There is so much joy in feeding your friends and family with a plate of food that you’ve lovingly prepared… but let’s face it, entertaining can be stressful for anyone. It doesn’t matter if you’re a kitchen novice or a Nigella in the making, we all feel the pressure when cooking for more than two people.
To make things a bit easier, it’s always better to have at least one course that has been prepared beforehand. This way you can simply cut it up or warm the necessary bits right before serving. And the easiest way is definitely by tackling the dessert before your guests arrive!
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Desserts often need some time in the oven or fridge so making them ahead of time will save you time and effort during the dinner party. Thus leaving you with more time to chat and sip wine with the others.
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1. A quick and easy solution is homemade fruit jellies that can be made the day before. Even though they need about 2 hours of setting time, it only takes minutes to prepare before you pop it into the fridge.
2. No one will be able to resist this beauty of a Swiss roll with a twist. Instead of the usual cream filling, this cake is filled with ice cream and raspberry jam. And the great thing is that you can make the whole dessert the day before and simply slice and go when you are ready to eat. Genius! Tip: You can replace the vanilla ice cream with your favourite flavour – chocolate, pistachio, tin roof and even berry sorbet or frozen yoghurt will work great with the berries. Other fruit that can work is canned peaches, blueberries, strawberries or canned guavas.
3. Another dessert that always goes down a treat is cake. A great tasting vanilla cake is the perfect vehicle for different flavours. Instead of doing the usual iced cake or cupcakes, you can easily turn a plain cake into butterscotch banana and ice cream parfait or mini trifles. Tip: You can prepare the cake beforehand, cut it into squares and store it in a seal-able container until dessert time.
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