15 Easy Desserts: No Bake, Quick and Few Ingredient Recipes

These easy desserts are the ones I actually make when someone says “is there anything sweet?” and I have about ten minutes and half a cupboard to work with. Every one of the fifteen is my own tested recipe, and most need a handful of ingredients, one bowl or no oven at all.

I have grouped them the way I choose them in real life: no bake puddings for the fridge, quick desserts with few ingredients for tonight, and simple bakes to share. After the recipes you will find a chart with the time and ingredient count for each one, a quick guide to picking the right recipe, my best tips and the questions readers ask me most.

No Bake Easy Desserts

These six no bake easy desserts never see the oven. Most of the work is done by the fridge or the freezer, so they are perfect for warm days, small kitchens and anyone who swears they cannot bake.

1. No-Bake Cheesecake

This is the recipe I hand to anyone who thinks cheesecake is hard. A buttery graham crust, a filling of cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla and cold heavy cream, and that is it. There is no gelatin to bloom and no water bath to babysit. Honestly, it sets so firm that you get clean slices with proper edges, which still makes me a little smug.

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2. Yogurt Cheesecake

My daughter showed me this one and I told her it would never work. So I made it that night to prove a point, and by morning I was eating my words with a spoon. Biscoff biscuits are pushed into thick yogurt and left overnight, and they soften into something very close to sponge. It tastes fresh rather than heavy, because there is no cream cheese at all.

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3. Chocolate Avocado Mousse

If you need something sweet in the next five minutes, this is it. Ripe avocados, cocoa, maple syrup, vanilla and a pinch of salt go into the blender, and out comes a silky chocolate mousse. My kids have no idea there is fruit in it. Better yet, it is naturally dairy free, egg free and gluten free, so it suits almost every guest.

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4. Peanut Buster Parfaits

This is my copy of the ice cream shop classic, and it is pure fun to build. Peanuts go in the bottom of a tall glass, then hot fudge, then vanilla ice cream pushed right to the edges so you see the stripes. Repeat, finish with whipped cream and more peanuts, and hand it over with a long spoon. Kids love making their own.

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5. No-Bake Chocolate Caramel Bars

These taste like a homemade candy bar. An almond flour base, a gooey caramel made from almond butter and maple syrup, and a snappy dark chocolate top with flaky salt. Each layer chills before the next goes on, which is the only patience they ask of you. In fact, I keep a few in the freezer for emergencies.

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6. Strawberry Popsicles

Blend, pour, freeze, done. Fresh strawberries, honey, milk, cream and vanilla make a pop that is creamy rather than icy, because the dairy keeps it soft enough to bite. I make a tray on Sunday and they vanish by Wednesday. Of course, they are a lovely way to sneak more fruit into the week.

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Quick Desserts With Few Ingredients

Next come the quick desserts I make when the craving hits after dinner, and they are the easy desserts I lean on most. One is ready in the microwave in a couple of minutes, one is a five minute assembly job, and the last is a proper pudding in half an hour.

7. Microwave Vanilla Mug Cake

This is cake for one, with no oven and no mixer. Flour, sugar, baking powder and salt go straight into the mug, then melted butter, milk, vanilla and a spoon of sprinkles. The batter only fills the mug halfway because it rises as it cooks. Honestly, it is the best answer I know to a late night sweet tooth.

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8. Berry Dump Cake

This is my go-to when people are already on their way over and I have not planned a thing. Berries go into the dish with sugar and lemon, a dry cake mix is scattered over the top, and melted butter is drizzled across every dry spot. Then the oven does the clever bit. There is no bowl to wash and nothing to beat.

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9. Strawberry Shortcake

This is the old-fashioned kind, with proper buttery biscuits rather than sponge. Sugared strawberries make their own syrup while the biscuits bake, and the cream is whipped in the meantime. The biscuits only take five minutes of mixing. Still, keep the butter fridge-cold and stop stirring as soon as the dough comes together, because that is where the flaky layers come from.

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Easy Dessert Recipes to Bake and Share

Finally, these six are the easy desserts I bake for bake sales, birthdays, potlucks and Sunday lunch. They take a little longer in the oven, but the methods are simple and most of them feed a crowd.

10. Sheet Pan Brownies

One pan, twenty four bars and no mixer. The batter is mixed in a saucepan with melted butter and cocoa powder, then baked shallow in a half sheet pan. Because the slab is thin, it bakes in under half an hour and the edges stay fudgy rather than dry. Beating the eggs until foamy is the trick behind the shiny, crackly top.

