27 Easy Dessert Ideas You’ll Love

We don’t know about you, but when a sugar craving hits, our mind goes blank, and all we want is a quick sugar hit. Luckily for you, we’ve compiled 27 dessert ideas for those very times to make your life easier and a little sweeter.

These recipes deliver in taste, texture, and comfort with minimal prep time but require very time or effort.

From decadent to healthy desserts, we have everything from mocha cupcakes with espresso frosting to peach and blueberry yogurt cake.

Whether you’re looking to satisfy a midweek sugar craving or want a crowd-pleasing dessert that’s just as easy as it is delicious, keep scrolling for 27 of our favorites.

1. Mocha Cupcakes

For an afternoon pick-me-up, these caffeine spiked cupcakes may be sugarier and calorie-laden than your regular afternoon espresso, but they’re far more satisfying.

The coffee helps to keep the sponge really soft and light, making it dangerously easy to eat more than one in one sitting.

If you like your coffee sweet and with plenty of creamers, this recipe was made for you!

2. Butter Pecan Layer Cake

Now that we’re fast approaching fall, we’re craving sugary, warming, and nutty cakes, and this butter pecan cake couldn’t be more perfect for this time of year.

As the name suggests, this is reminiscent of butter pecan ice cream and is just as decadent.

If you want to amp up the fall flavors, try adding in a teaspoon of pumpkin spices!

3. Best Banana Pudding

This no-cook recipe, made with sweetened condensed milk, cream cheese, wafers, and of course, bananas, will be just as quickly whipped up as it is eaten!

This is a really fun dessert to make with the small children, too, as they can be involved at every stage of the process with no knives or ovens being used (or much patience as it takes under 20 minutes to pull together)!

4. Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

We know what you’re thinking – that title is one bold claim! It’s a justified title here – we promise.

Buttery, chewy in the middle, loaded with sweet chocolate chips, and slightly crunchy around the edges, these cookies tick every box of the perfect cookie criteria.

Do you have a go-to failsafe chocolate chip cookie recipe? If not, bookmark this one!

5. Pecan Pie

We are loved and admired around Thanksgiving and then underappreciated for the rest of the year. We include the humble pecan pie here, hoping that it will become a year-round favorite!

Pecan pie is deceptively easy to make dessert, and although the flaky pastry crust and brown sugar filling sound like a lot of work and skill, the whole thing is actually pretty simple to make.

6. Lunch Lady Brownies

First of all, let’s address the name of this recipe with some context.

This is a homage to the brownies that lunch ladies serve at school, and although they’re slightly richer and more decadent than the originals, the nostalgia makes them all the sweeter.

The chocolate frosting is the secret here and is made with powdered sugar, milk, and butter. It’s so rich, sticky, gooey, and completely indulgent.

7. Boston Cream Pie Cookie Bites

These cookie cups celebrate the traditional flavors of the Boston cream pie but require much less work as a simple cake mix is used and pressed into greased muffin cups before being filled with cream and instant pudding mix.

Topped with the world’s simplest chocolate ganache (heavy cream and chocolate chips heated in the microwave), these bites are quite literally a bite of heaven!

8. Churro Cheesecake Bars

If you ever find yourself trying to decide between ordering churros or cheesecake, know that you can have the best of both worlds with this unique dessert recipe!

A sweet, creamy filling is sandwiched between layers of crunchy, cinnamon-loaded bars crusted with spiced sugar.

And yes – it tastes as good as it sounds! Don’t you love two-in-one desserts!?

9. Strawberry Shortcake Bars

As well as being ridiculously photogenic, these bars are really easy to make and are a great option for a lighter but still delicious dessert.

Pillowy vanilla cake is topped with whipped cream cheese frosting and fresh strawberries to bring freshness, color, and 1 of your 5 a day!

This recipe is best served after being refrigerated for at least 3 hours, so keep that in mind if you’re serving a crowd.

10. Peach and Blueberry Greek Yogurt Cake

This is a great dessert idea if you’re watching your fat intake, as yogurt is a substitute for butter here.

The yogurt is the secret ingredient here as it really does add a lot to the overall recipe – it ensures a smooth batter and helps keep the cake moist and tender.

The peach and the blueberry combo work so well here, but you could substitute the peaches for nectarines and the blueberries for raspberries to switch it up, too!

11. Blueberries and Cream Angel Food Dessert

We all know and love the peaches and cream combo, but blueberries and cream really are a match made in culinary heaven here.

The tartness of the blueberries cuts through the sweetened cream beautifully and is a great way to end an indulgent meal.

It also happens to be one of the easiest recipes on this list as it starts with angel food cake!

12. Pineapple Crisp

Fruity, fresh, and a really easy way of using up fresh pineapple, this simple pineapple crisp recipe is a really refreshing yet comforting dessert idea.

Canned pineapple is recommended here, but fresh or frozen would work just as well.

Serve with ice cream, and you have a crowd-pleasing, easy and delicious dessert ready in under an hour!

13. Easy Fruit Pizza

A pizza for dessert? It almost sounds too good to be true.

This also doubles up as a good, sweet breakfast option, and regardless of the time of day it’s served, this is sure to become a family favorite.

