Baking and cooking shows can have us drooling over delicious desserts we all want to eat. If you’re someone who likes to cook or bake, or you’re interested in starting, you might also be interested in making some of them yourself. But some desserts can appear fiendishly tricky, or people will constantly tell you how hard they are to get right. However, some of the desserts that you think might be really hard can be a lot easier than you think. What’s more, there’s a difference between achieving perfection and making a dessert that may not be perfect but is still perfectly tasty.

If you’re looking for a little bit of a challenge but nothing too hard, try some of these desserts that could be easier than you imagine.

Meringue

The concept of meringue is a pretty simple one. It’s egg whites mixed with sugar, with a few variations, such as Swiss and Italian meringue. But you might have heard how tricky it is to get right. Indeed, it can sometimes cause problems, but it’s really not too hard if you pay attention. The most important thing for a basic meringue is to whisk your egg whites into stiff peaks. If you turn your bowl upside-down, the egg whites should stay where they are. Once you’ve got that right, a world of meringue desserts will open up.

Cream Puffs (and Other Choux Pastries)

Choux pastry might seem like a challenge, but it’s really one of the more accessible pastries compared to some other options. Choux is made on the stovetop and looks somewhat like mashed potatoes when you’re making it. It can take 10-15 minutes to come together, so patience is essential. Another thing to remember is that you may need a different amount of eggs each time if you want to get the perfect, shiny pastry that’s the right consistency for piping. When it comes to baking, keep your patience and avoid opening the oven.

Ice Cream

If you can make a custard, you can make ice cream. And custard is not too hard to master, so pretty much anyone can make ice cream. While some ice cream recipes can be made without an ice cream maker, it is helpful to have one if you want to churn smooth ice cream. As a good starting point, you can learn how to make homemade strawberry ice cream at theendlessmeal.com. Once you’ve made one ice cream, you can play with just about any flavor that piques your interest. There are endless possibilities for you to explore if you’re an ice cream lover.

Tiramisu

Any layered dessert can seem intimidating. Tiramisu can look especially frightening if you’re thinking about baking your own ladyfingers. To make it easier, you can skip this step and soak store-bought ladyfingers in espresso. Once you’ve done that, layering up this popular dessert becomes a lot more straightforward. It will also save you a lot of time and enable you to put this dessert together whenever you feel like it. Of course, you can try making ladyfingers if you feel like a real challenge, and you might not find them too difficult.

Baklava

The delicious layers of fruit, nuts, syrup, and spices of baklava are hard to resist. However, phyllo pastry is a considerable challenge. The super thin pastry is definitely not for beginners, making it very time-consuming. In fact, many professional chefs and cooks don’t bother to make it themselves. It’s readily available to buy, so there’s no need to go through the effort of making it from scratch. Once you have the pastry, the rest of the baklava is pretty straightforward. Getting the flavors right is the most important thing.

Donuts

Any fried dessert can be tricky to master. If the oil is too hot, your dessert will brown too quickly but could remain raw on the inside. Overcrowd your fryer or pot, which will lower the oil temperature too much. You might avoid desserts like donuts or churros because of these challenging issues, but it could be easier to make donuts than you think. To keep things simple, make round donuts instead of rings. Cover the dough long enough, and watch your oil temperature when frying.

Some desserts might look fancy and complex, but they could be easier to tackle than you imagine. Some shortcuts can definitely help you out.