Summertime is for fun and laughter – not to mention soaking up the sun. Whatever your plans this summer, topping off an event or a casual day spent with family and friends with a delicious summer dessert makes it all the sweeter. From refreshing popsicles to pies to light desserts like fruit salad, there are many summer dessert ideas to choose from.
Consider a fruit arrangement featuring fresh cut pineapple daisies, juicy strawberries, and honeydew and cantaloupe wedges. It looks great sitting on a table or countertop, and it tastes amazing, too. Or, choose something a little sweeter with an arrangement featuring a variety of fresh fruit favorites and chocolate dipped fruits like chocolate dipped pineapple daisies, chocolate dipped pineapple stars, chocolate dipped strawberries, and white and semisweet chocolate dipped bananas.
Need to feed a crowd? No problem. Choose from an array of party platters filled with a mouth-watering assortment of fresh fruits, chocolate dipped fruits, fresh-baked cookies, chocolate brownies, scrumptious cupcakes, mini cheesecakes, and more. With an incredible assortment of tasty treats to choose from, there’s something for everyone to enjoy.
For more delicious summer dessert ideas you might want to try, we put out a call for ideas and curated responses below. (Note: Edible Arrangements® is not endorsing any of the companies or ideas discussed below, but we asked for suggestions to get some different perspectives.) Keep reading to find out what the contributors who responded to our query had to say about their favorite summer dessert ideas.
Perry Valentine
Perry Valentine is the owner and founder of AtPerry’s, an online crystal store dedicated to sourcing the best stones in the world. AtPerry’s was founded to help others by selling the finest crystals and gemstones in the world at the best prices. He is also an author and humanist.
“My favorite summer dessert idea is Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie with Vanilla Ice Cream. Choosing a favorite summer dessert is like being asked to pick a favorite child. But if I really had to choose one, my favorite would be a chocolate chip skillet cookie topped with homemade vanilla ice cream. This easily combines two of my favorite things to make which are cookies and vanilla ice cream. I love how the warmth of the freshly baked cookie complements the coldness and sweetness of the ice cream. When done perfectly, you’ll be
able to feel the gooeyness of the cookie and taste how it beautifully absorbs the richness of the ice cream as it melts. This combination is definitely the best way to refresh on a hot summer day.”
Jeremy Yamaguchi
Jeremy Yamaguchi is the CEO of Lawn Love, a company that’s bringing high-tech solutions to the lawn care industry.
“My favorite dessert that I make every summer is one that I make for the 4th of July: The Pampered Chef’s “Red, White & Blueberry Pie”.
This is a super easy but delicious pie to make, and its patriotic appearance is always a crowd-pleaser. You can use a store-bought pie crust, and its filling is mainly white-chocolate pudding. It’s topped with fresh blueberries, white chocolate-covered strawberries, and whipped cream. Though it’s designed to be a holiday-themed dessert, you can definitely make it any other time of the summer and switch out the fruits if you want!”
Kristen Wood
Kristen Wood is a cookbook author, recipe developer, photographer and creator of MOON and spoon and yum, a gluten-free vegetarian food blog.
“Nothing says summertime more than soft pillowy biscuits topped with fresh silky strawberries and a dollop of whipped cream. Strawberry shortcake is the ultimate summer dessert in my humble opinion!”
Steve Schwab
Steve Schwab is the CEO of Casago.
“My favorite summer dessert is a cherry clafoutis. While it might sound fancy, it’s actually deceptively easy to make – and it tastes delicious! Essentially, these are tiny cakes with a layer of cherries on top. You can dress them with powdered sugar and almonds, and even additional cherries for effect. They make a great treat for a summer night at home or for an event!”
Ravi Parikh
Ravi Parikh is the CEO of RoverPass.
“My favorite summer dessert to make is watermelon popsicles. They’re both incredibly refreshing and incredibly easy to prepare. All it takes is some watermelon chunks, yogurt, and lime juice blended together and poured into molds in the freezer.”
Brian Donovan
Brian Donovan is the CEO of TimeShatter.
