14 Ideas of Spring Desserts

Spring is a time of reawakening. With the arrival of fresh blossoms and new leaves filling out the trees, we are ready to enjoy the warmth and sunshine. Springtime is full of colour and wonderful scents, and it's not just the flowers. The season is full of gorgeous spring desserts that are all about seasonal fruit. The days are getting longer and warmer and our desserts are getting lighter and springier.
What better way to celebrate the season than with mouthwatering seasonal desserts that will satisfy everyone's sweet tooth. The delicious aromas from the desserts of this time of year are just as enticing as the fresh air outside. From zesty lemon bars, and rhubarb pie to carrot cakes these desserts are perfect for any occasion. Whether is a fancy party or just a casual night at home with your family, these recipes will please anyone.

A Brief History of Dessert

The word dessert derives from the French word desservir, which means "to clear the table." The origin of the word is suitable because the first use of dessert was to wash down the aftertaste of the meal with something sweet.

The ancient civilizations used the food that was available. Sweets date back to ancient times when people enjoyed fruit and nuts with honey. This in fact is considered to be the first candy.

Desserts in the middle ages revolved more around fruity sweet food such as jellies and wafers mixed with fruits, nuts and butter. Sugar was a luxury product and was a treat reserved only for the wealthy on some special occasions. Custard is known to be one of the first desserts of the middle ages, following the apple pies in 1381 and the gingerbread in the 1400s.

From the 17th century due to the vast sugar plantations, the popularity of desserts began resulting in reducing sugar prices and using sugar abundantly for sweet foods. Custard eventually evolved into puddings and in the 19th century with the industrial revolution, began the mass production of sweet food and the desserts that are commonly known today.

Great Spring Desserts

Fools

A fool is a classic, simple English dessert. Traditionally, a fool is made by folding fruit into a sweet, creamy custard (or cream). The classic recipe includes gooseberries but it can be made with just about any kind of fruit. Vibrant sweet-tart fruit can be an ideal choice for a fool in order to shine through the rich cream.
The name actually comes from the French word fouler, which means to press or crush, referring to the crushed fruits that are folded into the cream.

Sometimes the fruit is folded until the dessert is relatively homogenous, and other times it's more layered and you end up with swirls of concentrated fruit juice within the cream.

Modern takes on this recipe usually skit the custard step and simply fold the fruit into whipped cream. Choosing whipped cream over a heavier custard might make more sense on warmer days. Choose individual dessert bowls, serve them chilled and you've got creamy and refreshing fools that are perfect for springtime.

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

Pineapple upside-down cakes were very popular from the 60s right through the 80s. This cake is a retro favourite that stood the test of time for good reason. The moist, soft, tangy taste will bring back many childhood memories. The juices soak deep into the cake adding more luscious flavour and texture. It's easy to make and it goes well served with ice cream or custard.

Upside-down refers to the way the cake is made and served. Similar to French tarte tatin, the cake is assembled and baked with the fruit at the bottom and the batter on top. To turn it out, you flip the cake upside down preferable on a pedestal cake stand, leaving you with the fruit layer exposed and the cake underneath it - making it a fun centrepiece for afternoon tea.

Banana Muffins

Banana muffins are quick to make, convenient and easy portable and not to mention delicious. They are the perfect way to start your day but can also make a sweet afternoon pick me up. These muffins go over so well with kids. Not only that they look like cupcakes but they are ready in just half an hour. After making your first batch, it will become your go-to muffin recipe.

Lemon Bars

Lemon bars have become a popular dessert as a bright pop of citrus can make everything taste like sunshine. These pops of sunshine will certainly bring a smile to your face. Classic lemon bars feature a soft butter shortbread crus and a tangy but also sweet thick lemon filling. Lemon bars are beyond delicious. They are refreshing, bright and zingy from all the lemon flavours (from the zest and the juice). They make the perfect spring dessert for picnics, bake sales, spring brunches, baby showers and bridal showers.

Make sure to always bake lemon bars at a lower temperature to avoid over-baking and once baked put them on a cooling tray giving them a few moments to fully settle.

Strawberry Shortcake

Every spring has a different anthem hit song but the spring dessert anthem stays the same year after year. The dessert no one can get out of their heads - strawberry shortcake, tastes delicious any time of the day and soothes our springtime soul. What better way to conjure up memories of the joys of youth than with this dessert? Strawberry shortcake is one of the easiest desserts to prepare and it's perfect for your spring gatherings or for serving a large group of people because it scales very easy.

To make a strawberry shortcake you just need to put fresh sliced strawberries in sugar and let them sit for a bit to macerate. The sugar mixed with the strawberries will make a syrup sauce. You can serve the strawberries over scones, white cake or biscuits. Fill your whipped cream dispenser and top your strawberry shortcake with some whipped cream.

Carrot Cake

It seems like carrot cake never goes out of style. It's deeply rich and moist and most of its flavour comes from cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, brown sugar and carrots. Ginger adds a delicious zing to it, but it isn't overpowering the cake. Carrot cake si dens but each bite taste soft and extra lush.