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11. Strawberry Crumble

This started as a freezer rescue, and it has been on repeat ever since. Strawberries are tossed with a little sugar, flour, vanilla and lemon, then covered with an oat topping you rub together with your fingers. The fruit bakes down into a glossy, jammy layer. Better yet, frozen berries go straight in, and it is naturally gluten free.

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12. Lemon Pound Cake

A good pound cake is dense in the nicest way, close-grained and buttery, with enough lemon to make your jaw tingle. It is one bowl and one loaf tin, with no layers and no frosting. The secret is patience: cream the butter and sugar for a full five minutes. After that, the oven does the rest, and day two is even better than day one.

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13. The Best Cheesecake

When you want the classic baked version, this is the one. A graham cracker crust, then cream cheese, sugar, sour cream, vanilla and eggs, baked low and slow until it is puffed at the edges and still wobbly in the middle. The method is simple; the only real skill is not overbaking it. So pull it while the centre still jiggles.

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14. Tiramisu Cookies

These turn my favourite Italian pudding into a big, soft cookie. Instant coffee is whisked into melted butter for the dough, and once baked, each cookie gets a swoop of mascarpone cream and a dusting of cocoa. The kitchen smells like a café while they bake. They look fancy, yet the dough comes together in one bowl.

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15. Whoopie Pies

These soft chocolate cake rounds sandwiched with marshmallow filling are the most fun thing on this list to hand round a party. The batter is a simple whisk-together job, and each little cake bakes in about eight minutes. Meanwhile, you whip butter, powdered sugar, vanilla and marshmallow fluff into the fluffiest filling. Let the cakes cool fully before you fill them.

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Easy Desserts at a Glance: Time and Ingredients

Here is every one of these easy desserts side by side, so you can match one to the time and the ingredients you have. The totals include chilling or freezing where a recipe needs it, since that is the honest answer to “when can I eat it?”.

Ingredient counts leave out optional toppings and garnishes such as fresh fruit, extra whipped cream or a dusting of cocoa.

Which Recipe Should You Make Tonight?

Because easy desserts mean something different on a Tuesday than it does at a birthday party, this is how I pick:

• You have 10 minutes or less. The chocolate avocado mousse, the mug cake or the peanut buster parfaits.
• You want 5 ingredients or fewer. The yogurt cheesecake has two, the parfaits four, and the mousse, popsicles and berry dump cake five each.
• The oven is off limits. Any of the six no bake recipes, or the microwave mug cake.
• You are feeding a crowd. Sheet pan brownies make 24 bars and the whoopie pies make up to 30, while the dump cake and shortcake each serve 8.
• You want to make it the day before. Both cheesecakes, the caramel bars, the popsicles and the lemon pound cake are all better after a rest.
• Someone is dairy free or gluten free. The avocado mousse is both, the caramel bars can be made vegan, and the strawberry crumble is gluten free.

Tips for Easy Desserts That Turn Out Every Time

• Measure flour properly. Spoon it into the cup and level it off rather than scooping. As NDSU Extension explains, packing flour into the cup adds too much, and that is the most common reason a simple bake turns out dry.
• Bring cream cheese and eggs to room temperature. Cold cream cheese stays lumpy, and cold eggs can curdle a creamed batter.
• Use full-fat dairy for set desserts. Brick cream cheese, cold heavy cream and the thickest yogurt you can find are what make the no bake cheesecakes slice cleanly.
• Do not stir a dump cake. The dry cake mix and butter layer is what bakes into the golden topping.
• Pull bakes a little early. Brownies should leave moist crumbs on a toothpick, and a baked cheesecake should still jiggle in the centre. Both firm up as they cool.
• Give chilled desserts their full time. In fact, most failed no bake easy desserts were simply cut too soon.

Storing and Making Them Ahead

Most of these easy desserts keep well, which is half of what makes them easy. Anything made with cream cheese, cream, yogurt or eggs belongs in the fridge; Illinois Extension advises that cream and custard based desserts should not sit out for more than two hours. So both cheesecakes, the no bake bars, the tiramisu cookies and the whoopie pies live in the fridge. The popsicles, the brownies and the unglazed pound cake also freeze beautifully, and so do the tiramisu cookies before you add the cream.

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