Make-ahead dessert recipes
Browse our best make-ahead dessert recipes – all can be made in advance, with the finishing touches added on the day. Perfect to take some stress out of throwing a dinner party.
Choose from crowdpleasing classics such as eton mess and Michel Roux Jr’s chocolate mousse or lemon tart, or new favourites including Japanese soufflé cheesecake and a mango twist on tiramisu.
In the mood for chocolate? We love these molten middle chocolate fondants and our chocolate tart inspired by After Eights. If fruit’s your thing, we have plenty of make-ahead dessert recipes in that vein, too. For summer, opt for a strawberry daiquiri tart; for winter, try our pear and butterscotch cheesecake. And if you’re a pavlova fan, you’ll be spoilt for choice with our topping ideas, from caramelised walnut and coffee to peach bellini and pink praline.
Need starter ideas for your soirée? Check out our recipes, including smoky garlic prawn cocktail and a halloumi and clementine salad.
Showing 1-16 of 171 recipes
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Strawberry recipes
Strawberry, black pepper and clotted cream tart
This strawberry tart is one seriously impressive summer dessert. Strawberries macerated with black pepper top a rich clotted cream filling.
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Medium
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Mango dessert recipes
Mango and elderflower mess
Based on the modern classic eton mess, this colourful dessert swaps out the more common strawberries for juicy ripe mango, marinated in floral elderflower cordial.
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Easy
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Mango dessert recipes
Easy mango mousse
With just five ingredients and 15 minutes prep time, this mango mousse is a great recipe to have in your dessert repertoire.
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Easy
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Strawberry recipes
Balsamic-roasted strawberries with mascarpone
Balsamic strawberries with mascarpone make a seriously good grown-up pudding. Try this low-effort, six ingredient summer dessert today.
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Easy
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Frozen dessert recipes
Baklava ricotta semifreddo
Georgina Hayden's spectacular baklava semifreddo has a caramelised filo top and fragrant ricotta and rosewater base. Frozen dessert heaven.
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Easy
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Sweet tart recipes
Michel Roux Jr’s almond and raspberry frangipane tart
Devote an afternoon to making Michel Roux Jr’s classy frangipane tart. “This French version of a bakewell tart is one of my favourites,” he says.
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Easy
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Fondant recipes
Tom Kerridge’s cappuccino fondants
These melting-middle cappuccino fondants by Tom Kerridge are hard to resist thanks to the combo of indulgent chocolate and aromatic coffee.
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Medium
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Frozen dessert recipes
Mini baked alaskas
Introducing our failsafe mini baked alaskas: chocolate no-churn ice cream, sturdy sponge base, no-cook jam and silky torched swiss meringue.
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Challenge
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Pavlova recipes
Gooseberry and toasted coconut pavlova
This showpiece pavlova from food writer Angela Clutton anticipates summer's arrival, combining elderflowers and early-season gooseberries.
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Medium
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Honey recipes
Salted honey tart
Creamy set honey gives this tart a pleasingly dense but smooth texture. It’s infused with flaky salt to balance the sweetness.
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Easy
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Make-ahead dessert recipes
Galatopita (Greek filo custard pie)
Galatopita is a sweet milk pie from Greece. Georgina Hayden shares her recipe for this classic Greek pud, using golden filo pastry.
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Easy
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Cheesecake recipes
Caramelised white chocolate cheesecake
This showstopping cheesecake has a chocolatey biscuit base, a creamy caramelised white chocolate filling and golden ganache topping.
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Medium
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Pannacotta recipes
Burnt honey pannacotta with rhubarb and chamomile syrup
Ravinder Bhogal's burnt honey pannacotta with rhubarb is the perfect make-ahead dessert for spring, including your Easter lunch.
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Medium
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Sweet tart recipes
Black forest bakewell tart
When black forest gateau meets bakewell tart, something magical happens. These two nostalgic desserts combine perfectly.
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Medium
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Pistachio recipes
Lebanese syllabub with ghraybeh (pistachio biscuits)
Food writer Angela Zaher gives the traditional dessert syllabub a Lebanese twist with arak and orange blossom. Serve with pistachio biscuits.
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Easy
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