We are independent & ad-supported. We may earn a commission for purchases made through our links.

Advertiser Disclosure

Our website is an independent, advertising-supported platform. We provide our content free of charge to our readers, and to keep it that way, we rely on revenue generated through advertisements and affiliate partnerships. This means that when you click on certain links on our site and make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn more.

How We Make Money

We sustain our operations through affiliate commissions and advertising. If you click on an affiliate link and make a purchase, we may receive a commission from the merchant at no additional cost to you. We also display advertisements on our website, which help generate revenue to support our work and keep our content free for readers. Our editorial team operates independently from our advertising and affiliate partnerships to ensure that our content remains unbiased and focused on providing you with the best information and recommendations based on thorough research and honest evaluations. To remain transparent, we’ve provided a list of our current affiliate partners here.

What are Some Quick and Easy Desserts?

Tricia Christensen
By
Updated Feb 15, 2024
Our promise to you
WiseGEEK is dedicated to creating trustworthy, high-quality content that always prioritizes transparency, integrity, and inclusivity above all else. Our ensure that our content creation and review process includes rigorous fact-checking, evidence-based, and continual updates to ensure accuracy and reliability.

Our Promise to you

Founded in 2002, our company has been a trusted resource for readers seeking informative and engaging content. Our dedication to quality remains unwavering—and will never change. We follow a strict editorial policy, ensuring that our content is authored by highly qualified professionals and edited by subject matter experts. This guarantees that everything we publish is objective, accurate, and trustworthy.

Over the years, we've refined our approach to cover a wide range of topics, providing readers with reliable and practical advice to enhance their knowledge and skills. That's why millions of readers turn to us each year. Join us in celebrating the joy of learning, guided by standards you can trust.

Editorial Standards

At WiseGEEK, we are committed to creating content that you can trust. Our editorial process is designed to ensure that every piece of content we publish is accurate, reliable, and informative.

Our team of experienced writers and editors follows a strict set of guidelines to ensure the highest quality content. We conduct thorough research, fact-check all information, and rely on credible sources to back up our claims. Our content is reviewed by subject matter experts to ensure accuracy and clarity.

We believe in transparency and maintain editorial independence from our advertisers. Our team does not receive direct compensation from advertisers, allowing us to create unbiased content that prioritizes your interests.

Easy desserts come in many forms and can continually provide you with delightful dishes to serve after dinner that won’t take up too much time to prepare. Some of the main ways to create easy desserts come from using things like fruit, whipped cream or whipped topping, and from using some prepackaged dessert items like simple cakes, ice cream, or cookies. You’ll even find cookbooks and cooking shows devoted to the making of easy meals, and dessert preparation is perhaps the simplest.

First, consider fruit. In many places in the world, fruit is treated as dessert. It’s naturally sweet and bursting with flavor. The many types of fruit available not just in your area seasonally, but year round, can give you lots of choices. Aside from cleaning and slicing fruit, there isn’t much to making easy desserts with fruits. Berries or citrus can be topped with dollops of whipped cream or whipped topping. Apples can be baked in an oven for about an hour and served with ice cream.

Fruit and ice cream are usually perfect pairings, and don’t just think vanilla. Try blood oranges with raspberry sherbet or raspberries topped with chocolate ice cream. You can even layer ice cream and chopped fruit to make quick parfaits that will look like you spent a great deal of time. Contemplate the variety of fruit and ice cream available and go wild with taste combinations.

Another alternative with different kinds of fruit is to make easy desserts like shortcake. Buy a simple pound cake and cut it into slices. Layer two slices with fruits like strawberries or blueberries and add whipped cream. Try a chocolate pound cake and chocolate whipped topping for a more decadent dessert.

Ice cream is another base for most easy desserts. Buy a few toppings, like fruit, chocolate sauce, caramel, whipping cream and some nuts. Let people make their own sundaes to order, or simply prepare sundaes for all. Ice cream served with a purchased cake is also an excellent way to go.

There are many easy desserts that focus on using whipped topping, and these may be prepared in little time. Some combine instant pudding or Jell-O® and whipped topping for creamy desserts that can be layered into pretty glasses. Companies that make Jell-O® and that make whipped toppings have plenty of recipes you can try. You can even find things like no-bake pumpkin pie using premade graham cracker crusts.

Don’t forget cookies, which can contribute to many easy desserts. If you don’t have time to bake, consider buying good quality cookies from the store. Try gelato in hazelnut or cappuccino flavors layered with caramel and sprinkled with crushed amaretti cookies for an exotic but easy dessert. Dip a few simple cookies in chocolate sauce and serve them alone or with cups of hot chocolate.

Check Internet recipes and cookbooks for more quick and easy desserts. You’ll find tons of variety and plenty of new ideas. Remember that dessert doesn’t have to be complicated; it just has to taste delicious.

WiseGEEK is dedicated to providing accurate and trustworthy information. We carefully select reputable sources and employ a rigorous fact-checking process to maintain the highest standards. To learn more about our commitment to accuracy, read our editorial process.
Tricia Christensen
By Tricia Christensen , Writer
With a Literature degree from Sonoma State University and years of experience as a WiseGEEK contributor, Tricia Christensen is based in Northern California and brings a wealth of knowledge and passion to her writing. Her wide-ranging interests include reading, writing, medicine, art, film, history, politics, ethics, and religion, all of which she incorporates into her informative articles. Tricia is currently working on her first novel.

Discussion Comments

By clintflint — On Oct 03, 2014

@pastanaga - If I'm going for quick and easy I try to add a bit of fruit to the mix just to make sure it's got a few vitamins and fiber in there as well. But even then there are quite a few tricks to make it interesting.

I read recently that you can make pancake batter out of bananas and eggs without any flour at all. I haven't tried it yet, but that sounds delicious.

By pastanaga — On Oct 03, 2014

@pleonasm - Speaking of ice-cream, if you get one of those cardboard boxes of your favorite flavor and some wafers it's not difficult to make your own ice-cream sandwiches. You basically just cut through the cardboard so the ice-cream is in slices and then put it in between the wafers. It's as simple as it sounds.

Or you can make it even more delicious by cooking your own waffles as the "bread" for the sandwich. It's still a fairly quick and easy dessert and you can also make it more interesting by putting chocolate or fruit into the impressions on the waffle against the ice-cream.

By pleonasm — On Oct 02, 2014

If you get some good quality cookies from the store, then heat them in the microwave for a few seconds, they are made absolutely delicious. Particularly if you add a bit of whipped cream or ice-cream to them.

I'd also suggest looking up desserts that can be made in a mug online, as these are often designed by and for students and so require few ingredients and only a few minutes of cooking time, again in a microwave.

If you have children, never underestimate the appeal of plain ice-cream in general, or ice-cream with toppings. For some reason a little bit of chocolate or some sprinkles (or both) can make a dish of ice-cream into something special and it's the definition of an easy dessert.

Tricia Christensen

Tricia Christensen

Writer

With a Literature degree from Sonoma State University and years of experience as a WiseGEEK contributor, Tricia...
Read more
WiseGEEK, in your inbox

Our latest articles, guides, and more, delivered daily.

WiseGEEK, in your inbox

Our latest articles, guides, and more, delivered daily.