While I’ve never been one for resolutions, I do love that a new year gives me the opportunity to try and learn new things while incorporating more of what I already love. As much as I enjoy cooking, my joy comes from sharing meals with family and friends, and these are some of the new 2025 entertaining trends I’m looking forward to incorporating into my celebrations this year.
Embracing chaos — cakes, that is!
Celebrating imperfection is clearly at the heart of one of the year’s top entertaining trends. We’re stepping away from the aspirational aesthetics of perfection and leaning into what really matters: joyful moments with the people we love. This year is all about impromptu gatherings, trying new things and finding happiness in the mess.
Few things epitomize this spirit of joyful mess than a chaos cake. These wild, over-the-top and intentionally messy cakes are less about looks than they are about pure joy.
What is a chaos cake, you ask? Well, odds are, you’ve probably already made one. Think about the first cake you ever baked. Remember that lopsided box mix concoction with 15 different frosting shades, an entire jar of sprinkles, a random Barbie doll in the middle, and the “HDAY” in “BIRTHDAY” scrunched up at the end because you ran out of room?
Yeah. That’s a chaos cake.
A far cry from the perfectly sculpted fondant-covered cakes that have become staples at weddings and celebrations in recent years, chaos cakes are silly, weird and purposely insane. Decorated with cookies, candy, clashing colors, toys, messy lettering and more, these cakes are all about letting your inner child run wild and not worrying about mistakes.
Don’t have a set of matching baking pans? Don’t worry about it — use whatever pans you have and stack the layers up like a ziggurat! Underestimated the amount of frosting you needed? Cover the naked parts with powdered sugar or chocolate syrup — who cares?
For visual inspiration, check out the cakes that did not nail it on “Nailed It.” Or just let your toddler take the design lead. (They excel in chaos.) Perfect for birthday parties, bachelorettes and other joyful celebrations, these cakes are guaranteed to bring on the laughs.
And while I confess I’d like my own birthday cake to have a little more finesse, I’m fully on board with encouraging everyone to embrace more play and imperfection when it comes to baking. I mean, it’s cake — it’s not supposed to be serious.
Sustainable maximalism
We’re also saying goodbye to sleek black and white minimalism, sparse tables and that sad, sad millennial gray. 2025 is all about embracing color, mixed patterns and a festive “more is more” approach when decorating and entertaining. Maximalism is back, and I could not be happier. (Not that it was ever really gone from my own life; perhaps you’ve seen my 32-ingredient niçoise salad or literally any dress I’ve ever worn?)
What I love about the new approach to maximalism is that we’re doing it with an eye toward sustainability. By “more,” we mean more color, patterns and, most importantly, quality. This is not about shopping hauls or buying brand new complete sets in the latest trending colorway. Afterall, unless you’re completely setting up a new home from scratch, you probably already have more than enough pieces to entertain your loved ones.
To embrace the new maximalism trend, think about what you already own and get creative mixing and matching. Combine heirloom pieces or the fancy “holiday china” with your everyday dishes. Mix materials like glass, ceramic, terracotta, wood and melamine. Reimagine blankets, scarves or even linen towels as table coverings. I haven’t had a complete set of glasses in years because I’m a clumsy girl, but promise you a great margarita will always taste just as great regardless of the vessel in which it’s served.
If you are looking to add a few new tabletop pieces, think about meaningful items that you’ll want to keep for years. My favorite thing about embracing a mix-and-match mentality when it comes to entertaining is that I know I can invest in one-off or unique pieces without worrying if they “match.” I love buying one or two handmade items when I travel, snagging weird treasures from thrift shops, and investing in artisan goods from local small businesses like La Sirena Mexican Folk Art Store, a tiny jewel of a shop I featured in my segment where each item is “made by a human” and hand-selected with care by the store owner, Dina Leal. Collecting this way means I know every piece on my tabletop tells a story that is far more interesting than simply “add to cart.”
Hyper-regional cuisines
You know those detective shows where the tech guy pulls up a blurry security photo and the detective shouts “Enhance!” over and over until they zoom in super tight? I’m pretty sure that doesn’t happen in real life, but it is a great way of thinking about this next trend: hyper-regionality.
Instead of thinking of menus broadly like “Italian” or “Mexican,” food lovers are digging in and taking the time to learn about and serve unique regional dishes and ingredients from around the U.S. and across the world.
To highlight this on-air, I reached out to a few of my favorite local NYC chefs — all fabulous women! — to share some incredible regional dishes.
We featured chef Leah Cohen’s pork sisig, a dish from the Pampanga province in the Philippines that is a popular entrée at her Pig & Khao restaurants.
Chef Alex Raij, the powerhouse behind restaurants Txixito, La Vara and Saint Julivert, shared a few Basque specialties from Donostía-San Sebastian in the north of Spain, including a gorgeous octopus carpaccio, traditional anchovy and olive skewers known as gildas, and a show-stopping burnt Basque cheesecake.
And finally, we tried a beautiful mole negro, the slow-cooked Oaxacan sauce handmade for us by chef Karina Garcia from Cocina Consuelo.
So, next time you’re wondering what to serve at a party, pick a spot on the map and zoom in a little bit. You’ll find that there are worlds within worlds of dishes to serve.
Ingredient obsessions
When I was 12, I went through an obsessive pickle stage where I ate nothing but pickle and mayo sandwiches on whole wheat toast with a side of half-sour pickles for the better part of a month. It drove my parents crazy, but it turns out I was simply 30 years ahead of the curve because I am here to report that we are now living in peak pickle times, my friends.
Pickles chips, pretzels, popcorn, ice cream, salad dressing, dips and infused spirits are everywhere. At the heart of picklemania is one of the year’s most interesting food trends: ingredient obsessions.
Passionate food lovers are getting creative with their favorite trending ingredients — like pickles — and finding new ways to put them in everything, like trending party dips “Pickle de Gallo” and “Picklemole.” (Note: I do not condone the pickle guacamole. I’m simply here to report the facts.)
These recipes gather steam thanks to creative folks on TikTok and Instagram, and it isn’t long before the brands take note and we end up with … chocolate-covered pickles.
