This photo shows how well light wood flooring looks against the rich variety of colors provided by the holiday tree. If you have darker wood floors, you get to look forward to the reflection of the trees lights in the glossy finish, adding to the charm of the room

But today we’re focusing on the cake in the foreground, to help you ensure that your holiday entertainment features desserts that are dressed for the season.

There are those people who bake their own cookies and cakes from scratch and pull out icing bags to decorate them in festive ways. But if you’re not one of those people, you can still create an appealing holiday look with your desserts.

This cake involves a couple of small artificial trees, some star twist in silver – available where gift wrap is sold – and three simply-decorated holiday cookies. The process is simple and fast but the result has pizazz.

Another option is to decorate the plate and leave the treats alone. Take a look at these cookies. They are simple iced sugar cookies and shortbread, but adding a sprig of holly turns them into holiday treats. You could also use pine or other holiday greenery – not miseltoe though – the berries are poisonous.

Here’s another cake that benefits from some holiday touches. Instead of inedible decorations, this cake has fresh raspberries and mint to mimic holly and berries. A bit of gold wire running around the cake matches the gold rim of the plate. The biggest advantage to these choices comes from taste. Both raspberries and mint complement the taste of chocolate, so you have decorations that also add to the flavor of the dessert. With little effort, these options make your desserts reflect the holidays.