“Strawberry frozen yogurt is one of my favorite summer desserts to make. It only requires four ingredients – strawberries, greek yogurt, honey, and lemon juice – and it only takes five minutes to put together. It’s a great treat for those hot summer days when all you want to do is sit by the pool!”
Ashley Schuering
Ashley is the Grocery Addict. She shares her best time-saving tips, money-saving tricks, and store-bought grocery hacks to make being the CFO (Chief Food Officer) of your family a little easier.
“When it comes to summer desserts, one of my favorite things to embrace is seasonal produce. Fruit pies, like my Peach Crumble Pie, cobblers, like this easily adaptable cobbler recipe, easy strawberry (or any berry or stone fruit) shortcakes, crumbles, and upside-down cakes are always among my favorites.
However, there comes a point in the summer in the South when turning on the oven is simply unheard of. For those times, I like to lean on no-bake pies, like strawberry yogurt pie, ice-box cakes, puddings, and trifles.
If you’re going to a cookout, I like options that don’t require refrigeration and that are kid-friendly. Rice Krispie treats (or a riff, like my Indoor S’mores Bars, or my coconut ginger key lime bars are always big hits!
You can also always turn to the grill — brushing a little oil on big chunks of fruit (like pineapple, peaches, or watermelon) and grilling them helps to concentrate their sugars and make them extra yummy. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream for extra decadence. If you have smaller pieces of fruit (like grapes or berries), thread them onto kebab sticks!
Finally, whipping out popsicle molds or an ice cream maker is always fun. If you don’t have either of those pieces of equipment and want to keep your expenses down, try making no-churn ice cream or granita instead. You can also use 2oz swishing cups like you’d get at the dentist as makeshift popsicle cups.”
Nick Mueller
Nick Mueller is the Director of Operations of HawaiianIslands.com.
“During the summer when you’re hot and sweaty, there is nothing better than something cold to eat. For me personally, my top cravings during the summer to combat the heat are ice cream and fruit. So, as a way to combine these cravings, my favorite summer dessert is vanilla ice cream topped with homemade fruit syrup. I have made syrups with a variety of different fruits, including strawberries, huckleberries, pineapples, peaches, and blackberries. Or if I don’t have the time to make a syrup, sometimes I will just throw on whatever fruit I have on hand for a topping.”
Kristen McCaffrey
Kristen McCaffrey is the home cook behind the popular recipe website Slender Kitchen and cookbook, Stress free Family Meal Planning. With two busy little girls at home, Kristen is dedicated to making it easy to get healthy, family meals on the table night after night.
“The last thing I want to do when I am grilling outside is wasting the day inside baking! That’s why I love making summer desserts right on the grill. From delicious grilled bananas to grilled mangos and apples, you can turn almost any fruit into a delicious grilled fruit dessert. Just add ice cream, frozen yogurt, or whipped cream! Start with these delicious grilled bananas. Stir together 1 tbsp melted butter with 1 tbsp brown sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Slice four bananas in half, leaving the peels attached. Brush with the cinnamon sugar mixture. Let that soak in for 5-10 minutes and then grill flesh side down for 3-4 minutes. Drizzle with chocolate syrup and serve with vanilla ice cream! So easy and so good!”
Jessica Randhawa
Jessica Randhawa is the head chef, recipe creator, photographer, and writer behind The Forked Spoon.
“My favorite summer dessert is easily a healthy fruit salad with all the local in-season fruit. Living in California, I love fruit salads full of various stone fruits, and melons, along with fresh blackberries and strawberries.”
James Green
James Green is the Owner of Build A Head Big Heads.
“When I think of summer, I think of camping and enjoying the outdoors. Of course, you can’t have a proper camping trip without having s’mores. They’re the perfect summer dessert for that reason. There’s nothing better than a camping trip with your friends and family, around the fire on a crisp summer evening, telling stories while making and enjoying s’mores.”
Daniela Lambova
Daniela Lambova is a food blogger, photographer and educator. A huge dessert lover herself, Daniela specializes in dessert recipe creation. Currently, she develops recipes for her blog Daniscookings.com and also for clients. She teaches baking and photography classes online as well.
