50 Pretty Desserts That Are Perfect for Mother's Day
Show your mom just how sweet she is by making her dessert on her special day. Lemon bars, strawberry shortcake, chocolate pie, carrot cake and more—we’ve got recipes for all Mom’s favorites!
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For Someone Special
There’s no denying Mom deserves a sweet treat on her special day—as well as a special cocktail and brunch and a made-with-love dinner (hint, hint)—but how do you choose when there are so many delicious recipes to pick from? We’ve narrowed it down to some of our favorites, including this pretty and impressive pavlova that’s deceptively simple to make. Basic meringue is flavored with tangy buttermilk, sweet honey and fragrant vanilla before it’s baked. Once the meringue cools it’s dressed up with a little whipped cream and fresh fruit for a dessert that Mom is sure to love.
Get the Recipe: Honey Buttermilk Pavlova
Sunny's Strawberry Fool
You could have fooled us! This impressive dessert is deceptively simple! What exactly is a strawberry fool? Whipped cream dressed up with macerated strawberries — Sunny likes to serve her version with cinnamon graham crackers to use as a scoop.
Get the Recipe: Sunny's Strawberry Fool
Strawberries and Wine Flower Cheesecake
Put this beautiful, no-bake cheesecake out at your next soiree and people might just think you're a professional baker! We used sliced strawberries and mandarin oranges to create the flower on top, but you can use other fruit to create your own design. Just make sure to avoid pineapple, kiwi, papaya, mango and guava, which all contain an enzyme that will prevent the gelatin from setting properly.
Get the Recipe: Strawberries and Wine Flower Cheesecake
Lemon Pudding Cake with Berries
Get the Recipe: Lemon Pudding Cake with Fresh Mixed Berries
Spice Cake with Lemon Sauce
Trisha’s tender Bundt cake is perfect when you need a make-ahead dessert. She says, “This is absolutely something you can make a day ahead and it will be great the next day.”
Get the Recipe: Spice Cake with Lemon Sauce
Daisy Cupcakes
Because cupcakes are way more creative than a flower bouquet! Show Mom how much you care by baking a dozen daisy-topped treats. Use kitchen shears to slice marshmallows into petal shapes and place yellow nonpareils as each flower’s center.
Get the Recipe: Daisy Cupcakes
Raspberry Tiramisu
Get the Recipe: Raspberry Tiramisu
Easy Chocolate Tart
Ree uses crushed up chocolate cookie sandwiches for this double-chocolate tart that any chocoholic will love.
Get the Recipe: Easy Chocolate Tart
Raspberry-Lemon White Chocolate Domes
These white chocolate shells are filled with luscious pudding and a tart raspberry center perched atop fresh lemon cake.
Get the Recipe: Raspberry-Lemon White Chocolate Domes
Run for the Roses Cheesecake
Damaris uses fragrant rose water to give classic strawberry-topped cheesecake a touch of elegance — elevating it to a dessert worthy of any Mother’s Day celebration.
Get the Recipe: Run for the Roses Cheesecake
Ricotta Ice Cream
Ree’s easy, no-churn ice cream has the perfect balance of flavors. It gets a citrusy sweetness from orange zest, a light floral note from fresh vanilla bean and rich, milky flavor from the addition of ricotta cheese. It’s so tasty you won’t believe it’s not from a 5-star restaurant!
Get the Recipe: Ricotta Ice Cream
Chocolate-Filled Almond Macarons
Get the Recipe: Chocolate Filled Almond Macarons
Carrot Cake with Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting
Molly's carrot cake is the perfect spring dessert. She uses hawaij, a cardamom-forward Yemeni spice blend, to add warm, spicy flavors to both the cake and the frosting in this recipe (you can even sprinkled it in coffee!). If you can't find any at your grocery store, make a substitute: Mix together 1 tablespoon ground ginger, 1 tablespoon ground cardamom, 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves and 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon.
