How to Make a Sharkcuterie Board

Y’all, I love a pun. I’m as corny as a dad joke. Anyway, I guess I also have a thing for Shark Week and shark parties, so I thought: how fun would it be to put together a sharkcuterie board full of candy and desserts? Here’s how to make a sharkcuterie board for your next shark party or pool party.

This sharkcuterie board is so easy and fun to put together. Baby B and I made it together. My basic advice for any charcuterie board is:

1. Choose your board first so you know how much space to buy or make for. 
2. Build your board in place so you don’t have to try to move it once you’ve got it looking just right.
3. Place larger items first, including items contained into little bowls.
4. Use small candies to fill in gaps.
5. Cluster and repeat elements.

Sharkcuterie Board Ingredients

I like to feature a mix of candy, fruit and baked sweets on dessert boards. Here’s what I used:

• Shark gummies (1 lb.)
• White chocolate starfish
• Red shark tooth candy corn (7 oz.)
• (Red) chocolate covered cherries (1 scoop from Sprouts)
• Mini fish candy (set of 24 packs)
• Blue (raspberry) sour belts (8 oz.)
• Shark tooth candy bracelets (set of 12)
• Seaglass candy (I made mine from Jolly Ranchers)
• Brown sugar
• Mini vanilla cupcakes 
• Blueberry cheesecake macarons
• Wafers dipped in blue and white chocolate plus sanding sprinkles

If you want to add fruit, blueberries, strawberries or raspberries all would look good on the sharkcuterie board.

Sharkcuterie Board Instructions

1 – A white, silver or light wood platter or tray would all look good for the sharkcuterie board. My platter is 13″ x 18.5″. I also used two 5″ ramekins and a 10″ toy shark. The ramekins and shark anchor the food by providing a focal point. (You can always move things around as you build the board.)

2 – Add the red candy to the ramekins.

3 – Add the mini cupcakes on one side of the shark. We added little candy fish to the cupcakes and then shards of seaglass candy. We also used many packets of candy fish to fill in the gaps in the center of the platter.

4 – At one corner of the platter, we rolled the sour belts into little circles. To keep the circles from unrolling, position the open end so it rests tightly against another sour belt roll.

5 – Baby B decorated wafer cookies to look like sand and waves. Brush melted white chocolate on the wafer with an offset spatula, and dip in blue sprinkles. Leave some white chocolate showing to look like the foam at the crest of a wave.

6 – In between the shark and wafer cookies, add the macarons resting on their edge. The cookies and shark will keep the macarons upright.

7 – Add seaglass candy in between the wafer cookies and sharktooth candy. You can find seaglass candy on Etsy or make your own following this great tutorial from Something Turquoise. I cheated; here’s how:

• Preheat over to 350 degrees.
• Choose a cookie sheet with a lip and line it with parchment paper. Spray with baking spray.
• Unwrap 12 Jolly Ranchers and place on one side of the cookie sheet in two touching rows.
• Repeat with 12 white/yellow Jolly Ranchers on the other side of the cookie sheet.
• Bake for 6 mintues.
• Pull out of the oven. Add 1 or 2 drops of green food coloring to the white/yellow candy and mix completely with a toothpick.
• Let cool completely.
• Sprinkle the candy with powdered sugar, then smooth the sugar evenly over the candy with clean hands.
• Lift the candy off the parchment paper and break into pieces with your hands.

8 – On the side with the cupcakes, I had a blank spot, so I unwrapped and added blue Airheads. These were leftover from our graduation party favors. It felt like a lot of blue, so I spooned brown sugar on top of the Airheads to look like sand.

9 – To the two front corners, add gummy sharks and the shark tooth bracelets.

10 – In the final corner, we added white chocolate starfish. These were so easy to make. It was our first time making molded chocolate, and we’d totally do it again. I also added a few starfish accents on the red candy.

• Melt white Ghirardelli chocolates in a Wilton candy melting pot.
• Spoon the melted chocolate into a silicone mold, scraping off any extra with an offset spatula.
• Let set up in the fridge for at least 10 minutes.
• Peel away the silicone mold.

Don’t miss these other shark party ideas:

• Shark cupcakes
• Shark candy kabobs
• Shark fin soda
• Shark surprise balls
• Shark tooth Rice Krispies Treats
• Shark chum Jell-O
• Free shark party printables

And if you’re looking for a full Shark Birthday Party Plan, check out the Party Plan Club!