How to Create An Opulent Dessert Table with Marie aka Arôme Cassis

As we speak over video call, Marie – the food stylist, chef and creator behind the beloved Instagram persona Arôme Cassis – is wrapped in the soft afternoon light streaming into her grandmother’s home in Cairo. Her tone is sun-drenched, full of memory and affection. “In our family home, where I stay when I’m over from my current hometown London we have a mango grove,” she says, smiling. “So, for instance, a lot of the desserts I like to create revolve around mango.”

Mangoes, for Marie, are more than a fruit – they’re a sense memory, tied to long summers and the scent of the kitchen. “My childhood was really spent in the kitchen and around the table” she adds. “Not just because of the food, which is so important in Egyptian – as well as Greek, Lebanese and Syrian, which is also part of my lineage – culture, but because it’s all about community. This is where we all come together.”

Cairo, where much of her inspiration is rooted, unfolds behind her stories like an open novel – vast and gloriously chaotic. “Cairo is a huge city,” she says, “the capital of Egypt and very, very busy. So vibrant. There’s so much beauty here – layers of old and new, depending on the area. Some parts feel like they’re frozen in time.” Just beyond the city’s restless thrum, the landscape shifts. Drive a little further, and the dunes begin – soft, expansive, holding the horizon in their hands. It’s a contrast Marie loves: the density of the city, and the stillness that waits just outside it.

Marie’s world unfolds slowly, like fruit ripening in a bowl of sun. Her food – lacquered pears standing upright like a gathering of monks, citrus shaped into little sculptures, tart crusts glossed with rhubarb ribbons or the sheen of pomegranate jelly – feels both ancient and gently futuristic.

Her universe – from spontaneously styled desserts to reflections on home and heritage – is infused with this layered geography. Every striped panna cotta, every sugared pear, every citrus wrapped in its own peel.

Homecoming and Blending Cultures

Marie first turned to food out of longing. While studying in London during lockdown, far from her family and Egypt’s warm kitchens, cooking became a way to feel closer to home. “I was just trying to recreate a feeling,” she says. What began as comfort quickly turned creative – a way to weave in the traditions of her upbringing with the culture of the UK, where she now lives with her fiancé. “I love how every place does things differently – a Sunday roast, picking sloes, dipping bread into oil and cheese,” she says. Her favorite meal, always, is a simple flatbread with olive oil, salty cheese, ripe tomatoes and a sprinkle of za’atar – something she says tastes different outside Egypt. “The produce there, even the tomatoes, are so concentrated, so full of flavour. It’s all memory.” That mixture – of nostalgia, of place, of blending – is at the heart of how she cooks.

Marie’s Guide to Creating and Styling the Perfect Dessert Table

Other than her favorite flatbread with herbs, Marie has a real penchant for baked things. Tart shells, sponge cakes, sugared biscuits – recipes she shares generously on Instagram. She herself is getting married this autumn – October, to be exact – and, as you’d expect, she’s already dreaming about the dessert table. “I’m still procrastinating the planning,” she laughs, “but I’ve started thinking seriously about the food. Especially the desserts. I want something that feels thought through and beautiful, but not intimidating. Something generous but refined.” One idea she’s playing with? “Like a whole table dedicated to ice cream,” she muses – more on that below.

In Egypt, she explains, weddings often feature lavish buffets. “Incredible food, really. But sometimes the way it’s all laid out – it’s like: here is everything. It loses some of the intimacy, the detail.” So instead, she’s imagining something more curated, “more delicate in gesture – but still fun, still a bit of a wow.”

For Marie, a successful dessert table is all about contrast: “Something fresh, and something rich. A light sorbet alongside something creamy or syrupy. That’s what I love – that tension.”

Fruit, Always

“Freshness is essential,” Marie says. “Especially fruit.” Wherever you are in the world, she recommends including something bright and seasonal – a necessary contrast to the richness of cakes or creams. In Egypt, that means mangoes in summer, citrus in winter. “They’re really emblematic of the seasons here,” she explains. “Mangoes in particular – some cities even rely on them economically. They’re like our national fruit.”

Her approach is simple. “They don’t need much. Just fresh, cold from the fridge. Sometimes I’ll pair them with something nutty or slightly salty, but they’re perfect on their own.”

And while her mangoes might be ripening under the Egyptian sun, the idea travels well: “Whatever’s in season – plums, blood oranges, apricots –  anything with freshness and bite. It brings balance. It lifts the whole table.”

Set Things, Surprise Things

“I love jellies,” she says. “And panna cottas. I grew up eating them – my grandmother used to make a vanilla one with cherries. I think that’s where the obsession started.” Now, it’s all about the mold. “Antique shapes, the surprise of inverting it and hoping it comes out whole – it feels ceremonial, like unveiling something.”

Jellies offer both form and texture: “They’re a statement. And not huge or complicated – but sculptural. They make people smile.”

The Hero Dessert

“I think it’s lovely to take one dessert and really run with it – say, ice cream. A whole table of it. Seasonal flavors, beautiful colors, a real playful moment. Especially in a hot country, that hits.” She lights up talking about Egypt’s gelato culture: “It’s light, almost milky, definitely influenced by the Italian presence in Egypt in the past century. But now it’s ours.”

The idea is to elevate something familiar without losing its joy. “People think, ‘Oh, it’s just ice cream.’ But then – it’s all these flavors, textures, even toppings. That’s what makes it exciting.”

Shapes and Styling

Asked about how she would style a dessert table, Marie gets thoughtful: “I think about heights. Movement. Playing with trays, ceramics, silver platters. But also how things invite you – not too crowded, not too minimal. Just enough to feel like someone really thought about it.”

She’s also wary of trends. “Lately everyone’s doing the long rectangular cake, which is beautiful, but it’s everywhere now. I’m curious what comes next. Maybe more layered shapes. Maybe something unexpected.”

What she always returns to is the feeling. “You want people to walk up and feel like they’re part of something – like it isn’t just dessert, it’s a moment. Something made especially for them.”