Please help re dinner party dessert ideas, need something I can make in advance and leave in the car during the day...

[teamnomistake]

We are going to friends for dinner, staying overnight. They live a long way away and we all have small kids, so ideally I want to make something in advance and then transport it. It will have to spend several hours in the car, but that could be in a cool box. Needs to feed 6 including a pregnant woman.

I keep looking at cheesecake recipes but think that's a non starter in terms of the sitting in the car factor. I also don't want to spend hours faffing over something very complex but want it to be easy, yummy and have a modicum of wow factor if possible.

Any ideas v v welcome...,

You could do several different types of brownie, eg triple chocolate, hazelnut & raspberry & blondies. Any not eaten could be enjoyed by your friends after you've left the following day. I've also made raspberry & hazelnut cakes which would survive and an orange polenta cake would be fine.

I'm having difficulties thinking of something spectacular which could be assembled so far in advance without going soggy.

Sticky toffee pudding as it would benefit from time to absorb some of the toffee sauce. I think as eastpoint says, cake is the way to go, especially with a sticky sauce to pour over.

Ooh, lovely suggestions, many thanks. I particularly like the idea of hazelnut and raspberry cake and have googled a nice sounding recipe.

Probably a bad idea to start this on a fast day (am 5:2 ing as I will be tortured by thoughts of cake all day)

I like to do some indulgent dark choc and orange cookies in advance which travel very easy in Tupperware...

Serve them on a board with bowls of quality vanilla ice cream, a ramekin of orange zest, and a bottle of Cointreau. Cookies crumbled over ice cream... sprinkle with zest and drizzle with booze. Yum. Also looks fab and is a bit of fun.

Your only problem might be the ice cream but you could pick it up en-route or ask your host to get it in.