This recipe calls for kiwi, strawberries, and blueberries, but you could use any fresh fruit you like or have in the fridge!

14. Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream

If you’re under the impression that ice cream is a daunting process that requires a lot of skill, try this recipe!

You will need an ice cream maker, but they’re generally pretty affordable and are well worth the investment. Once you make this, it will be running on overdrive!

Pretty in pink and the perfect balance of sweetness, this ice cream recipe is foolproof and one of our favorites.

15. The Best Classic Tiramisu

There’s a reason why those layers of sugary espresso-dipped ladyfingers and creamy mascarpone make up one of the world’s favorite desserts.

The secret ingredient here is the amaretto, which adds a really lovely depth of flavor.

Deliciously rich and comforting, this tiramisu recipe is a failsafe recipe for the loved classic and will be love at first bite for any lucky guests you’re serving.

16. Carrot Cake Bars

If you’re a fan of the humble carrot cake (and let’s face it – who isn’t?), you will love these carrot cake bars.

They’re somewhere between a blondie and a cheesecake as the cheesecake is swirled into the cake batter in place of the usual cream cheese frosting. Sounds delicious, right?

These last for up to 5 days if kept in the fridge, but we guarantee they won’t be kicking around the kitchen for that long!

17. Chocolate Fudge

Calling this a dessert is perhaps a stretch as it definitely slots more neatly into the candy category but ending a meal with an old-fashioned piece of rich, creamy fudge is an idea we couldn’t include.

The perfect mixture of being slightly crumbly but melt-in-the-mouth, this fudge will become the thing that people ask for when the holidays come around!

18. Sticky Toffee Pudding

While we’re on the topic of old-fashioned puds, this is the first one that comes to mind.

Comforting and deliciously rich, this sticky toffee pudding completely busts the myth that this is a time-consuming and tricky dessert to make.

We warn you – once you start making this cake smothered in a buttery toffee sauce and cream – you won’t be able to stop.

19. Easy Baked Donut Holes

If you love cinnamon sugar-crusted donuts, you’ll love this easy and delicious dessert.

Made with just 4 ingredients, these donuts are made easier with Pillsbury biscuits as the pre-made dough is rolled into balls, shaped into donuts, drenched in butter, and rolled in cinnamon sugar.

They take just minutes to shallow fry or just under 20 minutes if baked. Either way, they’re totally delicious and totally moreish.

20. Mini Lemon Drop Cakes

These are essentially miniature lemon drizzle cakes, but, let’s face it, miniaturizing anything makes the original ten times better!

They’re really easy to make and just as easy to make your way through.

Our top tip with these would be to make sure you don’t overmix the batter, as this will prevent the cakes from being as soft and pillowy as they are.

21. Hot Fudge Chocolate Pudding Cake

This has to be one of the most loved desserts out there, right?

And not just for how delicious it is, either.

The chocolate sauce creates itself in the bottom of the pan, and the cake sauces itself, keeping everything fudgy, moist, and soft.

Served with mounds of vanilla ice cream, this is a classic deserving of all the love it gets!

22. Tiramisu Macarons

Flavored with coffee and filled with a creamy mascarpone filling, these macaron shells are as beautiful on the palate as they are the eyes!

This recipe does take a little more time, but the effort is worth it, and they’re sure to impress.

For an added kick for the adults, try adding a splash of amaretto into the mascarpone filling!

23. Pineapple Juice Cake

We’re all familiar with cakes that utilize orange and lemon juice, but the pineapple adds a point of difference here as it adds a really unique, sweet tang.

The butter pineapple glaze really amps up the pineapple flavor and makes the cake feel really decadent.

This cake is very, very moist, and so if you prefer a slightly sturdier sponge, we recommend just using less of the butter pineapple glaze.

24. Peanut Butter Crunch Lasagna

This sounds like an odd one, but it hears us out.

Creamy peanut butter filling is sandwiched between nutter butter and cream layers to create this lasagna-looking layered cookie pie.

Even better, it doesn’t require an oven and is fairly quick to whip together.

If you’re more of a chocolate lover, try switching the peanut butter layer out for Nutella!

25. Cinnamon Roll Cake

This has all the flavor of a cinnamon roll but without effort.

Drizzled with vanilla icing, this cake has quite a lengthy ingredient list but is simple.

If you wanted to cut back on ingredients, you could use a boxed mix cake (we won’t tell).

Perfect for the cooler weather, this is a dessert recipe you’ll be cozying up to all fall long.

26. Slutty Brownies

These might be the richest, most indulgent, and decadent brownies you’ll ever try. Seriously.

They’re no ordinary brownies, though. Made with a chocolate chip cookie base, a layer of Oreos, and then the gooiest brownie mix, these are like all your favorite desserts wrapped into one!

They’re seriously sweet and not for the faint-hearted when it comes to calories, but they are absolutely delicious.

27. Oreo Cheesecake Bars

If you’re a cookies ‘n’ cream flavor fan, this is a must-try recipe!

Layers of Oreos, cookie dough, and cheesecake are sandwiched together to create these truly heavenly bars!

The cookie dough base gives a really nice crunch, while the filling is really rich and creamy.

They’re easy enough to make for an indulgent weeknight dessert but impressive enough to serve to a crowd when you’re entertaining.