High Calorie Desserts: The Highest-Calorie Puddings Ranked, and Easy Ones to Make

High calorie desserts are puddings that pack 400 to 700 calories into a small bowl. The densest, per 100 g in McCance and Widdowson's UK food data, are chocolate brownies (506 calories), iced sponge cake (476), caramel shortcake (466) and Bakewell tart (454). Rice pudding, at 145, needs cream or jam to get there.

Most meals take planning. A dessert does not. It is the one part of the day already built around the two most calorie-dense things in any kitchen, fat and sugar, which is why a simple pudding can carry 500 to 700 calories without a big plate. For the principle behind it, see calorie-dense foods.

What dessert has the most calories?

Per 100 g, homemade chocolate brownies have the most calories of any common UK dessert at 506, only just behind milk chocolate itself at 519.

Here are the usual British puddings and bakes, highest first. Figures are calories per 100 g from McCance and Widdowson's Composition of Foods, homemade unless marked retail, plus two Tesco labels checked in October 2026:

• Chocolate brownies: 506
• Sponge cake with butter icing: 476
• Caramel shortcake (millionaire's shortbread), retail: 466
• Flapjacks: 464
• Bakewell tart: 454
• Chocolate cake with butter icing: 452
• Gü Chocolate Melt in the Middle pudding (Tesco label): 433
• Ring doughnut, iced: 413
• Chocolate éclairs, cream filled, retail: 387
• Meringue: 385
• Treacle tart: 380
• Cheesecake: 325
• Banoffee pie: 319
• Sticky toffee pudding (Tesco label): 306
• Apple pie, pastry top and bottom: 268
• Tiramisu: 244
• Fruit crumble, retail: 219
• Trifle: 167
• Rice pudding made with whole milk: 145
• Custard made with whole milk: 114

The pattern is water. A brownie is 6% water and rice pudding is 70%, so the wet, spoonable puddings sit at the bottom of the list even when they are rich. The most calorie dense desserts are the dry, buttery bakes.

Per plate, portion size decides it. An 80 g brownie is 405 calories, a 100 g slice of Bakewell tart 454, a 125 g slice of cheesecake 406 and a 150 g wedge of banoffee pie 478. When people search for the "most fattening" dessert, this is the number they mean: the most calories in a normal serving.

For restaurant extremes, the top of TwistedFood's 2020 round-up, based on research by Thomson Lakes and Mountains, was British: "The Roman Empire" at Coco Gelato in Cardiff, at 3,845 calories.

Which sweets have the most calories?

Chocolate is the highest calorie sweet at 510 to 529 per 100 g, then fudge (435) and toffees (387); boiled sweets, jellies and marshmallows sit near 325 because they contain no fat.

• White chocolate: 529
• Milk chocolate: 519
• Plain chocolate: 510
• Fudge: 435
• Toffees: 387
• Chew sweets: 377
• Turkish delight with nuts: 348
• Marshmallows: 327
• Boiled sweets: 327
• Fruit gums and jellies: 324

Fat is what separates the top of this list from the bottom: milk chocolate is 31% fat, a boiled sweet almost none. For sweet things between meals, the high calorie snacks guide ranks them by calories per bite.

Which cakes are highest in calories?

The highest calorie cakes are the buttery, iced ones: sponge cake with butter icing (476 per 100 g) and chocolate cake with butter icing (452), against 292 for a fatless sponge.

• Sponge cake with butter icing: 476
• Chocolate cake with butter icing: 452
• Coconut cake: 423
• Chocolate-covered Swiss roll, retail: 414
• Chocolate cake with filling and icing, retail: 413
• Cherry cake: 398
• Carrot cake, iced, retail: 374
• Rich fruit cake: 349
• Fatless sponge: 292

For high calorie baking at home, flapjacks are the easiest win at 464 per 100 g homemade, and our high calorie flapjack recipe pushes them further. The homemade high calorie bars guide does the same for no-bake bars.

Easy high calorie dessert recipes

Each of these takes under ten minutes of hands-on time and lands between 491 and 996 calories, from ingredients in a normal UK kitchen.

Calories are McCance and Widdowson values for the weights shown, rounded; swap brands and the totals move by a few per cent.

Chocolate peanut butter overnight oats (648 calories)

• 50 g porridge oats: 190
• 150 g whole milk: 94
• 10 g cocoa powder: 31
• 32 g peanut butter (2 tablespoons): 194
• 1 medium banana, 100 g peeled: 81
• 20 g honey: 58

Stir the oats, milk, cocoa and peanut butter together the night before, then slice the banana on top and drizzle the honey in the morning.

A loaded yoghurt pot (644 calories)

• 150 g full-fat Greek-style yoghurt: 200
• 40 g granola with nuts: 180
• 30 g mixed nuts: 174
• 80 g blueberries: 32
• 20 g honey: 58

Two minutes to assemble. The yoghurt alone is 200 calories; stirring in 32 g of peanut butter and the honey instead of the granola and nuts gives 452, with only three spoonfuls more in the bowl.

