Our Dreamiest, Most Over-the-Top Dessert Recipes

With HGTV Dream Home on the brain, we can't help but think about the delicious recipes we'd love to serve in this beautiful space. These showstopping cakes, cookies and pies are sure to elicit oohs and ahhs at the table.

December 09, 2022

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Photo By: Matt Armendariz

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Photo By: Teri Lyn Fisher

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Photo By: KATE MATHIS

The Desserts of Your Dreams

What’s your fantasy dessert? Whether you’re envisioning supersized versions of your favorite sweets, brilliant mash-ups of classic desserts, or breathtakingly beautiful cakes (giant cinnamon bun layer cake!), we’ve got you covered.

While you’re in this dream world, don’t forget to check out HGTV Dream Home 2023. Enter twice daily, once on FoodNetwork.com and once on HGTV.com, for your chance to win HGTV Dream Home 2023, a grand-prize package valued at over $2.7 million.

Get the Recipe: Giant Cinnamon Roll Cake

Layered Chocolate Mousse Cake

This layered chocolate cake makes for a delectable bite of dense chocolate brownie and light-as-air mousse.

Get the Recipe: Layered Chocolate Mousse Cake

Croquembouche

It doesn't get more impressive than this tower of cream puffs encased in gossamer-like spun sugar. It's guaranteed to be the talk of the party.

Get the Recipe: Croquembouche

Strawberry Pocky Stick Cake

No master decorating skills needed to create this magnificent cake. Cute, crunchy sticks encircle the cake (creating a whimsical fence), while graduated shades of pink frosting inside make it extra festive. Confetti sprinkles seal the party deal.

Get the Recipe: Strawberry Pocky Stick Cake

Rose Cheesecake Tart

A simple icebox cheesecake is given an elegant (and delicious) crown of rose petals fashioned from plum and mango.

Get the Recipe: Rose Cheesecake Tart

Chocolate-Vanilla Swirl Bundt Cake

No master decorating skills needed for this striking cake. Pipe chocolate and vanilla cake batter into the swirls of a bundt pan, and it does the job for you.

Get the Recipe: Chocolate-Vanilla Swirl Bundt Cake

Eight-Flavor Sheet Pan Brownie-Cookie Bars

If variety is the spice of life, this dessert, made with store-bought cake mix and cookie dough, offers plenty of delicious options.

Get the Recipe: Eight-Flavor Sheet Pan Brownie-Cookie Bars

Oreo Bombe

This impressive cookie bombe is the perfect dessert to make when the last thing you want to do is turn on the oven. The light and fluffy filling has a hefty amount of cream cheese whipped into it, so it mimics cheesecake — but with half of the work.

Get the Recipe: Oreo Bombe

Chocolate Cinnamon Roll Wool Bread

A social media sensation first introduced by the Malaysian food blog "Apron," wool bread is made with a yeasted dough that’s sliced, tightly rolled then stacked in a round baking dish; once the dough proofs and bakes, the bread resembles a roll of wool or thick yarn. Our version is filled with cinnamon sugar and beautifully swirled with two flavors of dough.

Get the Recipe: Chocolate Cinnamon Roll Wool Bread

Giant Chocolate PB Cookie Cake

Can't decide between cookies and cake? Oversized, double-chocolate cookies stacked between layers of peanut-butter frosting create an indulgent dessert that doesn't make you choose.

Get the Recipe: Giant Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cookie Cake

Three-Flavor Diner Pie

Why settle for one kind of pie when you can have three? In this showstopper, creamy banana, peanut butter and chocolate puddings are kept separate by chocolate cookie walls so you get all the flavors in one beautiful slice.

Get the Recipe: Three-Flavor Diner Pie

Individual Meringue Swan Lakes

Light-as-air meringue swans float upon individual meringue lakes filled with rich vanilla creme anglaise. This dessert is almost too beautiful to eat, but too delicious not to.

Get the Recipe: Individual Meringue Swan Lakes

Unicorn Cake

No magical baking skills required to assemble this friendly creature: Boxed cake mix and a horn made from marshmallows and confectioners' sugar are about as complicated as it gets. You can sub in store-bought frosting for the buttercream to make it even easier.

Get the Recipe: Unicorn Cake

Lemon-Blueberry Sunshine Tart

This sunshiny tart looks super-impressive but doesn't require any special equipment or pans. Folded foil helps hold up the buttery star-shaped shortbread. The yellow filling is a tangy lemon curd and plump blueberries fill in the edges.

Get the Recipe: Lemon-Blueberry Sunshine Tart

Geode Meringues

Crushed rock candies sparkle like crystals in these hollowed-out meringues. The secret to shaping the interiors is scooping out the cookies while they are still warm and soft.

Get the Recipe: Geode Meringues

Giant Chocolate Lava Cake

What's the secret ingredient that makes the gooey chocolate center of this cake? Ice cream bars! The chocolate-coated vanilla kind are cleverly buried in batter and as the cake bakes, they melt to form the lava center. Try different flavors of ice cream bars for easy variations.

Get the Recipe: Giant Chocolate Lava Cake

Galaxy Cake

Talk about out of this world! We'll show you how to make the iridescent mirror glaze for this trendy cake using store-bought frosting, food coloring and edible glitter.

Get the Recipe: Galaxy Cake

Pumpkin Charlotte Royale

This stunning dessert will mesmerize your guests any time of year. Pumpkin adds richness to the Swiss roll cake and creamy mousse center, while the warming flavors of pumpkin pie spice permeate the cake, mousse and cream cheese filling.

Get the Recipe: Pumpkin Charlotte Royale

Pineapple Upside-Down Doughnuts

A cute twist on a classic, these doughnuts are an easy treat to make and share. Their rich buttery caramelized pineapple tops sit nicely on light, single-serving cakes.

Get the Recipe: Pineapple Upside-Down Doughnuts

Baked Alaska

In our version of this fancy restaurant-worthy dessert, a Neapolitan ice cream cake is covered with swirls of creamy, dreamy meringue and torched until perfectly golden.

Get the Recipe: Baked Alaska