Christmas showstopper desserts everyone will love
Get the wow factor
Chocolate yule log
How could it be Christmas without a chocolate log? This recipe is definitely more dessert than cake: chocolate sponge is filled and covered with a dark chocolate mousse. Make it even more festive by decorating with edible glitter and chocolate stars or curls. It requires a little time to make, but that's mainly in chilling the mousse and the sponge. Even better, you should make it the day before serving.
Baileys crème brûlée
Here's one for the grown-ups – Irish cream liqueur is mixed into a creamy custard, and finished with a crunchy caramel topping. A cook's blow torch will give a more even burnished topping but you can use the grill. If you want to get ahead, the custard filling can be made the day before – leave it in the fridge before finishing off the brûlée topping before serving.
Christmas wreath éclairs
Everyone loves an éclair, and what better way to serve them during the holidays than making them into a wreath, topped with chocolate icing and filled with vanilla cream. Choux pastry is made in a saucepan, and it's much easier to whip up than you would think, so give it a try.
Apple rose tart
This stunning dessert certainly delivers on wow factor but it's easier to make than you would think. The apple "roses" are just thin slices of apple, which are microwaved to make them pliable, then rolled up. They are set into an almond frangipane before baking. It's perfect served warm with thick cream.
Get the recipe for apple rose tart here
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Tropical vegan pavlova
During the holiday season, there are a lot of desserts with cream, eggs or butter, which makes it pretty tough on vegans. So here's a plant-based showstopper: meringue is made with aquafaba (the water from canned chickpeas), it's filled with coconut cream and covered with tropical fruits. It's simple to make and everyone will love it.
Crème brûlée cake
With a simple yet incredibly striking design, this cake is made using the reverse creaming method, which gives it a very tender and moist crumb. As the sponge is very pale from all the egg whites, it's a blank canvas to decorate to your festive heart’s delight. Try edible gold flakes or glitter, or both. The crème brûlée top is a must, though. Sugar is sprinkled over well-chilled buttercream and caramelised with a blow torch.
Caramelised clementine tart
Make the most of the season's citrus in this stunning tart. Light and refreshing, it's the perfect end to a hearty meal. The base is a sweet, homemade pastry, but you could always use shop-bought if you prefer. It's filled with a creamy clementine and lemon custard. If you don't have a blow torch to caramelise the top, just dust with icing sugar once cool.
After Eight mint chocolate ice cream
There always seems to be a box or two of mint chocolate thins hanging around the house during the holidays, so why not make this indulgent, boozy ice cream. You will need an ice cream maker for it though. It's served with a thick melted chocolate sauce which hardens into a shell, then topped with more chopped mint chocolate.
Get the recipe for After Eight mint chocolate ice cream here
Gingerbread yule log
A Christmas log with a difference – ginger and cinnamon sponge is filled and covered with white chocolate meringue buttercream, flavoured with stem ginger. With all those lovely winter spices, it needs no accompaniment and is ready in just an hour.
Grapefruit meringue pie
Here's a new twist on lemon meringue pie, made with the zest and juice of ruby grapefruit, with added lime zest and juice. It has a lovely tang to balance the sweetness of the meringue. The case is an easy pastry which you make in a food processor. Ideally, you want to eat it on the day it's made, to keep the pastry crisp.
Rosewater and pistachio cheesecake
If you're searching for a stunning yet easy cheesecake, here's a great recipe. There's no cooking involved – the base is simply crushed biscuits with chopped pistachios and rosewater. It's topped with a soft, rich, rosewater cream, plus more nuts and rose petals. Such a pretty dessert.
Baileys cake with caramel sauce
This is a special celebration cake at any time of the year, but with its Baileys-infused sponge and Baileys buttercream, what better occasion than Christmas? It's also topped with a cascade of salted caramel sauce and for extra indulgence, decorate it with homemade salted caramel popcorn (or your favourite shop-bought brand) and macarons.
Triple chocolate cheesecake brownies
This is not your everyday brownie. A layer of double chocolate brownie is baked then topped with a caramel and toasted hazelnut layer. Then there's a layer of zesty cheesecake mixture, and it's baked again. Dust heavily with cocoa powder to serve. The brownies are just perfect on their own or with a scoop of your favourite ice cream.
Get the recipe for triple chocolate cheesecake brownies here
Classic Christmas cake
The great thing about this traditional British fruitcake is you make it well in advance, and you can add extra festive touches with edible glitter or gold spray. You could also serve it with cheese, such as Lancashire or Cheddar. The combination of salty cheese and sweet, fruity, boozy cake is a real winner.
Speedy tiramisù
A boozy Italian dessert, tiramisù (which translates to "pick me up", due to the quantity of coffee and liqueur) usually takes a while to make. But if time is short and you want a real crowd-pleaser in under 15 minutes, here's a recipe which fits the bill. A layer of sponge fingers is soaked in coffee and liqueur, covered with whipped cream, then dusted with cocoa powder.
Gingerbread soufflé
All the favourite flavours of gingerbread, in a light-as-air soufflé. Soufflés aren't hard to make but you do need to bake them to serve. Weigh out your ingredients before and prepare your ramekin dishes, then most of the work is done. The kitchen will fill with a sweet, gingery aroma as it bakes, building anticipation of eating it.
Mile-high lemon meringue pie
This impressive lemon meringue pie is a great centrepiece. A zesty lemon custard sits on an almond pastry base, then it's topped with a tower of meringue. You can blow-torch the meringue, or bake it for 15 minutes in a pre-heated oven at 175°C/350°F/gas mark 4. It will keep for a few hours before serving, but just store in a cool place, not the fridge, or the meringue may collapse.
