Yummy desserts that will travel well!!

[Jollymummy2]

I have offered to take dessert to inlaws for Boxing Day and 27th.

We (2 adults 3 kids & a baby!)will be traveling to my inlaws early Boxing Day morning for Christmas take 2. And stupidly I offered to bring puds. Although I hadn't thought the logistics of this through. There will be 5 adults and 3 children in total, all with different tastes, so need a selection for the 2 nights.
My main problems are:
2 hour car journey
Car will already be full to bursting point
Not much fridge space at inlaws
Need to be cheap but not look it!

Please help, I have am struggling for inspiration.

I've often put tins & boxes of food under the driver/ passenger seat or on the floor of the back seats, which is fine if your dc are strapped into car seats so dont need to rest their feet.

How about a roulade type dessert or something that comes in a flat box?

christmasfood.marksandspencer.com/listing/desserts/

A trifle. Got to have one at Christmas. Sponge soaked in sweet booze of choice. Fruit of choice. Tinned is fine. Lots of custard. Make it a firm egg custard as you are travelling. So long as you don't put the cream on this will be ok somewhere cool rather than fridge. Make in a pretty bowl and cover with a plate and wrap in tin foil. Decorate as festive as you like. I like flaked almonds glace cherries and silver balls. But I'm a bit ott at Christmas.

Home made Chocolate brownies. You could stew some fruit to make a compote. Or buy a nice one and serve alongside the brownie which has been warmed in microwave for 30 seconds.

Lemon and pear cake. Or pear and raspberry. Line a baking tin with baking parchment. Put tinned pears (or poached fresh ) in bottom plus raspberries if you like. Pour over your favourite lemon cake recipe (or use Dr Oetker lemon cake mix with a dash of lemon juice added). Bake for about an hour. Or take in tin wrapped well. And bake when needed for a great hot pudding.

Or a similar approach to the above only with plums or apples or cherries and top with a ginger cake mix and some crumble for a ginger crumble cake. Great warm or cold.

Or bake a huge pavlova base (maybe add crushed pistachio or a dash or rosewater). Then just whip the cream when needed. Passion fruit as a topping looks very festive. Or soaked cherries. Or fresh raspberries.

www.morrisons.co.uk/christmas/Signature/

Morrisons have a Shimmer Berry Cheesecake (£4.99) in the shape of a Xmas tree & it comes in a flat box which can be stashed under the drivers seat.
Does not need

They have lots of flat & rectangular shaped desserys which can be stored under the car seat.

Ohh loving the idea of pear cake.
I generally make desserts so don't really want to buy a pre-made dessert.
Keep them coming

Why not make lemon posset when you get there. So so easy. All you need is double cream lemon juice and caster sugar. If you google a recipe will come up. They will set in a few hours and don't really need a fridge if you have a cool place. I serve mine with home made lemon shortbread.

Oranges soaked in orange juice and port (or just orange juice for the children) served with whipped up double cream flavoured with a bit of liqueur.

Poached pears. Take along in a big Tupperware container and will just need a few seconds in microwave.

Baked apples. Cored and hollowed out and filled with dried fruits that have been soaked in orange juice or a liqueur of choice and tiny bits of marzipan and sprinkled with brown sugar. . Put on a tray and wrap in foil then bake when you want them.

Apple strudel.

Raspberry Bakewell tart ( from Nigellas how to eat).
Come to think of it a tart of some sort would be great. Very portable. Or a baked cheesecake.

The Challenge (I got this recipe from the QVC website. One of the presenters, Debbie Greenwood)

Can't remember exact quantities but it's one you could adjust:

crushed chocolate digestive and melted butter (2:1 quantity)
condensed milk, boiled in the tin to go thick and fudgelike
Malteasers
melted Mars Bar with a small amount of melted butter

you layer it up, the biscuit+butter in a cake tin. Chill.
Then the caramel, Malteasers and melted Mars.

Chill then slice thin.

It's called The Challenge because it's a challenge to eat more than one slice

Have had a lot of success with sticky toffee pudding (cake) in the past -- easy to make and transport a large tray of the cake, which you then cut into squares. Something like this: www.cinnamonspiceandeverythingnice.com/british-sticky-toffee-pudding-challenge/. Transport the sauce separately, and warm both at the destination. Maybe have pouring cream (unless you can arrange for ice cream somehow!)

Fresh fruit salad (looks v. striking sometimes if you go for a limited colour pallette -- all red and green, or red and blueberries etc) is also easy to do there and nice if everyone is a bit pudding-ed out. (Is that possible? I'm pretty sure it's not a word...)

My grandmother's standby is bananas in greek yogurt (or some kind of yoghurt and cream combination) with demerara sugar on top and a little mixed in. Also vv quick and easy so ingredients can be brought then prepped at the house (would be stable in the car for a few hours.) Suitable for children and grown ups.

I also made a chocolate tart recently which was very stable and only needed small slices so lasted for a crowd.

Or pineapple upside down cake? Can also be transported easily...

There's an amazing Delia chocolate torte which could travel well if you can find somewhere flat in the car:
www.deliaonline.com/recipes/main-ingredient/chocolate/truffle-torte.html
Or something like a pear upside-down cake or torte with cream.

Trifle sounds like it wouldn't travel well except it's easy to make one up from the ingredients when you get there as long as you don't mind pre-made custard etc - for a super -easy quick trifle, take along some Madeira cake or boudoir biscuits, a mini-pot of jam, some sherry/juice for children, a carton of custard, and for the jelly and fruit I've used in the past a couple of pre-made fresh jelly desserts with raspberries and strawberries set in it, and just broken it up at the bottom - you can't tell the difference once the soaked cake/biscuits and custard are in! Then chill overnight and whip & add cream and toppings just before serving on the 27th. Check your inlaws have a big glass bowl you can use to put it in and you'd only need to take the ingredients (and some cream in a small coolbag).

Same with Eton mess or a variant thereof if you don't mind using pre-made meringue and can take a small coolbag in the car with some fruit and cream.

We made a variation on Eton mess one year but with lemon curd instead of berries. Fold together with whipped cream and broken up bought meringues. Cheap and easy.

I made Rocky Road last year. I took it in a box ready cut into squares and then just piled it up on a nice plate and dusted it with icing sugar.