Dessert Party (Solution)

by Asheesh Laroia, Shira Helft, and Karen Rustad

The Caesar salad plate says:

KPKVKCN QH HQQF DGEQOGU C

which decrypts (shift down by 2) to:

INITIAL OF FOOD BECOMES A

This clues you that the initial (letter) of the food items are used as a key, with A=0, B=1, C=2 (clued by C=2 for Caesar salad).

These are the letters on the desserts:

Coffee Cake:
      +---+
      | C |
      +---+
      | U |
      +---+

(which decrypts to AS)

Ho Hos:
      +---+
      | U |
      +---+
      | T |
      +---+

(which decrypts to NM)

Mini Muffins:
      +---+
      | F |
      +---+
      | A |
      +---+

(which decrypts to TO)

Twinkies:
      +---+
      | B |
      +---+
      | Z |
      +---+

(which decrypts to IG)

Put them together, sorted alphabetically by treat name, and you get:

+---+---+---+---+
| A | N | T | I |
+---+---+---+---+
| S | M | O | G |
+---+---+---+---+

The answer is: ANTISMOG.