping bags (pumpkin, green vines, green leaves and brown stem). You can use disposable bags or reusable bags if desired.
• Cake Decorating Tips – you’ll need a larger sized tip to pipe the pumpkin shape (1A round), a tip to create the leave shapes (#352 tip) and a smaller round tip (#4) to make the vines as well as make the stem.
• Offset Spatula
• Charcuterie Board – you can use a wooden board or see the FAQ’s below for some other tips on other items to use.

How to make this Pumpkin Buttercream Board:

Start by coloring your frosting. Place your frosting into a bowl. Add the orange food coloring, a few drops at a time, mixing after each addition with a hand mixer, until the frosting is orange like a pumpkin.

Place the cake decorating tip with a large round hole in the piping bag. Scoop the orange frosting into a piping bag. Using the frosting, create the outline of a pumpkin in the center of your serving board or charcuterie board.

The size pumpkin you create will depend upon the size of your board and also if you are creating it with the board vertically (as shown above) or if you turn the board horizontally.

Fill in the pumpkin outline with more frosting. You’ll want to save some of the orange frosting to give the pumpkin more definition.

Use the offset spatula to spread the frosting evenly and smooth it out.

Using the last of the orange frosting to outline the pumpkin and to add two lines in the middle to help define the pumpkin shape. Use the offset spatula to gently flatten the frosting.

Using a #4 tip and the brown frosting pipe out the outline of the stem and fill it in. Smooth out the frosting.

Using the #4 tip and green frosting, pipe out several vine shapes on the pumpkin.

Using the #352 tip and the green frosting, pipe out several leaves near the stem or on the vine.

Fill in the space around the frosting with your dippers. You’ll want to start by layering your dippers starting at the corners and filling in toward the frosting.

Start by placing the larger sized cookies in the corners as you will have the space for them. Layer in a variety of your cookie dippers. Try to vary the color and texture of the dippers. The board will look more balanced when you don’t have a large number of similar dippers or dipper color/texture next to each other.

Fill in the white spaces with small candies such as fall colored M&M’s, pumpkin candies and shaped chocolates.

Frosting Tips:

For this dessert board you can make your own homemade buttercream frosting. Check this recipe out here.

If you make your own frosting you’ll need food coloring to create the orange, green and brown frosting colors needed for this board.

Looking for a faster way to create the frosting you need?

Check out Amazon, your local grocery store or your local craft store such as Michael’s. You can purchase colored ready made frosting to create this board.

At Michael’s you’ll find Sweet Tooth Fairy brand frosting. They have pre-colored frosting in a variety of colors as well as large sized containers of white frosting as well as food coloring. They also carry a wide range of cake decorating tips, pastry bags and disposable piping bags.

Amazon also has pre-colored frosting (tubes and tubs), cake decorating tips, piping bags and food coloring.

How do you eat a buttercream board?

Your guests will love how easy it is to enjoy this buttercream board. Simply pick your dipper and scoop up a bit of frosting and eat.

If desired, you can also add several small cheese spreaders or spoons to use to use instead of dipping your cookies.

How to store leftovers:

The best way to store leftovers is to place any remaining buttercream frosting into an airtight container. It can be stored several days at room temperature or you can store it in the refrigerator. If stored in the refrigerator you’ll want to allow the frosting to come to room temperature to make it easier to spread.

Separate the remaining ingredients into containers or storage bags.

What do you use as a charcuterie board?

Often wooden boards or large platters are used to create charcuterie boards.

No board or platter available? No worries. You can easily use a baking sheet (or two) in place of a platter. If your baking sheet has an raised edge that will help keep everything on the board.

Is your baking sheet discolored from use? You can line the baking sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper if desired to hide any discoloration.

Don’t have a tray with an edge? You can also use a wooden board or cutting boards in place of the tray.

Baking sheets are a simple charcuterie board that have an edge which helps keep the different items in place. Its an inexpensive charcuterie board swap as most people have baking pans in their homes. This is a great way to save money if you are on a tight budget.

What to serve with this board:

Don’t forget to include a selection of drinks for your guests.

Try some of these fall themed drinks:

• Apple Cider
• Cranberry Spritzer – make this by mixing half cranberry juice with half ginger ale. Add a few fresh cranberries into the drink to dress it up.
• Hot Mulled Cider
• Fall Punch – mix equal amounts of cranberry juice, orange juice and Sprite (lemon-lime soda) together. Top with orange slices and fresh cranberries.
• Pumpkin Spice Lattes – this is one of our favorite fall drinks. Whip up a big batch to share with all your guests. Get the recipe here.

Love the look of charcuterie boards? Check out these boards for your next party:

Breakfast Grazing Board – made with all your favorite breakfast foods, fresh fruit, sausages and more. This is a great recipe to serve for family gatherings.

Patriotic Cheese and Dessert Board – serve up cheese and cracker appetizers as well a quick dessert topped with fresh fruit and whipped topping.

Skull Frosting Halloween Dessert Board – perfect dessert for your next Halloween party. So cute and easy to make.

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You might also enjoy some of these recipes:

Turkey Rice Soup – this delicious soup is so easy to make and uses Thanksgiving leftovers.

Easy Pumpkin Chili Recipe – this beef based chili has a creamy texture from the pumpkin. It’s a great way to sneak in a little extra nutrition. No one will know the pumpkin is in this recipe!

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