Our 14 Favorite Summer Desserts Feature the Season's Best Flavors

Strawberry, Mango & Rose Pavlova

It only takes a handful of ingredients to make this stunning summer dessert. The hint of rose along with the fresh mango and strawberries really makes the flavors shine. Make sure you allow your egg whites to come to room temperature for the meringue—it helps create more volume.

Blueberry Ice Cream Pie

Chef Scott Peacock's sensational summer dessert comes together with ripe blueberries, vanilla ice cream, and a few kitchen staples. The ground almonds in the homemade nut crust adds a brilliant crunch to every bite.

Buy It: 9-Inch Pie Plate with Lid ($15, OXO)

Key Lime Cheesecake Bars

When it's too hot to bake a cheesecake, look no further than these dreamy no-bake bars. The zesty filling is made from a blended mixture of cottage cheese, cream cheese, and gelatin. Whipped topping keeps the cheesecake bar's texture nice and fluffy.

Buy It: Hamilton Beach Stack and Snap 12-Cup Food Processor ($59, Target)

Pick-a-Flavor No-Churn Ice Cream

Creamy ice cream is the perfect summer dessert. It's even better when there's no ice cream maker required. Whip up this simple three-ingredient no-churn ice cream and add in any toppings you like. We have 14 flavor variations to try if you need any flavor inspiration.

Strawberry Granita

With origins in Sicily, granita is a semi-frozen Italian dessert usually made of fruit, sugar, and water. When the weather warms up, grab a few pounds of fresh strawberries for this refreshing summer dessert. You can also make this frosty treat with a combo of mixed berries. A simple lemon cream makes a tasty topper.

Stove Top Peach-Raspberry Cobbler

Take advantage of summer-ripe peaches and make this speedy cobbler on a warm day. Instead of making pie dough for the crust, we use frozen puff pastry, which gives a crispy bite to the sweet-tart stove top cobbler.

Grilled Donuts

Planning a backyard cookout? Keep the fire going and throw some donuts on the grill for an easy summer dessert. It's the perfect 10-minute grilled treat to serve on a hot day. Serve with one (or both!) of the homemade dipping sauces to make a fancier display.

Blueberry Lemonade Poke Cake

OK, this summer dessert does require the oven, but we promise it's worthy of the 25-minute bake time. Just one bite of the lemonade-infused cake steeped with a homemade blueberry sauce will give you plenty of sunny flavor.

Frozen Neapolitans

For a new take on the classic three-flavor ice cream, we made a delicious frozen summer dessert. Chocolate rice cereal serves as the base for the strawberry-chocolate-vanilla combo you know and love. Feel free to change up those ice cream flavors for new treats every time!

Upside-Down Almond-Plum Cake

Plums are a seriously underrated fruit when it comes to making summer desserts. Those cute little stone fruits (though you can swap-in peaches or apricots here, too) make a delicious topping when combined with a brown sugar-honey sauce.

Cherry Bake with Pound Cake Topper

Allow tart cherries to take the spotlight in this summer dessert idea. In addition to the fresh red cherries, the tart factor is amped with some added dried cranberries as well. To keep prep time to a minimum, purchased pound cake is used as the crumbly topping.

Margarita Cupcakes

This summer you can sip your margaritas and eat them, too. The tangy cupcakes really do contain tequila and triple sec in both the batter and the frosting. It'll be the perfect summer dessert pairing for days spent by the pool.

Buy It: Williams Sonoma Goldtouch Pro Muffin Pan ($40, Williams Sonoma)

PB&J Ice Cream Sandwiches

Two classic favorites (ice cream and PB&J) combine to make the ultimate mash-up dessert. Transform refrigerated peanut butter cookie dough into your "bread" for sandwiching vanilla ice cream and your choice of jam.

Tarragon Ice

When it's sweltering hot, this frozen summer dessert is going to cool you down fast. Snipped tarragon from your garden punches up the flavor of lemon ice—and adds a pretty, party-worthy twist that hits the spot at summer get-togethers.