What better way to end a holiday feast than with a fabulous dessert? From easy yet impressive treats to showstopping numbers that require a little more effort, this recipe collection has it all. Whether you’re looking for chocolate truffles, piled-high meringues or cheesecakes with a little extra festive flair, there's something to satisfy every sweet tooth here.
Scroll or click through our gallery to discover 38 fabulously festive dessert recipes that will bring seasonal sparkle – and serious wow factor – to your table, counting down to the most impressive of them all.
Here's a clever twist on a Key lime pie, ready in 20 minutes and even better served the day after you've made it. It's an ice box cake, made with a mix of whipped cream and condensed milk spiked with plenty of lime zest and juice, then layered up with Ritz crackers for a pleasant saltiness.
Not a full dessert as such, but what could be more impressive than serving homemade chocolate truffles with the coffee at the end of your festive meal? These three-ingredient chocolate treats take just 15 minutes to make, but guests will think you've really pushed the boat out. This recipe suggests rolling the truffles in toasted desiccated coconut and dark cocoa powder, but you could also try finely chopped nuts, colourful sprinkles or edible gold leaf for real wow factor.
Everyone loves an éclair, and what better way to serve them during the holidays than by presenting the light and airy choux pastry buns as edible wreaths topped with chocolate icing and filled with vanilla cream? Choux pastry might sound fancy, but it’s much easier to whip up than you might think, so do consider giving this recipe a go.
There's nothing everyday about these brownies. A triple chocolate brownie base is first baked, then topped with a caramel and toasted hazelnut layer. A zesty cheesecake mixture is added, and it's baked again, before being heavily dusted with cocoa powder and cut into squares to serve. These brownies are just perfect on their own, though they're sensational served with a scoop of your favourite ice cream.
Get the recipe for triple chocolate cheesecake brownies here
With just four ingredients, this rich, dark chocolate mousse is a winner every time. Create a celebratory, seasonal feel by garnishing the dessert with toasted hazelnuts, whipped cream dusted with clementine zest, edible glitter or chocolate curls.
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 surface, but you can also use the grill. If you want to get ahead, the custard filling can be made the day before – leave it to chill in the fridge before finishing off the brûlée topping just before serving.
This creamy, velvety dessert has a lovely tropical taste thanks to the coconut cream, mango purée and lime. It’s simple to make and takes just 20 minutes to put together. Even better, you can do this the day before serving. Presented in individual portions and topped with fresh mango, it looks (and is) a real treat.
Sometimes, you just need a classic. The secret to a rich, moist Christmas pudding is to give the dried fruit a really good soak first. This recipe uses brandy to do so, but you could substitute rum or a dark, sweet sherry instead. Although the steaming time is quite lengthy, you can do this in advance and microwave the pudding to reheat it. Serve with brandy butter, custard or cream – the choice is yours!
This pudding brings the classic flavours of gingerbread together in a light-as-air soufflé. Contrary to their reputation, soufflés aren't all that hard to make, but you do need to bake them just before serving. Weigh out your ingredients and prepare your ramekin dishes, then most of the work is done. The kitchen will fill with a sweet, gingery aroma as the soufflé bakes.
Why not try something different with sweet, fruity mincemeat 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.
This layered dessert is a British classic and, although it looks fancy, it's really just an assembly job. Simply layer up fruit, sponge fingers, amaretti biscuits, custard and whipped cream in a bowl. If you want to put more effort into it, you can make your own sponge fingers, custard and biscuits, though shop-bought is fine.
Upside-down cakes are a perfect way to bring fruit and cake together. You can adapt this recipe to use 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
If you're searching for a stunning yet easy cheesecake, look no further. There's no cooking involved in this recipe – the base is simply crushed biscuits with chopped pistachios and rosewater. It's topped with a rich rosewater cream, nuts and rose petals for quite the prettiest dessert around.
If you prefer something fresh and fruity after a feast, a zingy Key lime pie is hard to beat. 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 an extra touch of glamour.
The sponge for this impressive, spiced latte–inspired dessert contains nutmeg, coffee and a secret ingredient that keeps the cake wonderfully moist: fresh vanilla custard. More of the custard (which can be shop-bought) is used for the whipped cream and rum-spiked topping. This bake is just perfect served with coffee after dinner.
Here's a new twist on lemon meringue pie. The custard is made with the zest and juice of ruby grapefruit, with added lime zest and juice, which gives it a lovely tang and balances perfectly with the sweetness of the meringue. The pastry case, meanwhile, is an easy one you can make in a food processor. Ideally, you want to eat the pie on the day it's made, to keep the pastry crisp.
There always seems to be a box or two of mint chocolate thins hanging around the house during the holidays, so why not put your ice cream machine to good use with this indulgent, boozy number? To really seal the deal, it's served with a thick melted chocolate sauce which hardens into a shell, ready to be topped with more chopped mint chocolate.
A classic 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 simple recipe that fits the bill. Sponge fingers are soaked in coffee and liqueur, covered with whipped cream, then dusted with cocoa powder.
This very simple vegan cheesecake 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 then served topped with a blueberry compote (frozen berries are fine for this).
Walnuts and oranges are a lovely festive combination and work perfectly in this rich and zingy cake. As well as adding the flavour to the sponge, the taste is taken up a notch thanks to the orange juice and walnut liqueur glaze. Simply decorated with slices of orange this cake makes a pretty centrepiece and will keep in an airtight container for up to three days.
