Southern Summer Desserts to Love

Jenny deRemer

Jul 16, 2025

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Whether it’s layered in a trifle bowl or packed into a pie shell, these Southern summer desserts know how to work a crowd. You’ll find retro gems like Paula Deen Banana Pudding, Vintage Watergate Cake, and Easy Strawberry Pretzel Pie right alongside fresh favorites like Mango Mousse and Cara Cara Orange Cake. Love a little citrus zing? Try Lemon Chess Pie or Blueberry Buttermilk Cake Loaf. Want pure comfort? The Southern Peach Cobbler and Louisiana Pecan Pie deliver exactly that. This list is sweet, summery, and ready to steal the show at your next porch party!

Table of Contents

Paula Deen Banana Pudding

A tray filled with banana pudding featuring crowns, pawns, and hearts.
Photo Credit: Desserts on a Dime.

Paula Deen Banana Pudding is rich, creamy, and unapologetically indulgent—just like you’d expect. With layers of cookies, bananas, and whipped filling, this one’s not here to behave.
Get the Recipe: Paula Deen Banana Pudding

Cara Cara Orange Cake

A round cake with white icing garnished with orange slices.
Image Credit: Jacqueline Piper for PiperCooks

Cara Cara Orange Cake bakes up buttery and bright, with a pink citrus glaze that’s almost too pretty to slice. It’s a zesty break from the usual lemon lineup.

GET THE RECIPE: Cara Cara Orange Cake

Lemon Chess Pie

A close-up view of a pie with a golden, slightly cracked surface dusted with powdered sugar. The pie has a flaky, crimped crust, and three slices have been cut, revealing a rich, smooth filling. The pie is presented on a marble surface.
Lemon Chess Pie. Photo credit: Well Fed Baker.

Lemon Chess Pie is a Southern classic with a custardy center, crisp top, and that lemony zing that keeps forks going back in. Simple, sweet, and straight from grandma’s playbook.
Get the Recipe: Lemon Chess Pie

Mango Mousse

A spoonful of mango mouse in a glass.
Image Credit: Daniela Apostol for My Gorgeous Recipes

Mango Mousse is airy, tropical, and made for spooning straight from the fridge. It’s fruity enough to feel refreshing, rich enough to count as dessert.

GET THE RECIPE: Mango Mousse

Easy Banana Pudding Cheesecake Bars

Close-up of a slice of banana pudding cheesecake topped with whipped cream and a banana slice. The creamy, layered dessert has a yellow hue, with distinct layers of pudding, cheesecake, and a crumbly base, garnished with a vanilla wafer. Background is blurred.
Easy Banana Pudding Cheesecake Bars. Photo credit: Dizzy Busy & Hungry.

Easy Banana Pudding Cheesecake Bars combine two Southern staples into one ridiculously good square. It’s creamy, dreamy, and loaded with banana flavor and cookie crunch.
Get the Recipe: Easy Banana Pudding Cheesecake Bars

Fruit Salad with Pimm’s

A fruit salad topped with cream in a glass bowl.
Image Credit: Daniela Apostol for My Gorgeous Recipes

Fruit Salad with Pimm’s is not your average side dish—it’s boozy, citrusy, and dangerously refreshing. Think cocktail meets picnic and you’re halfway there.

GET THE RECIPE: Fruit Salad with Pimm’s

Victoria Sponge Cupcakes

4 cupcakes with cream and jam on a plate.
Image Credit: Daniela Apostol for My Gorgeous Recipes

Victoria Sponge Cupcakes shrink down the British teatime classic into bite-sized charmers. With jam, cream, and fluffy sponge, these belong at every garden party (or Tuesday).

GET THE RECIPE: Victoria Sponge Cupcakes

Southern Peach Cobbler

A peach cobbler topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, served with a spoon.
Photo Credit: Butter Your Biscuit.

