Desserts for a party?

[notasize10yetbutoneday]

We are having a party soon- all adults and I am stuck for which and how many desserts to do.

There will be approx 30 people. I will be doing a large tiramisu (would serve 16 i think- maybe 20) and a bannofee pie (could serve 8 or 16 depending if I do one or two).

What other dessert(s) would you do? I am good at cheesecakes but don't want them all to be too 'samey'. Something like a roulade I would love to do but is out of my capabilities I think with doing all the other food as well. Is pavlova terribly naff?

Yes, it also helps if you have people who don't eat dairy, or are vegan. How about a nice winter fruit compote - I gently cook an assortment of dried fruit with a cinnamon stick, some grated nutmeg in some apple juice till soft and lovely -'tis easy and low stress, can be prepared ahead, and will keep nicely if you don't use it all on the day. You could even add some fresh apple to it as well, or do all sorts of variations. It's delicious as is, but those who are celebrating/greedy can add pouring cream. While simmering, makes the house smell fabulous.

eton mess?
fruit crumble?
a platefull of brownies?

Thanks all, I agree something fruity to offset the richness of the other desserts. Crumble would normally be my go-to dessert but I won't have the oven space to warm it- it must be something served cold I can make in advance.

Do you think 3 desserts is enough for 30 people?

definitely do 2nd banoffee pie and fruit salad/compote as suggested. I always make far too many puddings but would be tempted to do another one too - no pavlova isn't naff!!
What about cheese & biscuits as another option?

White choc cheese cake.

Chocolate brownies, then people can pick.

I agree that something smaller/less rich would be good. I think I would do a fruit platter - maybe very thinly sliced pineapple covered with passion fruit pulp and a little orange juice and then a 3 tier cake stand either piled high with weeny brownies or a mixture of little one or two bite tarts/similar.

Agree with taffeta cat. One fruit platter and one small cake type option that is easy for everyone to pick at. , trifle and other plock it in a bowl and let everyone help themselves options are also good for a large gathering.

For the fruit option, I really like a Jamie Oliver recipe of a platter of finely sliced pineapple (which should be good at this time of year) with a mint sugar. Really simple and always goes down well.

I agree with doing a fruit salad/fruit platter

berries ice cream and meringe in a sundue glass topped with squirty cream mmmmmmm

I had a party in the summer and did two banoffi and two trifle as you can throw them together on the morning.

i also got a small selection of 4-5 different cheese from the deli counter and added grapes and celery, this went and there well there was hardley any left comapered to the sweet deserts

1 600ml carton of double cream, 1 can of condensed milk, 1 bottlecap of vodka mixed together to the state of "ribbon" makes a FABULOUS base for ice cream that DOESN'T need an ice cream maker, and doesn't create ice crystals. You also don't need to repeatedly take it out of the freezer to stir it.

The flavours that go down the best with our grown up friends are:

Honeycomb toffee (I think the best proportions is 5 tbsp of granulated sugar and 2 tbsp of golden syrup. Heat in a wide pan without stirring until all the sugar is melted, then add tsp of Sodium Bicarbonate and stir with a wooden spoon.)
Fresh raspberries
Nectarine (chop into tiny pieces, leave skin on) and chocolate (broken up flake works well)
Maltesers (crush up about half, leave half whole and decorate the top)

Add your flavourings to the base mix and freeze for at least 4-5 hrs, or overnight. The fruit ones freeze really hard, remove from the freezer a good 15-20 minutes before serving.

We find that the boxes from Tesco that are 4L capacity work the best, as they do perish if you leave them in the freezer too long, so don't use your best Lock and Lock boxes.

ENJOY

Excellent, thank you all- fruit platter and cheeseboard to supplement the desserts, sorted.

Love the idea of putting the fruit and mini brownies on a cakestand.