Dinner Party Desserts You Can Make Ahead

Dessert is the course that should never keep you in the kitchen. By the time the main plates are cleared, you want to be pouring the wine and enjoying the table, not whisking egg whites. Every dessert in this guide can be made the day before or in the morning, and finished, if it needs finishing at all, in five minutes or less.

Lemon posset: three ingredients, made the day before

How to choose a dinner party dessert

Balance it against the main. After a slow-cooked beef or a creamy pasta, guests want something sharp and light: a posset, a sorbet, poached fruit. After fish or a light chicken dish, you can afford a chocolate pudding or a sticky toffee.

Pick something that waits. Desserts that set in the fridge (possets, mousses, panna cotta, cheesecake) are made for dinner parties. They actually need to be made ahead.

Serve individual portions for small tables. Glasses, ramekins and small jars look generous, need no cutting and can be lined up in the fridge on a tray.

Bake once, slice later for bigger groups. For eight to ten guests, a tart, a traybake or a large pavlova is easier than twelve ramekins.

Keep one thing crisp. Most make-ahead desserts are soft. A shortbread biscuit, a brandy snap, some toasted nuts or a few amaretti add the texture that makes them feel finished.

Desserts you can make the day before

Lemon posset

The easiest dinner party dessert there is. Bring double cream and caster sugar to the boil, simmer for a few minutes, take it off the heat and stir in fresh lemon juice. Pour into glasses and chill. The acid in the lemon sets the cream overnight into something silky and sharp. Serve with shortbread and a few raspberries.

Dark chocolate pots

Heat double cream and a little milk until steaming, pour over chopped dark chocolate and stir until glossy. Pour into small ramekins or espresso cups and chill until set. A spoon of crème fraîche on top cuts the richness. Use a chocolate with around 70% cocoa solids for a grown-up flavour.

Chocolate pots set in the fridge overnight

Panna cotta

Cream, milk and sugar set with a little gelatine, flavoured with vanilla, and served with a fruit compote or poached rhubarb. The secret is restraint with the gelatine: it should barely hold its shape and wobble when you move the plate.

Tiramisu

Tiramisu is better on day two, once the coffee-soaked sponge fingers have softened into the mascarpone. Assemble it in one large dish or individual glasses, cover it and keep it in the fridge. Dust with cocoa just before serving so it stays dry and dark.

Tiramisu improves after a night in the fridge

Baked cheesecake

A baked vanilla cheesecake needs to cool slowly and then chill for several hours, so making it the day before is the only way to do it. Top it with fresh berries or a fruit coulis when you serve it.

Crème brûlée

The custards can be baked and chilled the day before. Only the sugar topping happens on the night: sprinkle, blowtorch and leave for a minute to harden. It's a little theatre at the table for very little effort. For more French classics, see our guide to French desserts.

Desserts you can prepare ahead and finish quickly

Pavlova

Bake the meringue the day before and leave it to cool in the switched-off oven, then store it in an airtight tin. Whip the cream and top with fruit just before serving, otherwise the meringue softens. Raspberries and passion fruit, or strawberries and mint, are classic.

Bake the meringue a day ahead, then top it at the last minute

Sticky toffee pudding

Bake the sponge a day ahead and make the toffee sauce. On the night, pour some sauce over the pudding and warm it through in the oven while you clear the main course. Serve with cream, custard or vanilla ice cream.

Tarte tatin

You can make the caramel and arrange the apples in the pan in the morning, top with pastry and bake while you eat the main. Turn it out onto a plate at the table, carefully, because the caramel is very hot.

Apple or plum crumble

Assemble it in the morning and keep it in the fridge, then bake it while you eat. The crumble topping can also be made days ahead and frozen.

Chocolate fondants

Make the batter, fill buttered moulds and keep them in the fridge. They bake in around 10 to 12 minutes, so they go in as the main plates come out. Do a test one first: ovens vary, and the timing decides whether the middle runs.

Poached pears

Poach pears in red wine with sugar, a cinnamon stick and orange peel the day before, and leave them in the syrup overnight to deepen their colour. Reduce the syrup to a glaze and serve with mascarpone or crème fraîche.

How far ahead can you make each dessert?

Desserts for dietary requirements

• Gluten free: posset, chocolate pots, panna cotta, crème brûlée and pavlova are naturally gluten free. Serve them without a biscuit, or with a gluten free one.
• Dairy free: poached pears, a fruit sorbet, or chocolate pots made with coconut milk.
• Vegetarian: use a vegetarian setting agent such as agar in place of gelatine for panna cotta.
• Egg free: posset, panna cotta and poached fruit contain no egg.

Ask guests about allergies when you invite them, and plan one dessert that suits everyone rather than a separate plate for one person. For the rest of the meal, see our dinner party menu ideas and our guide to how to host a dinner party.

Make dessert the day before, keep one crisp element for texture, and save the last-minute work for the main course. If you'd rather not cook any of it, a private chef can cook the whole menu in your kitchen.