Food and Recipes Desserts Fancy Dessert Recipes That Are Sure To Impress Your Guests By Jenna Sims Jenna Sims Jenna is a Digital Editor for Southern Living and joined the team in 2014. She writes, produces, and assigns content with a focus on email growth and commerce content. She covers a range of topics in the lifestyle space from holiday gift guides to new product launches to tips for cooking with your air fryer. Southern Living's editorial guidelines Published on April 16, 2023 Share Tweet Pin Email Trending Videos Photo: GREG DUPREE If you need a fancy dessert recipe for a special occasion, we’ve got you covered. Even though these dessert recipes are sure to impress your guests, we've snuck in a few shortcuts to help make serving them up a little easier. There's cakes on this list that start with boxed cake mix, ganaches that come together in the microwave, and even recipes that only require 30 minutes (or less) of hands-on time in the kitchen. With recipes this easy, you can whip up these fancy desserts for your family any day of the week.Read on for our best fancy dessert recipes that are sure to wow any crowd. 01 of 20 Pink Champagne Cake Antonis Achilleos; Food Styling: Ali Ramee; Prop Styling: Christine Kelly Although this cake is pretty enough to serve at a special occasion, it actually starts with a boxed cake mix so it requires just 30 minutes of hands-on time to pull together. 02 of 20 Chocolate-Covered Strawberry Cheesecake Photographer: Will Dickey Prop Stylist: Missie Crawford Food Stylist: Erin Merhar This decadent recipe transforms the flavors of chocolate covered strawberries into a pretty cheesecake. Plus, the layer of chocolate ganache actually comes together in the microwave. 03 of 20 Peach Shortcake Trifle Pam Lolley; Antonis Achilleos; Prop Styling: Ginny Branch; Food Styling: Torie Cox Layers of peaches, whipped cream, and vanilla cake come together in a trifle dish to create a beautiful centerpiece that's also delicious. 04 of 20 Chocolate Lava Cakes Greg DuPree; Food Stylist: Ali Ramee; Prop Stylist: Hannah Greenwood These lava cakes come together from start to finish in just 35 minutes. 05 of 20 Hummingbird Cake Southern Living The Hummingbird Cake is a classic layer cake that features three moist cake layers that are packed with pineapples and bananas. The layers are then covered with a cream cheese frosting and finished off with toasted pecans. 06 of 20 Raspberry-White Chocolate Meringue Sandwich Cookies Antonis Achilleos; Food Styling: Rishon Hanners; Prop Styling: Audrey Davis Freeze-dried raspberries give homemade meringue a pretty pink hue. 07 of 20 Buttermilk-Lime Mini Cakes with Vanilla-Mascarpone Buttercream Greg DuPree This recipe transforms a sheet cake into miniature cakes so every guest has their own dessert. 08 of 20 Cranberry-Orange Cake with Orange Buttercream Photographer: Greg DuPree, Food Stylist: Emily Neighbors Hall Prop Stylist: Christine Keely Citrus and sugared berries not only give this cake a beautiful finish but add plenty of flavor in the cake layers and in the icing as well. 09 of 20 Fresh Strawberry Meringue Cake Photographer: Jen Causey, Prop Stylist: Josh Hoggle,Food Stylist: Ruth Blackburn For the best meringue, make sure your egg whites are at room temperature before you add them to the mixture. 10 of 20 Bourbon Ball Tart Antonis Achilleos; Food Styling: Emily Nabors Hall; Prop styling: Lydia Pursell Serving bourbon balls on top of a chocolate tart gives them an impressive presentation. 11 of 20 Chocolate-Coconut Pavlova Cake Antonis Achilleos; Prop Styling: Christine Keely; Food Styling: Tina Bell Stamos Not only does this pavlova cake come together with just 9 ingredients, but it's also dairy- and gluten-free. 12 of 20 Apple Rose Tart Photographer: Jennifer Causey Food Stylist: Melissa Gray Prop Stylist: Christina Daley This apple tart is almost too pretty to eat. 13 of 20 Devil's Food Cake with Salted Peanut Butter Frosting and Ganache Antonis Achilleos; Food Styling: Emily Nabors Hall; Prop Styling: Mary Clayton Carl Jones You may be surprised to learn that this decadent cake comes together using just 9 ingredients, boxed cake mix being one of them. 14 of 20 Florida Orange Grove Pie Victor Protasio; Prop Styling: Kay E. Clarke; Food Styling: Ana Kelly Baked meringue serves at the crust for this cheerful pie that was originally published in The Junior League of Tampa's cookbook in 1961. 15 of 20 Mini Confetti Cake Photo: Antonis Achilleos; Food Styling: Torie Cox; Prop Styling: Kay E. Clarke Edible flowers such as violas, tuberous begonias, English daisies, or pansies instantly transform mini cakes into party-worthy desserts. 16 of 20 Transparent Pie with Whipped Crème Fraîche and Sugared Cranberries Photo: Victor Protasio; Prop Styling: Kay E. Clarke; Food Styling: Torie Cox Sugared Cranberries and Whipped Crème Fraîche are just the embellishments transparent pie needs to give it an elegant finish. 17 of 20 Ice Cream Cake Morgan Hunt Glaze; Food Stylist: Chelsea Zimmer; Prop Stylist: Christine Keely No baking is required to pull together this ice cream cake, just make sure to allow plenty of time for freezing. 18 of 20 Lemon Meringue Cheesecake Caitlin Bensel; Food Styling: Torie Cox Trust us, this homemade cheesecake is worth the extra effort. 19 of 20 Caramel Apple Cake Hector Manuel Sanchez This cake will fool your family into thinking you spent all afternoon preparing it, when in reality you'll need just 20 minutes of hands-on time. 20 of 20 Triple Chocolate Brownie-Mousse Stacks Linda Pugliese, Hector Sanchez; Styling: Heather Chadduck Hillegas, Buffy Hargett Miller Both the chocolate mousse and white chocolate mousse for these brownie stacks come together in the microwave. Plus, they can be made up to 24 hours in advance and stored in the refrigerator until you're ready to serve. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit