Help! Easy desserts

[mumoverseas]

Help! DS's first birthday party on friday has got out of control and so far we have around 40 adults and 30 children coming

Will do little fairy cakes for kids and so far for adults I was thinking:

chocolate cake
key lime pie
strawberry trifle

Would appreciate suggestions of other desserts that are easy to prepare in advance (night before or early morning) for pm party. (also, no exotic ingredients as where we live it is hard to get anything a bit different)

Thanks in advance

Hello mumoverseas. What about jelly and ice cream? Could you use some nice fruit in it like blueberries,raspberries to make it more appealing to the adults?

Yes to jelly and icecream for the children - or, even easier, just icecream in cones.

For children - Strawberry jelly in (paper!) bowls. Then when it's set Strawberry angel delight on the top and 100's and 1000's.

For adults well I'd probably buy desserts in this situation, but This is easy if you ever need and easy pud

mmmm, that trifle looks lovely BendyBob but sadly I fall at the first hurdle as can't get rum here . Don't ever recall seeing mascarpone (sp?) either.

Might do jellies for children as well as the fairy cakes.

Anyone got any good easy cheesecake receipes?

How about:

Pavlova - can make meringue ahead then assemble with cream and extras of your choice ( I like lemon curd swirled into cream plus either raspberries or passion fruit.

Almond cakes are great as you can make them ahead and they improve with the keeping. Lemon and almond good as well as ornage and almond, or I did a yum pistachio one recently.

Brownies also keep well so can do ahead and are always a crowd pleaser.Look great piled up on a 3 tier cake stand if you have one Recipes abound - I love Nigel Slater's.

Don't kill yourself doing it all though. Buy in if you can.Don't know where you are. For one of my DS's early birthdays ( an am one ) I did cappuccinos and good bought freshly baked danish pastries. I am mean so I cut them in half before serving them!

ooh, pavlova is a good one as I'll have lots of egg whites left over from making my key lime pies.

Trouble is, we are in Saudi Arabia so don't have all the nice yummy desserts we'd have in the real world (UK)

Am I right in thinking with Pavlova you can make the meringue the night before and leave overnight in the oven (I'm sure one receipe said that) that would solve a storage problem.

Yes I think I have heard of a recipe that does that. Alterntively, I just wrap mine loosely in foil.

Hope it goes well for you.