Lime cracker pie
Here's a clever twist on a key lime pie, made in 20 minutes and even better served the day after you've made it. It's an ice box cake, made with whipped cream and condensed milk, plenty of lime zest and juice, then layered up with Ritz crackers, which add a pleasing saltiness.
Dark chocolate mousse
With just four ingredients, a rich, dark chocolate mousse is a winner every time. Add something special to make it festive – try chopped and toasted hazelnuts, whipped cream, edible glitter or chocolate curls to the top. It never fails to please.
Mango, lime and coconut panna cotta
A creamy, velvety dessert made in individual dishes, with coconut cream, double cream, mango purée and lime. It's simple to make and not too sweet. You can make it the day before serving too, and it just takes 20 minutes to prepare.
Chocolate and amaretto baked Alaska
This is definitely not your everyday baked Alaska. A sponge, which is used to line a pudding basin, is brushed with amaretto syrup. Then it's filled with chocolate ice cream, topped with a sponge lid and frozen. It's then covered with meringue which you can bake briefly or brown with a cook's blow torch. There's a bit of effort involved but it's not tricky at all.
Spiced latte cake
The sponge for this spiced latte-inspired dessert contains nutmeg, coffee and the secret ingredient, shop-bought fresh vanilla custard. More of the custard is used for the whipped cream and rum-spiked topping. Just perfect with coffee after dinner.
Banana ice cream cheesecake
A very simple vegan cheesecake which is ready in under an hour. The crust is made from oats, golden syrup and toasted hazelnuts. To make the ice cream, simply whizz up frozen bananas with syrup, cocoa powder and cinnamon. It's topped with a blueberry compote to serve – frozen berries are fine for this.
Giant pavlova
A huge pavlova is perfect for making easy work of a large dessert. Shape your meringue into a wreath to add more festive flair. You can use any seasonal fruits you like, plus this recipe suggests drizzling with a homemade salted caramel sauce for extra decadence.
Key lime pie
If you prefer something fresh and fruity after a big meal, a zingy key lime pie is hard to beat, plus it always looks so good. With a simple ginger biscuit base, our recipe has the classic filling of condensed milk, egg yolks and lime. You could pipe the meringue topping to add a touch of glamour.
Ice cream meringue cake
Here's a dessert which is made ahead, then stashed in the freezer until needed – perfect for busy cooks during the holidays. You need to make the meringue but then it's simply layered with shop-bought vanilla ice cream and raspberry sorbet. To serve, just add whipped cream and berries, although you can vary the sorbet and fruit to your preference.
Chocolate profiteroles
A glistening tower of profiteroles covered in chocolate sauce makes for the perfect centrepiece dessert. If you swap butter for oil when making the choux pastry, it will be crispier and crunchier. They’re always best eaten fresh, but can be kept in the fridge for up to two days.
Boozy Christmas trifle
This layered dessert is a British classic and although it looks fancy, it's really just an assembly job. Pile fruit, sponge fingers, amaretti biscuits, custard and whipped cream into a bowl then spoon over brandy and marsala-infused whipped cream. If you want to put more effort into it, you can make your own sponge fingers, custard and biscuits, but shop-bought is absolutely fine.
Vanilla layer cake
Use our recipe as your base then experiment with flavours and decoration. For the sponge, play around with festive spices, such as cinnamon and cardamom. Then layer the cake with your favourite fresh seasonal fruits, homemade curd, crème pâtissière, caramel and more, to create an eye-catching centrepiece for the table.
Mince pie streusel tart
Why not try something different with sweet, fruity mincemeat (usually used to fill British mince pies) and make this easy tart, topped with a crunchy streusel layer. You can buy the shortcrust pastry ready-made and use mincemeat from a jar, and the oat topping is ready in five minutes. Serve it cold or warm with a dollop of thick cream.
Tangerine dream cake
This delightful cake is easy to make and is adorned with slices of tangerines to give it a colourful look. The sponge is made with a mix of flour, ground almonds and honey for a moist, dense texture, and lifted by bright tangerine zest. The icing is spiked with citrusy tangerine juice too. The cake can be made ahead of time and stored in an airtight container overnight, but leave finishing touches like the icing until ready to serve.
Pineapple and ginger upside-down cake
Upside-down cakes are a perfect way to bring fruit and cake together. You can adapt this recipe to any leftover fruit you have and work with spices and flavours to match. With pineapple, the ginger adds a warming note that feels cosy and festive. Do use ripe fruit though, as the sugars help with the cooking process.
Get the recipe for pineapple and ginger upside-down cake here
Easy Christmas pudding
The trick to a rich, soft, Christmas pudding is to give the dried fruit a really good soak first. This recipe uses brandy, but you could substitute rum or a dark, sweet sherry instead. Although the steaming time is quite long, you can do this in advance and microwave the pudding to reheat it. Serve with brandy butter, custard or cream – the choice is yours!
Fig and Brazil nut chocolate mud cake
Even if you don't have a bundt tin in which to bake this cake, it'll still be nothing short of a spectacular, chocolate-lover's dream. Chopped figs and Brazil nuts are stirred through the cake batter, as well as crowning the finished dessert. The rich ganache which also tops the sponge is slightly bitter as it's made from dark chocolate, so the end result isn't overly sweet.
Get the recipe for fig and Brazil nut chocolate mud cake here
Chocolate and hazelnut roulade
Here's a crowd-pleaser which will suit any occasion. A light chocolate sponge is filled with a liqueur-spiked whipped cream, and decorated with hazelnut praline shards. It serves eight but even if you have leftovers, they won't last for long.
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