The great thing about this traditional British fruitcake is that you can (and should) make it well in advance, meaning that when it comes to decorating, you're free to add extra festive touches aplenty – think edible glitter or gold spray to finish. For a seasonal taste sensation, serve it with Lancashire cheese or Cheddar; the combination of salty cheese and sweet, rich and fruity cake is a real winner.
This delightful cake is easy to make and an absolute treat to look at, thanks to the colourful tangerine slices and gleaming icing. The sponge is made with a mix of flour, ground almonds and honey for a moist, dense texture which is lifted beautifully by the bright tangerine zest. The icing is spiked with citrussy tangerine juice, too. The cake can be baked ahead of time and stored in an airtight container overnight, but leave finishing touches like adding the icing until you’re ready to serve.
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 (you could also use shop-bought), which is 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.
A glistening tower of profiteroles covered in chocolate sauce makes for a stunner of a centrepiece dessert. Profiteroles are always best eaten fresh, but the choux pastry base can be made and kept in the fridge for up to two days. A top tip: if you swap butter for oil when making the choux pastry, it will be crispier and crunchier.
This recipe takes baked Alaska to another level. A sponge, which is used to line a pudding basin, is brushed with amaretto syrup. It's then filled with chocolate ice cream, topped with a sponge lid and frozen. Finally, it's covered with meringue, which you can bake briefly or brown with a cook's blow torch. There's a bit of effort involved in bringing all the elements together, but it's not tricky at all – and the result is beautiful in looks and taste.
This stunning dessert delivers the wow factor in abundance, but is surprisingly simple to put together. The apple ‘roses’ are just thin slices of apple, which are microwaved to make them pliable, then rolled up and set into an almond frangipane before baking. This elegant tart is perfect served warm with plenty of cool, thick cream.
Often holiday desserts tend to be rich with cream, eggs and butter – which is far from ideal for vegans. Make sure all tastes and dietary preferences are catered for at your festive bash with this showstopper. Meringue made with aquafaba (the water from canned chickpeas) is filled with thick coconut cream and topped with tropical fruits for a dessert that everyone will love.
It just wouldn’t be Christmas without a chocolate yule log. This recipe is definitely more dessert than cake. Chocolate sponge is filled and covered with a dark chocolate mousse, and you can make it even more festive by decorating with edible glitter, chocolate stars or curls or sprigs of holly. While it does require a little time to make, that's mainly in the chilling of the mousse and sponge, and you can fully assemble the log the day before serving.
The addition of hot water and olive oil to the cake batter results in an incredibly moist sponge which, once baked, is drowned in chocolate and coffee ganache and finished with shaved milk chocolate pieces. The result is an indulgent, seriously impressive dessert. What's more, it's easy to make, with just 35 minutes of prep time.
This impressive lemon meringue pie is a real scene-stealer of a centrepiece. A zesty lemon custard sits on an almond pastry base, which is topped with a tower of meringue. You can blow torch the meringue or bake it for 15 minutes in an oven preheated to 175°C (350°F). It will keep for a few hours before serving, just store in a cool place (not the fridge) or the meringue may collapse.
Here's a dessert that can be made ahead, then stashed in the freezer until needed – ideal for busy cooks during the holidays. You need to make the meringue yourself, but then it's simply layered with vanilla ice cream and raspberry sorbet. To serve, just add whipped cream and berries – you can vary both the sorbet and fruit to your preference.
This is a Christmas yule log with a difference. Here, a ginger and cinnamon sponge is filled and covered with white chocolate meringue buttercream flavoured with stem ginger. With all those lovely festive spices, it needs no accompaniment and is ready in just an hour.
Even if you don't have a bundt tin in which to bake this spectacular cake, it'll still go down a storm with chocolate-lovers. Chopped figs and Brazil nuts are stirred through the 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 result isn't overly sweet.
Get the recipe for fig and Brazil nut chocolate mud cake here
With its simple yet incredibly striking design, this cake is made using the reverse creaming method, which results in a tender, moist crumb. As the sponge is so 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 the well-chilled buttercream and caramelised with a blow torch.
Here's an exquisite dessert that’s just the thing for finishing a Christmas meal. A light chocolate sponge is filled with a liqueur-spiked whipped cream and decorated with glittering hazelnut praline shards. It serves eight people but even if you have leftovers, they won't last for long.
A huge pavlova is perfect for when you’re making dessert for a crowd. For all the festive feels (and plenty of flair), form your meringue into a wreath-shape and decorate with seasonal fruit. For extra decadence, this recipe suggests finishing your assembled pavlova with homemade salted caramel sauce.
For the ultimate showstopper dessert, use our recipe as your base then experiment with different flavours and decorations. 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 focal point for the table.
This is a special celebration cake at any time of the year, but with its Baileys-infused sponge and Baileys buttercream, what better occasion to make it than Christmas? It's topped with a cascade of salted caramel sauce and, for extra indulgence, you can decorate it with homemade salted caramel popcorn (or your favourite shop-bought brand) and macarons.
Get the recipe for Baileys cake with caramel sauce here
Now discover 25 steps to the perfect Christmas lunch
Last updated by Dominique Ayling