Southern Peach Cobbler is everything it should be—juicy peaches bubbling under a golden, biscuit-like topping. Serve it warm and brace yourself for praise.
Get the Recipe: Southern Peach Cobbler

Blueberry Buttermilk Cake Loaf

3 slices of blueberry cake on a white plate.
Image Credit: Daniela Apostol for My Gorgeous Recipes

Blueberry Buttermilk Cake Loaf is tender, tangy, and dotted with bursts of fresh blueberries. Perfect for brunch, snacking, or calling it breakfast and not feeling bad about it.

GET THE RECIPE: Blueberry Buttermilk Cake Loaf

Raspberry Eton Mess

A glass dessert dish with whipped cream, raspberry sauce, fresh raspberries, and mint leaves.
Photo Credit: Chocolates & Chai.

Raspberry Eton Mess tosses together meringue, whipped cream, and berries into a delicious disaster. No assembly skills required—just a spoon and no shame.
Get the Recipe: Raspberry Eton Mess

Magic Cake with Apples

a slice of custard cake on a white plate
Magic Cake With Apples. Photo credit: Not Entirely Average.

Magic Cake with Apples separates into three soft, custardy layers all by itself while baking. The apple slices on top? Just another reason it disappears fast.
Get the Recipe: Magic Cake with Apples

Louisiana Pecan Pie: Old-Fashioned Southern Perfection

A close-up of a pecan pie with a slice removed, revealing its gooey, caramel-filled interior. The pie has a golden-brown crust and is topped with pecans. The dish rests on a piece of rustic burlap on a blue surface.
Louisiana Pecan Pie: Old-Fashioned Southern Perfection. Photo credit: Mixin Mamas.

Louisiana Pecan Pie: Old-Fashioned Southern Perfection delivers a deep, buttery filling packed with pecans and no shortcuts. This one brings serious heritage flavor.
Get the Recipe: Louisiana Pecan Pie: Old-Fashioned Southern Perfection

Easy Strawberry Pretzel Pie

A dessert with fresh strawberries, red currants, and small pretzels, garnished with a green leafy stem.
Easy Strawberry Pretzel Pie. Photo credit: Not Entirely Average.

Easy Strawberry Pretzel Pie gives you salty-sweet bliss in every bite—pretzel crust, cream cheese filling, and a crown of glossy strawberries. It’s retro and irresistible.
Get the Recipe: Easy Strawberry Pretzel Pie

Vintage Watergate Cake Recipe

a close up picture of the side of a pistachio flavored watergate layer cake with nuts
Vintage Watergate Cake Recipe. Photo credit: Not Entirely Average.

Vintage Watergate Cake Recipe is bright green, oddly fluffy, and frosted with whipped topping and pistachios. Weird? A little. Wonderful? Absolutely.
Get the Recipe: Vintage Watergate Cake Recipe

Extremely Chocolatey Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies

A chocolate chocolate chip cookie on top of other cookies.
Image Credit: Daniela Apostol for My Gorgeous Recipes

Extremely Chocolatey Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies don’t mess around. They’re rich, fudgy, and loaded with three kinds of chocolate for full-blown cocoa overload.

GET THE RECIPE: Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies

Southern Strawberry-Coconut Punch Bowl Cake

A layered dessert in a glass bowl with whipped cream, strawberries, nuts, and coconut flakes, topped with fresh strawberries.
Photo Credit: The Kitchen is My Playground.

Southern Strawberry-Coconut Punch Bowl Cake is sweet, chilled, and layered up with cake, fruit, and pudding. It feeds a crowd and keeps them happy.
Get the Recipe: Southern Strawberry-Coconut Punch Bowl Cake

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About Jenny deRemer

I am a Charleston, South Carolina-based culinary novice, an ardent authority on all things travel, a designer by trade, and the creator of Not Entirely Average. I have a weakness for farmers' markets, delight in adventures way off the beaten path, enjoy documenting my many moods through photography, and have been known to conquer the occasional yard sale with gusto!

Read More About Me

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