“My favorite summer dessert idea is an ice cream cake. I love layered cakes made mostly of ice cream, with a nice crust or a baked layer on the bottom. In the summer they melt quickly which is the beauty of this type of cake: the combination of the cold and the melted part is really intriguing, much more than a regular ice cream. Here are two ice cream cakes that I have created: Neapolitan Ice Cream Cake and Oreo Cheesecake Ice Cream Cake.
Max Shak
Max Shak is the Founder of SurvivalGearShack.com.
“It’s summer, which means lots of delicious fruit. Therefore, pies, ice cream cakes, falooda, kulfi, and mastani were served. I also make a fruit-sweetened porridge with full milk, sugar, and fruit puree. For trifle pudding, I usually mix cake, a lot of fruit, custard, jelly and vanilla ice cream. Milkshakes with ice cream are also my favorite. Normally made from milk and seasonal fruit, kulfi is a desert made from frozen condensed milk. A mango kulfi, a dried fruit kulfi, or a dried fig kulfi is a favorite. The main ingredients in falooda are sabja seeds (which reduce heat-related health problems) as well as kulfi and milkshakes.
Mango salad is another great summer dessert. Mangoes should be chopped into small pieces and then mixed up with condensed milk or full milk, then left for two hours to rest. Add vanilla ice cream after it thickens and mix it up again with a spoon. Set it in small bowls and serve. Served chilled, with or without cream, chocolate cake goes well with this mixture.”
Laura Pearson
Laura is a luxury lifestyle & travel blogger and journalist. She has a chic style and loves entertaining. Her blog features her loves, luxury travel tips and general guides on how to live an elevated life.
“My favorite summer dessert idea is Passionfruit, Raspberry & Coconut Cake Jars. This is the perfect easy throw-together dessert for summer dinner parties and BBQs as it doesn’t involve much baking/cooking and needs no time on presentation. Bake a simple coconut sponge & don’t worry about how it looks as you’re going to crumble it up anyway. Also make a simple vanilla buttercream & mix in some store-bought passionfruit coulis. Take a jam jar and add the sponge, buttercream, store-bought raspberry jam and fresh
raspberries in alternate layers until full, before topping it off with a generous dollop of buttercream. Style with some fresh raspberries and serve with a spoon.”
Samantha Milner
Samantha Milner is a food blogger by day at Recipe This and mum of 3 by night. She lives in a country cottage in sunny Portugal with her husband Dominic. Prior to this she worked for more than a decade in internet marketing. She loves chocolate, Netflix and travelling with her family.
“My favorite summer dessert is a strawberry cheesecake. I make the cheesecake in the instant pot pressure cooker and add in some real strawberries to the cheesecake batter. I then cover the cheesecake in fresh sliced strawberries. This instant pot summer dessert is perfect for potlucks, barbecues, the beach or just for a delicious dessert at home when strawberries are in season.”
Louie Hartley
Louie Hartley is the Marketing Director at Incrementors.
“A Fruit Trifle is the prettiest summer dessert. A trifle is a simple dessert that originated in England and doesn’t take itself too seriously, as its name suggests. These multi-layered bowls of goodness may be prepared ahead of time and chilled until ready to serve, and they can be made with any combination of cake, fruit, and creamy filling. Plus, there’s a chance there’ll be alcohol involved.”
Don Baiocchi
Don creates tasty, healthful recipes at Paleo Gluten Free Guy. He’s been cooking and baking for almost 20 years and grain-, dairy- and refined sugar-free since 2011. Don wants everyone to feel their best and share joy by eating fun, vibrant and indulgent meals.
“My favorite summer dessert is a grilled fruit platter. I choose fruits that need roughly the same amount of cooking time, such as halved plums and peaches and sliced pineapple. I simply grill them on oiled grates over medium high heat for about 5-8 minutes per side. Then I pile them onto a platter with a little jar of honey, flaky sea salt, fresh herbs like mint, basil or thyme, and toasted, chopped nuts like pecans, walnuts and hazelnuts. Vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce and caramel sauce are great served on the side as well. Kids and adults alike love to customize their own grilled fruit sundae!”