Get the Recipe: Molly's Carrot Cake with Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting
Almond Honeycomb Cake
This melt-in-your-mouth cake is soaked with the flavors of wildflower honey, citrus and cardamom before getting a finishing touch of glossy honey glaze — just like a real honeycomb!
Get the Recipe: Almond Honeycomb Cake
Lemon Bars
Get the Recipe: Lemon Bars
Red Berry Shortcakes with Honey Yogurt
The finishing touch for Mom’s special day, these delightful shortcake sandwiches are stuffed with a Greek yogurt cream and juicy berries. The shortcakes are prettier with jagged edges, so use a fork to split them open.
Get the Recipe: Red Berry Shortcakes with Honey Yogurt
Raspberry Creme Brulee
Classic creme brulee gets a springy makeover just in time for Mother's Day. Everyone will love cracking through that sugary shell on top.
Get the Recipe: Raspberry Creme Brulee
Bottle of Wine Chocolate Pie
We managed to fit a whole bottle of wine in this decadent dark chocolate pie. Perfect for a grown-up dinner party, it offers the best of both worlds.
Get the Recipe: Bottle of Wine Chocolate Pie
Strawberry Shortcake Trifle
Valerie makes her trifle completely from scratch (pound cake and all) but if you need a shortcut you can easily substitute store-bought instead. Either way, this dessert is sure to make Mom’s day extra sweet!
Get the Recipe: Strawberry Shortcake Trifle
Blueberry Nectarine Crisp
Ree incorporates the best flavors of summer into her fruity dessert. Don’t forget whipped cream for serving!
Get the Recipe: Blueberry Nectarine Crisp
Baked Donuts with Blood Orange, Rhubarb and Blueberry Glaze
Make Mom’s day extra special with a batch of Molly’s baked donuts. Use freshly squeezed blood orange juice, rhubarb stalks and frozen blueberries to whip up three colorful glazes.
Get the Recipe: Baked Donuts with Blood Orange, Rhubarb and Blueberry Glaze
Raspberry-Swirl Pound Cake
A bright treat that's easy to prepare, Food Network Magazine’s recipe for raspberry-swirl pound cake yields eight to 10 slices of cake, enough to feed a crowd at your Mother’s Day festivities. If possible, we suggest using premium butter and organic cane sugar — it’ll give the cake a nice, crunchy top.
Get the Recipe: Raspberry-Swirl Pound Cake
Chocolate Strawberry Cups
Giada's makes serving a crowd on Mother's Day super easy: Use a silicone muffin pan to create the chocolate cups, fill with in-season strawberries and top it all off with a little bit of whipped cream.
Get the Recipe: Chocolate Strawberry Cups
Tea Cake
Have little ones who want to help make Mother's Day special? These adorable teacup cakes are the perfect single-serve treat that they can make — no oven required — just mix the ingredients together and microwave. Just make sure the teacups you use are microwave safe.
Get the Recipe: Tea Cake
Pineapple Upside-Down Cake
This classic Southern cake is really simple to make. Damaris reserves a little bit of the pineapple juice to use in the cake itself, which really brings out the flavor.
Get the Recipe: Pineapple Upside-Down Cake
Strawberry Corn Cakes
Use store-bought corn muffin mix, but add lemon zest and vanilla for a sweet twist. The perfect finishing touch? Top with strawberries and cream.
Get the Recipe: Strawberry Corn Cakes
Rhubarb Custard Pie
Get the Recipe: Rhubarb Custard Pie
Hazelnut and Nutmeg Gelato
Get the Recipe: Hazelnut and Nutmeg Gelato
Sprinkles Cake
Make a bright, cheerful dessert with Molly’s easy recipe. All you need are a few baking staples and some colorful sprinkles. Best of all, this recipe can be used to make a 3-layer cake or cupcakes — whichever mom likes more!
