If you are looking for pumpkin pie, we have several recipes – pecan pie, too. But there are so many other festive desserts for those who aren’t pie fans, or don’t want to bother with pie crust. How about pavlovas, cheesecakes (and cheesecake dip!), luscious layer cakes, sheet cakes, and frozen desserts.
Here are our favorite holiday desserts that aren’t pie! Many are suitable for the winter holidays, but don’t overlook this round-up for inspiration at other holidays, too. Some are simple, others are extravagant. We have 32 fantastic recipe for you.
Towering Fruit Pavlova
This statuesque dessert is best for a fancy party. Discs of crisp meringue are layered with a variety of fruit and softly whip cream. It is a bit messy to serve and doesn’t exactly look neat on the plate, but no one ever complains because it is absolutely delectable for the eyes and the palate. Get the recipe for Towering Fruit Pavlova.
New York Style Cheesecake With Strawberry Glaze
This New York style cheesecake based on cream cheese is rich and creamy, nestled on a crisp crust. It is fantastic without the strawberry glaze, but we certainly highly recommend it. Get the recipe for New York Style Cheesecake With Strawberry Glaze.
Cannoli Cream With Berries
If you are a cannoli fan, or even if you are not (like me) you have to try this dessert. Lightly sweetened ricotta, orange zest, and shavings of dark chocolate combine to dollop on fresh berries. Elegant and so easy you barely need a recipe. Get the recipe for Cannoli Cream With Berries.
Mocha Toffee Crunch Cake
Coffee, chocolate and toffee all rolled into one cake that is perfect for birthdays and celebrations.
Our basic recipe for Easy Chocolate Cake, which is gluten-free, is brushed with Coffee Liqueur, filled and frosted with Espresso Buttercream and the sides are covered with toffee bits and miniature chocolate chips. Get the Mocha Toffee Crunch Cake recipe.
Eton Mess
This well-known and be loved English dessert is a combination of meringue, sweet and strawberries and whipped cream. Simple and sublime. Get the recipe for Eton Mess.
Mint Stracciatella Semifreddo
A semifreddo is a frozen dessert that does not require an ice cream maker. This one features fresh mint in a creamy base. Melted chocolate is drizzled onto the cold mixture and creates a crisp chocolate ribbon throughout. Get the recipe for Mint Stracciatella Semifreddo.
Red Velvet Cake
Okay we know that red velvet is just a tad bit chocolaty, but it deserves a home in this list. Our version features classic, old-fashioned cooked vanilla frosting. Get the Red Velvet Cake recipe.
Viennese Farmer Cheese Cake
Our Viennese Farmer Cheese Cake is sometimes referred to as Topfentorte. (The farmer cheese – often spelled “farmer’s cheese” – is “topfen”, a term also used to denote quark, another fresh cheese). This cheese cake is lighter than a NY-Style Cheesecake, features a pastry crust and flavors of citrus, almonds and plump, chewy raisins. Get the recipe.
Mixed Berry Terrine
Our Mixed Berry Terrine is the perfect choice when you want a gorgeous dessert that is light, low calorie, low fat and absolutely packed with fresh fruit flavor. It is based on unflavored gelatin dissolved in just enough liquid to hold all of those strawberries, blueberries and raspberries together. You can make it in a loaf and unmold it, as we did here, or make it even simpler in a clear glass bowl. Get the recipe.
Baked Alaska
This Baked Alaska is for a holiday or special occasion-sized crowd at home, as it serves 24 people. Cake, ice cream, sorbet and billows of toasted meringue. It’s do-ahead, too! .Get the recipe.
Blackout Cake
We grew up in NYC in the 70s and “Blackout cake” was a favorite. This version is just as rich, but it is lactose-free and gluten-free. The filling and frosting is actually an easy-to-make pudding, and the exterior is covered with cake crumbs. No cake decorating experience necessary. Get the Blackout Cake recipe.
Mocha Chocolate Chunk Bars with Whiskey Salted Caramel
We always keep Maldon salt around for its large, crunchy flakes that are perfect for finishing dishes,
like on top of this caramel drizzle.
We know the title is a mouthful but we wanted you to get the gist of what you have in store: a brown sugar butter dough with whiskey in the batter along with espresso powder and chocolate chunks. The drizzle on top is a whiskey enhanced caramel sauce, topped with large flaked salt. Get the Mocha Chocolate Chunk Bars recipe.
Lime Cheesecake Dip
This is basically an unbaked cheesecake filling in a bowl and you can use all sorts of dippers to help get it into your mouth, such as the fruit shown. (Spoons work great, too!) Get the recipe.
Frozen Peanut Butter Cheesecake
This Frozen Peanut Butter Cheesecake is nestled on a chocolate cookie crust and served with a warm chocolate-honey sauce. Decadent! A great make-ahead party dish as it can wait for you in the freezer until needed.Get the recipe.
Souche de Noël – a Twist on Bûche de Noël
Stump or log, the trompe l’oeil is always fun and you get to push the visual pun even further with Meringue Mushrooms. This year I decided to turn a cake on its end, literally, which is how our Souche de Noël, or holiday “stump”, was born. Chocolate cake, espresso buttercream and chocolate ganache all rolled up and presented as a slice of the forest. Get the recipe.
Black Velvet Chocolate Guinness Cake with Whiskey Frosting
This chocolate cake made with Guinness has become a bit of a cult fave in our community. Originally developed for St. Patrick’s Day, we know you will enjoy it year round. Get the Black Velvet Chocolate Guinness Cake recipe.