Rhubarb Pie

Rhubarb pie is the essence of spring. It's fresh, bright, amazingly delicious and just like your granny used to make it. Rhubarb pie is a sweet and tangy dessert that is the core of the spring season.

Rhubarb is very popular in the UK, where has been cultivated since the 1600s and the leaf stalks eaten since the 17000s. A rhubarb pie is a pie with rhubarb filling and a large amount of sugar to balance the intense tartness of the plant.

Baking a rhubarb pie it's easier than you think. You just need a good, quality pie dish to make a flaky crust and your mind-blowingly delicious rhubarb pie it's on its way.

Lemon Loaf

If you love lemon dessert then you'll love lemon loaf. It's buttery, moist, full of lemon flavours and topped with sweet lemon glaze. The lemon glaze sets beautifully, giving an extra taste of citrus flavour in each bite.

The lemon loaves make for an easy, yet delicious everyday snack. It can be prepared all year round (in a loaf pan) but it's particularly suited for spring and summer months. It will keep you coming back for more!

Strawberry Cheesecake

The most glorious, classic and delicious dessert. The showstopper no matter when you serve it and to whom you serve it. The strawberry cheesecake!

People often get very opinionated about their favourite desserts, but almost everyone can and will agree that cheesecakes are just delicious.

The strawberry cheesecake is light, fluffy and creamy classic cheesecake, topped with fresh strawberries (and sometimes homemade strawberry-vanilla sauce). It's the perfect refreshing spring dessert and there is nothing to argue about, except maybe who will get the last piece.

Lemon Tart

In nineteenth-century France, the lemon tart or “tarte au citron” was so worshipped that it was one of the desserts served to the King as a symbol of wealth and goodness.

The classic French tart is as simple as can be, just eggs, butter, sugar and lemons. It's relatively simple to make. But what makes the lemon tart so perfect? The answer is in the lemon curd filling. The filling should not be too sweet but not sour either. The crust has shallow sides and a crumbly, sweet like texture and taste.

Lemon tart makes for a perfect spring dessert. Tangy, refreshing and light. A delicious sweet and sour experience that cannot fail to please your guests.

Victoria Sponge

The cake, often referred to as the “Victoria sandwich”, “Vicky sponge” is named after Queen Victoria herself. Legend has it she enjoyed a slice of this cake every day at 4 pm. This quintessential cake is a traditional everyday English treat, best served at teatime. Almost every British baking book has a recipe for this cake. It's simplicity at its best!

The word “sandwich” is referring to “sandwiching” two layers of the cake with strawberry jam and sometimes whipped cream. Traditionally the top of the cake is decorated with just a sprinkling caster of powder sugar.

A classic, simple Victoria sponge is a cake recipe that you should have in your repertoire and one that you will return to time and time again. It's an easy recipe to whip out whenever you need it. It goes well as an everyday dessert but at the same time, it can be a celebratory cake, due to its elegant look.

Bread and Butter Pudding

Bread and butter pudding is a traditional pudding in British cuisine. Slices of buttered stale bread scattered with dried fruit are layered in an oven dish, covered with custard seasoned with spices and then baked.

This dessert is the ultimate use of leftover bread, which makes it a resourceful and a very economical dish to cook. You can remove the crust if you prefer it that way or you can level it on. It works with other types of bread as well. It's a classic comfort dish, custardy on the inside and gold and buttery on top. The only valid question is what you will serve it with? Ice cream, with additional custard or cream? Or something else?

Rice Pudding

The earliest rice pudding recipes were called whitepot and they date from the Tudor period. In the UK, rice pudding is a traditional dessert made with short-grained rice, milk, cream and sugar. It is sometimes flavoured with vanilla, nutmeg and cinnamon.

A bowl of rice pudding has the perfect texture and sweetness. It's fragrant, creamy but not too rich and subtly sweet. It's truly one of the easiest puddings you can make and an infinite number of ways you can customize it.

There is something nostalgic about this dessert. Something truly magical in its creamy simplicity. Only a handful of ingredients and a little time are needed to make this old-time favourite dessert.

Banoffee Pie

Banoffee pie is a traditional British dessert pie made from bananas, cream and thick caramel sauce, combined on a biscuit base. The word is a combination of the words "banana" and "toffee". Banoffee pie was invented in East Sussex in the early 70s in a local pub.

Banoffee pie is easy and quick to make and has a perfect marriage of flavours, a sweet-salty graham cracker crust, oozy caramel, bananas and pillows of whipped cream on top. Who can resist? It's delicious enough for a celebration, but easy enough to serve as a weekend dessert. Treat your loved ones with this light spring dessert and you'll see that everyone will be instantly hooked.

From pretty pastel spring colours to sweet fruity desserts to bold flavours of carrots and rhubarb, spring dessert recipes seem to have it all. Choose one of these wonderfully delicious desserts and enjoy the season ahead.

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