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Christmas desserts to end your festive feasting on a high

Be it a traditional pudding, a layered trifle or a pavlova adorned with summer fruit, there's only one rule: make it unforgettable.
Best Christmas desserts for Christmas Day

White chocolate, raspberry and pistachio semifreddo

Brett Stevens (main)

After the main event on Christmas Day, keep the show rolling on with one of these stunning Christmas dessert recipes. From a boozy trifle to a cool frozen treat or a pavlova crowned with summer fruit, there’s only one rule for the holiday season: make it a showstopper.

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If you’ve been tasked with Christmas dessert this year, you’ll no doubt want to impress even the fussiest of relatives with your holiday desserts. So, we bring you everything from easy Christmas desserts to make ahead of time to a theatrical croquembouche for an edible Christmas tree-fashioned treat that delivers that extra wow factor.

We also have popular Christmas desserts galore – think Yule log cakes, pavlova wreaths, Christmas cookies, mince pies and mince tarts, delicious eggnog tarts, and Christmas puddings.

Turn to these Christmas dessert ideas, and you can’t go wrong.

Here are our best recipes for Christmas desserts.

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Photo: Ben Dearnley

Coconut and cherry frangipane tart from AP Bakery

Photo: Alicia Taylor

How to make a Yule log (bûche de Noël)

Photo: Ben Dearnley

Cardamom-pistachio pavlova with rose cream

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Photo: Ben Dearnley

AP Bakery’s buckwheat ginger biscuits for Christmas

Photo: James Moffatt

Vincotto berry and amaretto cream trifles

cross-section of meringue log cake coated in coconut flakes, displaying two yellow layers with mango chunks and
Photo: Ben Dearnley

AP Bakery’s mango macadamia merveilleux with Dulcey cream

Peach pavlova trifle
Photo: Ben Dearnley

Peach pavlova trifle with brandy custard

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Photo: Alicia Taylor

Dairy-free honey and macadamia tart with figs and blackberries

Apricot, honey, coffee and macadamia trifle
Photo: Mark Roper

Lauren Eldridge’s apricot, honey, coffee and macadamia trifle

Photo: Ben Dearnley

Mango, macadamia and spiced white chocolate pavlova wreath

Bird's eye view image of roulade cake topped with raspberries and pink petals, sitting on white and pink plates and beside a gold-tipped fork
Photo: Ben Dearnley

Pistachio and rose roulade with lychees and raspberries

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Photo: Ben Dearnley

Sparkling shiraz jelly with almond granita

photo of colourful table setting with rectancgular ice-cream cake topped with chocolate crumb in the centre
Photo: Ben Dearnley

Chocolate coconnetta parfait cake

Gâteau Saint-Honoré
Photo: William Meppem

Damien Pignolet’s guide to making gâteau Saint-Honoré

Eggnog ice-pops with milk crumb
Photo: William Meppem

Eggnog ice-pops with milk crumb

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Jaclyn Koludrovic's gluten-free pistachio, lime and coconut cream cake with melon, apple and mint
Photo: James Moffatt

Jaclyn Koludrovic’s gluten-free pistachio, lime and coconut cream cake with melon, apple and mint

Gingerbread stars with buttermilk icing
Photo: Mark Roper

Lauren Eldridge’s brunkager (spiced Danish gingerbread biscuits)

Nougat and chocolate semifreddo
Photo: William Meppem

Nougat and chocolate semifreddo

Black Forest chocolate roulade
Photo: William Meppem

Black Forest chocolate roulade

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Peachy panettone with cassata ice-cream

Lorraine Godsmark’s peachy panettone with cassata ice-cream

Lauren Eldridge’s Christmas fruit pudding frozen nougatine

Chocolate tart
Photo: Ben Dearnley

Chocolate tart

Golden mango and passionfruit caramel tart
Photo: William Meppem

Golden mango and passionfruit caramel tart

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Passionfruit tart
Photo: Ben Dearnley

Nadine Ingram’s passionfruit tart

Strawberry and watermelon cake
Photo: Dieu Tan

Black Star Pastry’s strawberry and watermelon cake

Photo: Ben Dearnley

Restaurant Hubert’s melon en surprise

Photo: William Meppem

Peach and buttermilk tart

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Stollen
Photo: Ben Dearnley

Flour & Stone’s stollen with sour cherries

Fruit mince tarts
Photo: Ben Dearnley

How to make fruit mince tarts

Over-the-top shot of a circle tart studded with whole and halved cherries, dusted with icing sugar.
Photo: Ben Dearnley

Cherry, almond and burnt-butter tart

A round white plate, with an ornamental red floral border, holding star-shaped baked cookies.
Photo: Ben Dearnley

Spiced Christmas cookies (speculaas)

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Sour-cherry and roasted-almond white Christmas
Photo: William Meppem

White Christmas with sour cherries, almonds and Grand Marnier

Photo: Mark Roper

Lauren Eldridge’s no-churn passionfruit ice-cream with lime sherbet and blackberries

Black Forest cake
Photo: William Meppem

A pâtissière’s guide to making Black Forest cake

Frozen bûche de Noël
Photo: William Meppem

Frozen bûche de Noël

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Golden square tin holding hand-sized custard tarts with burnished tops, each in their own white paper casing. There's also a glass holding a rose-pink speckled bauble, which is kind of weird, but we'll take it.
Photo: Mark Roper

Lauren Eldridge’s eggnog custard tarts

Croquembouche
Photo: Rob Shaw

Croquembouche

An Italian Christmas cake
Photo: Ben Dearnley

Flour and Stone’s Italian Christmas cake

Lauren Eldridge's white chocolate and pistachio profiterole wreath
Photo: Mark Roper

Lauren Eldridge’s white chocolate and pistachio profiterole wreath

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Eton Mess
Photo: William Meppem

Eton mess recipes

Photo: Andrew Finlayson

Pavlova recipes

Photo: Ben Dearnley

Trifle recipes

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Cranberry, pistachio and almond nougat
Photo: James Moffatt

Nougat recipes

Photo: Dean Wilmot

How to build a gingerbread house

Photo of a white ceramic cake stand with crumbed Christmas ice-cream cake topped with glossy chocolate and whisky sauce
Photo: Ben Dearnley

Christmas ice-cream cake with festive crumb

Photo: Ben Dearnley

Cherry bombe Alaska

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Photo: Brett Stevens

White chocolate, raspeberry and pistachio semifreddo

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