Ben Hyman
Ben Hyman is the Co-Founder and CEO of Revival Rugs, a company that believes buying a high-quality rug should be smooth, transparent, and affordable.
“Nothing beats homemade Baklava in the summertime. This Turkish dessert is sweet, moist, and oozes sugary syrup as soon as you take a bite. While time sensitive to make, the result is always worth the effort. All you need is phyllo dough, finely ground pistachios, butter, and a syrup made from sugar, water and lemon juice. The ingredients are simple, but the taste is rich and nuanced.”
Sam Cohen
Sam Cohen is a CMO of myfreeOCR.com, a free image to text online converter tool.
“Summer is a time for fun and relaxation, but it’s also a time when you need to watch your weight. Summer is the perfect time to indulge in desserts. Whether you like to eat them or simply enjoy the flavors, there are plenty of options. However, if you want to keep your weight in check and still enjoy your favorite summer dessert, then try these healthy alternatives! Banana ice cream with strawberries: Instead of using heavy cream, try using bananas instead. You can also use frozen bananas in place of ice cream and add some fruit on top. Salted chocolate chip cookies: Salted chocolate chips are a delicious alternative to regular chocolate chips that are high in sugar and calories. This recipe makes 12 cookies with only 200 calories each!”
Sondra Barker
Sondra Barker is the founder of Cuisine & Travel and a culinary writer, photographer, recipe developer, and nutritionist.
“My favorite childhood memories of the summer were sitting around a campfire roasting marshmallows with friends and family. I created these delicious S’mores Cookies to enjoy all year even when I’m not camping.”
Sheila Eugenio
Sheila Eugenio is the CEO of MediaMentions.net.
“My favorite summer dessert idea is Berry Tart. This is a classic French dessert that features a tart pastry crust with fresh berries, lemon zest, and sugar on top. It’s easy to make with store-bought dough and can be made in advance if you want to save time on the day of your party.
Berry Mousse: This light mousse is perfect for summer because it’s light and airy but still creamy. It doesn’t require any cooking and can be made in advance so that you’ll have enough time to prepare everything else for your party.”
Gina Roselle-Broschart
Gina is the Co-Owner of New Jersey’s premier custom cake shop, The Vintage Cake. She is a graduate of the Baking and Pastry Arts program at the Culinary Institute of America. In addition, she has a bachelor’s degree in Nutritional Science from Rutgers University.
“My favorite summer dessert idea is light and fragrant mousse that is fruit-forward with a touch of lemon, or a lemon sponge cake with strawberry rose bavarian and strawberry compote are a perfect light and refreshing dessert for a summer day.”
Ruiz Asri
Ruiz is an editor at Honest Food Talks, which is a UK-based independent foodie media outlet that aims to help people discover new recipes, kitchen hacks and local eateries. He loves discovering new home recipes, and is a huge Boba and Chai enthusiast!
“Aiyu Jelly, a classic Taiwanese summer dessert, is my favorite. Aiyu jelly is a refreshing jelly dessert from Taiwan that is made up of Aiyu seeds (a type of fig fruit), honey and lemon. Growing up, I used to eat this as an afternoon snack on a hot day; however, today this traditional treat seems to have gained popularity again as a jelly topping for boba drinks!
Making the classic summer dessert is simple! First, you have to squeeze and rub the Aiyu seeds in cold water to release their natural pectin. Then, leave it in the fridge for 30 minutes for it to jellify and set. Cut the jelly into cubes and put it together with some ice cubes in a bowl. Spoon over a mix of honey and lemon before serving.
As the Aiyu jelly itself has a pretty neutral flavour, but a wonderful chewy texture – it goes well with many different dessert ingredients. For example, it pairs well as a topping in Jasmine tea boba drink, or served together in a cool bowl of taro balls and soy milk!”
Errika Horner
Errika Horner is the Owner and Author of The Home Intent.
“Summer always makes me think of citrus. Lemon, lime, grapefruit, orange… the flavors are just so bright and fresh!