Cranberry Raspberry Cheesecake Trifle
We think our Cranberry Raspberry Cheesecake Trifle just might become your go-to winter holiday dessert. Trifles are fantastic desserts for large parties – they feed a crowd and can be assembled ahead. Components can even be made further ahead. Win-win ! Get the recipe.
Red Velvet Cake with Sugared Cranberries
TA DA! This was one of those recipes that was formed in my mind first and that I had to bring to life. I had the image of a white frosted cake with sugared cranberries on top. And then your huge, positive response to our other Red Velvet Cake inspired me to re-purpose it and voila – our White Chocolate Red Velvet Cake with Sugared Cranberries was born. Get the recipe.
Dark Chocolate Truffles
Chocolate truffles can be made at home! This is a simple recipe that anyone can make. Just get ready to get your hands a bit dirty – but the “dirt” is cocoa and chocolate, so don’t worry! Get the Dark Chocolate Truffle recipe.
Frozen Peppermint Bûche de Noël
A tender cocoa cake rolled around peppermint ice cream, slathered with meringue frosting, browned with a torch, and served frozen with warm chocolate sauce. It doesn’t get any better than that. Get the recipe.
Chocolate Cheesecake
You can have cheesecake on the low FODMAP diet – and it can be lactose-free! We have several cheesecake recipes, from cakes to brownies. This one features a crisp chocolate crust and a creamy, chocolate NY-style cheesecake filling. Get the Chocolate Cheesecake recipe.
Chocolate Peppermint Cake
The picture says it all. A chocolate cake made in a decorative pan with a chocolate glaze and a sprinkling of crushed candy canes! Perfect for winter holidays, but we also think chocolate and peppermint is a year-round flavor combo. Get the Chocolate Peppermint Cake recipe.
Texas Sheet Cake
Looking for a chocolate cake to serve a crowd? This sheet cake, studded with nuts, and with a glossy icing, is absolutely the perfect choice! Get the Chocolate Texas Sheet Cake recipe.
Chocolate Raspberry Bûche de Noël
The Bûche de Noël, or Yule log, is a classic French Christmastime dessert. It looks like a log, but it is really a jelly-roll style cake. This Chocolate Raspberry Bûche de Noël version is a yellow sponge cake rolled around whipped dark chocolate ganache filling speckled with fresh raspberries and finished off with a classic dark chocolate ganache, smoothed on the outside to resemble bark. Get the recipe.
Chocolate Crème Brûlée
Here are our low FODMAP chocolate crème brûlée – some of them caramelized and some about to be; see the raw sugar?
What is better than crème brûlée? Chocolate crème brûlée! Smooth, creamy, lightly chocolatey with a crisp caramelized sugar crust. Get out the propane or butane torch! Get the Chocolate Crème Brûlée recipe.
Chocolate Pavlova
Classic Pavlova is an egg white concoction. A sweet crisp and chewy meringue served with fruit and whipped cream. We have a few other versions, too, but this one has chocolate marbled into the meringue for a stunning visual effect as well as a delicious result. Get the Low FODMAP Chocolate Pavolva recipe.
Chocolate Pumpkin Marble Bundt Cake
We love recipes that marble flavors together, and this Bundt cake which features visually striking broad-stroke swirls of pumpkin and chocolate cake is even more delicious than it looks. Topped off with a chocolate glaze, too. Get the recipe.
White Chocolate Bûche de Noël
Our White Chocolate Bûche de Noël features a yellow sponge cake, rolled around a cranberry and Swiss Meringue Buttercream filling, with a buttercream exterior and white chocolate“bark”. Confectioners’ sugar dusted on top looks like snow. All gluten-free and lactose-free. Get the recipe.
Pumpkin Cobbler
If you’re looking for a very simple, homespun pumpkin dessert, this pumpkin cobbler, which is also gluten-free, fits the bill. It’s sort of like a pumpkin pie without a crust, but it also has pockets of biscuit/cake-like portions, as well as sugary streusel. Get the recipe.
Pumpkin Chocolate Swirled Cream Cheese Brownies
We have long been fans of pumpkin cheesecake. And of course we love brownies. So we figured, why not combine them? Get the recipe.
Pumpkin Cheesecake with Gingersnap Crust
Smooth, silky pumpkin works so well with cream cheese and this is a fantastic New York-style, pumpkin cheesecake in a snappy gingersnap cookie crust. Get the recipe.
Chocolate Chestnut Bûche de Noël
This sponge cake roll is brushed with a whiskey syrup, filled with a chestnut buttercream and the exterior sports a coating of chocolate buttercream. Get the recipe.
Holiday Recipes That Won’t Make You Bloat
These are our very best Thanksgiving & Christmas Tummy Friendly Main Dishes, from turkey to ham, roast beef to something a little different like duck, or a simple roast chicken. And we have vegetarian and vegan options, along with some hearty pastas for those that like those additions on the table. Read: Thanksgiving & Christmas Low FODMAP Main Dishes.
Holiday Appetizers For Everyone! Even For Delicate Digestions!
Appetizers! Perhaps not an everyday thing, but around the holidays we love to have a spread of little nibbles. These are our very best Thanksgiving & Christmas Low FODMAP & Gluten Free Appetizers and hors d’oeuvres from simple, to sublime, easy to elegant. You will find what you are looking for whether you need a dish to take to a party, something for a buffet, or a plated appetizer.
Read: Low FODMAP & Gluten Free Holiday Appetizers.
These are our favorite Thanksgiving & Christmas Low FODMAP Drinks, from spirited cocktails, to no-alcohol mocktails, eggnogs, mulled wine, punches, mimosas, spritzers, champagne drinks, hot cocoa, hot chocolate and more. Read: Thanksgiving & Christmas Low FODMAP Cocktails, Mocktails & More.