Get the Recipe: Sprinkles Cake
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cakes
Valerie’s yummy cakes taste just like your favorite childhood snack. If the nostalgia factor doesn’t hook your guests, the peanut butter and chocolate combo will!
Get the Recipe: Chocolate Peanut Butter Cakes
Double Chocolate Red Wine Bundt
Red wine does double duty in Giada’s decadent dessert — the wine gets mixed into the cake batter and whisked with powdered sugar to make a pretty-in-pink glaze.
Get the Recipe: Double Chocolate Red Wine Bundt Cake
Chocolate Chevron Cake
Ina’s chocolatey cake is both elegant and rich. To spend more time with Mom on the holiday, bake the cake in advance, then wrap and refrigerate it until Mother’s Day. Once the cake is frosted, it can be left at room temperature for up to eight hours.
Get the Recipe: Chocolate Chevron Cake
Vanilla Pudding Raspberry Napoleon
Get the Recipe: Vanilla Pudding Raspberry Napoleon
Victorian Rose Geranium Cake
Get the Recipe: Victorian Rose Geranium Cake
Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake
This is not your average mall-bought giant cookie cake. Molly uses a mix of almond and hazelnut flours as the base — a touch of almond extract really makes the nutty flavors shine. Top it all of with gorgeous buttercream frosting for a dessert that mom will love.
Get the Recipe: Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake
Vanilla Brioche Bread Pudding
"Warm vanilla bread pudding with cold creme anglaise. Now who wouldn't want to eat that for dessert??!" says Ina.
Get the Recipe: Vanilla Brioche Bread Pudding
Sprinkles Biscotti
Molly’s adorable biscotti are the perfect treat to serve with post-brunch coffee.
Get the Recipe: Sprinkles Biscotti
Chocolate Creme Brulee
Get the Recipe: Chocolate Creme Brulee
Passion Fruit and Chocolate Sorbet Cake
A luscious chocolate ganache coats this chocolate-and-passion-fruit sorbet cake with a chocolate cookie crust. What could be more delicious than that?
Get the Recipe: Passion Fruit and Chocolate Sorbet Cake
Salted Caramel Sundae
Ina's over-the-top sundae got the ultimate vote of approval: more than 30,000 likes on Instagram. Homemade caramel popcorn and roasted peanuts add an unexpected texture to your creamy gelato treat.
Get the Recipe: Salted Caramel Sundae
Tri-Berry Trifle
If you don’t have a trifle dish, layer your ingredients in a large glass bowl or individual glasses instead. As long as you can see through to the deliciously colorful layers, you’ll end up with an impressive dessert.
Get the Recipe: Tri-Berry Trifle
Crispy-Cakey Chocolate Chip Cookies
Get the Recipe: Crispy-Cakey Chocolate Chip Cookies
Lemon Poppy Seed Cake
To achieve the perfect level of pucker, Ina uses the zest of four to five lemons, plus lemon juice in her top-rated lemon poppy seed cake. Once it's cooled, just glaze and serve.
Get the Recipe: Lemon Poppy Seed Cake
Coconut-Lime Banana Pudding
Surprise Mom with a flavorful twist to a classic dessert. All you need is the zest and juice of one lime plus coconut extract, coconut cream and shredded coconut to make it happen.
Get the Recipe: Coconut-Lime Banana Pudding
Grapefruit Mousse
Get the Recipe: Grapefruit Mousse
Marmalade Cake
Get the Recipe: Marmalade Cake
Sorbet with Candied Flowers
This Mother's Day, treat Mom to flowers and dessert — all in one.
Get the Recipe: Sorbet with Candied Flowers
Strawberry Macarons
Pretty, strawberry-filled macarons take some TLC, but these photo-worthy treats are worth it.
Get the Recipe: Strawberry Macarons
Lemon Tiramisu Trifle
Get the Recipe: Lemon Tiramisu Trifle
Toffee-Coffee Tartlets
Get the Recipe: Toffee-Coffee Tartlets