A new favorite dessert of mine has been this healthier key lime pie. It’s made with whole food ingredients and minimal natural sweeteners. This pie features a homemade oat crumble crust and a creamy filling that’s the perfect balance of tart and sweet.
Bonus: it’s vegan and nut-free! So those with certain allergies and dietary preferences can enjoy it.”
Mike Baldicana
Mike Baldicana is the Marketing Content Specialist at TrekRoofing – a family-owned business, to provide an honest service and to deliver professional roofing solutions, including installation and maintenance services to small businesses, residential properties and commercial properties.
“A pan-fried cookie with a marshmallow filling, called ‘Cookie Dough Float,’ is one of my favorite dessert ideas. You may have heard the name before. It’s a sweet and salty treat that’s easy to make (still requires baking skills). It’s quick, versatile and requires minimal ingredients. The cookies look amazing. Also pop cookies in the freezer for that next summer holiday. It’s way better than the chocolate chip cookies you buy from the store. If you’re already a casserole lover like me, this recipe is just as delicious and different from other desserts as well. You can substitute marshmallows for chocolate chips (if you want to) or use out of this world ingredients that are not in your pantry.”
Jill Bauer
Jill Bauer is a home and lifestyle expert for the TODAY show and serves as Brand Ambassador for the Scott Brothers (Scott Living Home). On her website, Just Jill, she blogs about everything entertaining and home. Her online store, Just Jill Shop, is celebrating it’s one-year anniversary.
“My favorite summer dessert is my Lemon Chiffon Dessert. There’s just something about citrus and summer that go together. That’s why this Lemon Chiffon Dessert is one of my all-time favorites. By picking up a premade angel food cake at the store, you’ve just turned this beauty into a no-bake, easy lemon squeezy cake that’s enjoyable and unforgettable.
Ingredients:
- 1 box of angel food cake mix OR a premade store cake (See notes below.)
- 2 cups boiling water
- 1 6 oz. box lemon-flavored gelatin (or 2 3 oz. boxes)
- 6 ounces frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed
- 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
Instructions:
- Heat oven to 350°F. Bake and cool cake as directed on the package for angel food (tube) pan.
- Pour boiling water on gelatin in a large bowl; stir until gelatin dissolves completely. Refrigerate for 45 minutes to an hour or until liquid is thickened but not set.
- Add enough cold water to lemonade concentrate to measure 2 cups; stir into gelatin. Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until foamy.
- Beat whipping cream in chilled medium bowl on high speed until stiff; fold into gelatin. It will be like floating clouds at first but gently continue to fold until combined. Do not vigorously mix. You want to keep some “lightness” from the whipped cream.
- Tear cake into about 1-inch pieces. Fold cake pieces into gelatin mixture. Spread in an ungreased rectangular baking dish, 13x9x2 inches.
- Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours until firm but no longer than 24 hours. Cut into squares. Garnish with an extra dollop of sweetened whipped cream and a lemon slice if desired. Store covered in refrigerator. This dessert is best if eaten within a day or two of making.
Notes:
To save time, buy a premade angel food cake at your local grocer between 14-16 oz.
Be sure to use a LARGE bowl. Your ingredients will thank you for the extra room when folding the whipped cream into the lemon gelatin mixture, then adding the angel food cake pieces.”
Sylvia Fountaine
Sylvia is the chef and CEO of Feasting at Home.
“Summer is strawberry season! If I had my way, every summer dessert would feature sweet, juicy strawberries. One of my favorite desserts is a gluten free, vegan strawberry rhubarb crisp. Making the crispy topping with oats, chia seeds, maple syrup and almond flour keeps it wholesome and gluten free, and is perfect against the tart, juicy strawberry rhubarb filling. You can use any berries or summer fruit you love- a crisp with peaches and blueberries would be delicious too! Here is the recipe.”
Want a delicious summer dessert without all the fuss and prep time? Shop with Edible Arrangements® to choose from our extensive collection of delicious done-for-you summer dessert ideas. We’ll even hand-deliver your favorite desserts straight to your doorstep!
