How to Make a Sugared Fruit Centerpiece

A sugared fruit centerpiece looks great on your holiday table or any time you want to dress your table for a festive occasion.

The holidays, or any special occasion for that matter, require a little something special for the table. Although I love using my flowers for a centerpiece, there are times, like during the winter, or even certain times during the growing season, where I just don't have the right materials available. You can always buy flowers at the store, but today I'm going to show you how to make a sugared fruit centerpiece that your guests will love.

Sugared Fruit Centerpiece

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How to Sugar Fruit

First, make sure it is washed and dried well.

Paint on, or dip the fruit into some egg whites. If you want to eat the fruit and are worried at all about the possibility of salmonella poisoning, I suggest you purchase powdered egg whites.  In this case, I am creating this centerpiece purely for decorative purposes and will make sure to keep it out of reach of small hands. However, you could just use powdered egg whites or switch out the arrangments with a simple edible centerpiece to eat for dessert.

After you dip or paint on the egg white, you can spoon on the sugar, or roll the fruit in it. I found that dipping the cherries and rolling them in the sugar worked well. However, that was a little harder to do with the larger pieces of fruit.

Creating the Centerpiece

First, you need to find something for the foundation. I'm using an old crystal tray with a slight lip on the edge. This is nice because you can remove it from the table pretty easily. Other trays or even cutting boards would work well. 

Next, you want some items to add height. I'm using a small cake stand and a little tin to offset the height of the candles. Play around with the larger pieces to get a feel of how you want to display the fruit.

Work with the largest pieces first and then fill in with the smaller fruit. Don't worry about it looking perfect. I don't think mine is, but I really like it and feel it adds something a little different and a nice sparkle to our holiday table.

Once dinner is served, I plan on moving the whole centerpiece to the buffet next to the table.

This sugared fruit centerpiece should last for several days, up to a week, depending on the heat and humidity of your home. 

It's one of those satisfying creative projects, where the beauty of nature makes it easy to create something beautiful. I hope you try it. I think you will love the results.

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How to Make a Sugared Fruit Centerpiece

Here's a sugared fruit centerpiece that looks great on your holiday table or any time you want to dress your table for a festive occasion.

Prep Time10 mins

Active Time25 mins

Total Time35 mins

Course: Home Decor Projects

Yield: 1

Author: Patti Estep

Cost: $20

Equipment

• Small paintbrush
• bowl for sugaring the fruit

Materials

• Fresh fruit of different sizes and colors - Smooth skin is best
• Serving tray
• Superfine sugar
• Egg Whites or powdered egg whites if you want to eat the fruit
• Candles

Instructions

• Wash and dry the fruit.
• Paint on or dip the fruit in egg whites.
• Spoon on the sugar, or roll the fruit in it.
• Find a base for your centerpiece a serving tray, low bowl, or a pretty cutting board works well.
• Create your centerpiece by adding the candles first. You can use a small tin can or a short cake plate to raise the height of the candles if you want.
• Then add the larger pieces of sugared fruit around the candles.
• Add smaller pieces of fruit around and on top of the larger pieces, turning the base to see all sides.

Notes

The sugared fruit centerpiece should last for several days, up to a week, depending on the heat and humidity of your home.