Dessert idea to take to friends house?

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We regularly go to good friends house for a meal, and they come to us, the 'host' family usually provide the meal and the visiting family usually bring a pudding / dessert. (our families consist of 2 adults 2 children - early teens) so 8 mouths to feed in total - no fussy eaters.

Over the years other Mum and I have done the usuals: Apple Crumble, Chocolate Cheesecake, Lemon Cheesecake, Bread & Butter pudding, Sponge pudding, Pavlova, Waffleberry pudding, Eton Mess, Chocolate Cake, occasionally Ice Cream Sundaes for the kids......but its getting repetitive now. I would love to walk in with a lovely dessert / pudding that will 'wow' and surprise everyone to compliment my lovely friend's delicious cooking.

I am at a loss and completely lacking inspiration! Do any of you have some great dessert ideas that travel well?

Summer pudding? There's quite a variety of berries available in the shops at the moment.

Trifle? Loads of variants depending on your likes and dislikes - I'd go for a gingery one, but woulr turn my nose upat banananananana, f'rinstance.

I love this, but rarely make it as it's so sweet and you can't eat much! Serve with either single cream or, if you have time, melt white chocolate and add enough milk to make it stay liquid, and pour over. That really is very sweet though!

You'll need a potato masher to squish the purée and a couple or so bowls. Sorry it's imperial quantities: I've had the recipe for about 25 years!

Frances Bissell’s Chocolate Chestnut pudding
1lb tin unsweetened chestnut purée 4oz icing sugar
8oz good plain chocolate, melted 4oz unsalted butter, softened

Mix purée and sugar. Add chocolate then butter and mix well. Put in 1lb loaf tin lined with clingfilm. Chill. Serve very thin slices as it's very rich. Would go well with strawberries or raspberries.

Thank you for your replies. Summer pudding and trifle are excellent suggestions, I also LOVE the sound of the Chocolate Chestnut Pudding - Yum! I will store away these ideas for future visits, I am sure they will all make an appearance at some stage! Thanks

Banoffee pie is easy to make but quite impressive (IME anyway!) My raspberry and white chocolate cheesecake always goes down very well too, and loads of people have asked me for the recipe.

Ahhh of course Banoffee Pie is always a winner! SugarMice (if you have time) could you post your sought after white chocolate cheesecake recipe it sounds devine!?

I was going to say banoffee pie too. Assemble the banana after the meal is finished. I would add some chunks of flake between the toffee and cream and on top as well.

Nigel Slater's cardamon and white chocolate mousse with dark chocolate sauce is easy, summery and has wow factor. Or grasshopper pie.

Mont Blanc is a meringue chestnut cream confection not hard to do

Nigella's chocolate almond cake with raspberries is good

Nigella's chocolate Guinness cake is a winner for this and works every time for all ages.
Just make sure you cool it in the oven, rather than pulling it straight out as it tends to dip in the middle if cooled too quickly. I think it's 45min - 1hour cooking time so I tend to set the alarm for 50 mins. Then turn the oven off and open the door a jar and leave it in there for half an hour or so until it's cooled down. Yum yum!

I was coming on to say Guinness cake too as my SIster did this for me a few weeks back and it was amazing and looked spectacular. She uses a slightly different recipe, www.stylist.co.uk/life/recipes/chocolate-guinness-cake

Lemon tart, Key Lime pie, damp lemon and almond cake with raspberries (I often do a ring mould and it looks very pretty)...

This is amaaaaaazing. www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/black_forest_trifle_62822

And this www.channel4.com/programmes/how-to-cook-like-heston/articles/all/exploding-chocolate-gateau-recipe A Heston recipe. Don't bother with the flocking!!

My pud of choice is a pile of choc brownies with some good quality vanilla ice cream, and maybe a bowl of strawberries & raspberries as well .

Do people like cheese? You could make your own version of this m.marksandspencer.com/mt/www.marksandspencer.com/small-cheese-celebration-cake/p/p60039368

Lemon meringue pie?

I was going to recommend the Heston chocolate exploding thing as well. Easy to make & totally delicious. Agree - ignore the flocking. I've brushed it with edible gold powder when taking it for a friend's birthday. Looked amazing.

I was coming on to say lemon meringue pie, but littlegreengloworm just beat me to it.

Delia Smith's is the recipe I use. It's a little bit fiddly & takes a while, but it's fabulous.

Delia's hot citrus pudding. YUM.

Ooh and a friend brought this to our house last week;

baked pinapples in spices (a good pinch of chilli in there), which she brought warpped in foil and was still warm when we served, coconut icecream and crisp biscuits with a hint of lime. Served with a bottle of tequilla.

Really good.

Another Nigella vote but for Chocolate Pear Pudding. Easy, can make from store cupboard ingredients and everyone loves it. Serve with vanilla ice cream or cream. I usually make 1.5x amount of sponge to pear ratio as the recipe and find it a better quantity.

profiteroles ....chocolate or toffee sauce
Or brandy snaps ...actually brandy snaps, lemon syllabub and raspberry sauce...
Or rhubarb fool - made with custard and cream...or raspberry fool or even Cranachan
Lemon tart (tarte au citron) - or chocolate tart
creme brulee
(btw chocolate and chestnut is a great combination ....but be careful - you can get sweetened chestnut puree too - and I think it is way too sweet - but then I don't like marrons glace or indeed 'mont blanc' pudding )

Base of cheesecake is crushed digestive biscuits, 1-2 tablespoons cocoa and enough melted butter to bind it together. Press into base of a cake tin. Refrigerate whilst making filling.

Melt 200g white chocolate, then mix with 1 tub mascarpone cheese. Spread a couple of tablespoons of raspberry jam on the base, sprinkle with a layer of fresh raspberries, then spread the white chocolate mixture on top. Refrigerate again. Decorate with more raspberries, whipped cream and a sprinkling of cocoa powder