Peanut butter chocolate banana (563 calories)

• 1 large banana, 120 g peeled: 97
• 32 g peanut butter: 194
• 30 g milk chocolate, melted: 156
• 20 g mixed nuts, chopped: 116

Split the banana lengthways, spread the peanut butter, pour over the chocolate and scatter the nuts. No cooking.

Warm fruit crumble with custard and cream (575 calories)

• 150 g fruit crumble: 328
• 100 g ready-made custard: 98
• 30 g double cream: 149

Rice pudding with cream and jam (491 calories)

• 200 g rice pudding made with whole milk: 290
• 30 g double cream: 149
• 20 g jam: 52

Made with tinned rice pudding (85 per 100 g) instead of homemade, the same bowl is 371, which is why homemade is worth it if you are trying to add calories.

Chocolate mug cake (493 calories)

• 30 g self-raising flour: 104
• 25 g white sugar: 98
• 10 g cocoa powder: 31
• 15 g vegetable oil: 135
• 45 g whole milk: 28
• 16 g peanut butter, on top: 97

Mix everything but the peanut butter in a large mug and microwave for 60 to 90 seconds, until risen and just set. Spoon the peanut butter on while it is hot.

The 1,000 calorie brownie sundae (996 calories)

• 100 g chocolate brownie: 506
• 100 g vanilla ice cream: 169
• 30 g chocolate spread, warmed: 172
• 30 g double cream: 149

This is the answer to "what dessert has 1,000 calories" that you can make at home, and it is a lot of pudding for one sitting. Share it, or have half now and half later.

Which shop-bought puddings have the most calories?

Of the supermarket puddings checked for this page, Gü's Chocolate Melt in the Middle has the most at 390 calories a pot, 433 per 100 g.

Labels and prices from Tesco's own pages, October 2026:

• Gü Chocolate Melt in the Middle, 2 x 90 g: 390 calories a pudding, £3.95, about 51p per 100 calories.
• Tesco Sticky Toffee Pudding, 400 g: 306 calories per quarter (100 g), £4.00, about 33p per 100 calories.
• Auntys Sticky Toffee Steamed Puddings, 2 x 95 g: 281 calories a pudding, £1.50, about 27p per 100 calories.
• Ambrosia Devon Custard, 400 g: 96 per 100 g, 125 in a 130 g serving, £1.65, about 43p per 100 calories.

A steamed sponge with a pour of custard is the cheap, warm option: one Auntys pudding with 130 g of Ambrosia custard is 406 calories for about £1.29 (75p of pudding, 54p of custard).

Which puddings are best for weight gain?

For weight gain, the best puddings are the ones you can eat a decent bowl of and enjoy, made richer with cream, nut butter or jam rather than made bigger.

The NHS suggests adults who need to gain weight add around 300 to 500 calories a day, and every recipe above covers that on its own. The same NHS page is clear that you should not rely on chocolate, cakes and sugary drinks to gain weight, and the NHS limit for free sugars is 30 g a day for adults, so a pudding works best on top of proper meals rather than instead of them. That is why the recipes above lean on oats, nuts, peanut butter and full-fat dairy as well as sugar. The how to gain weight guide covers the rest of the day.

For a dessert-style option that needs no kitchen, Phoenix Bars come in Cherry Bakewell, Salted Caramel, Chocolate and Apple & Cinnamon, at up to 557 calories in a compact, lightweight 120g bar, and a bar stirred into hot milk becomes a warm, pudding-like porridge. They sit alongside our other high calorie bars for weight gain options in the ranking of the best energy bars for weight gain.

What can you eat for dessert when a full meal is too much?

When a full meal is too much, a small bowl of something soft and sweet is often easier to manage, and a few spoonfuls are enough.

Rice pudding, custard, mousse or a milkshake ask very little of you and can be eaten slowly. Keep the richest part and skip the bulk: a small bowl of the rich pudding rather than a large portion of a light one. For more ideas, see what to eat when you fill up after a few bites, soft high calorie foods, and high calorie drinks and smoothies for milkshakes.

For an older relative with a small appetite, our guide to high calorie foods for older adults covers this more gently and in more detail. If weight is being lost without trying, or eating has suddenly changed, it is worth speaking to a GP.

Are high calorie desserts unhealthy?

Not by definition: calorie density describes how much a food holds for its weight, not its quality.

Plenty of dense puddings are built from oats, nuts, nut butter, dried fruit, full-fat dairy and dark chocolate, and a lot of dessert advice online assumes high calorie and unhealthy mean the same thing. Sugar is the catch. A brownie sundae is mostly sugar and fat, so if you are eating puddings to add calories, have the oat, yoghurt and nut butter options more often than the cake.

Frequently asked questions

Is rice pudding good for weight gain?

Yes, if it is made with whole milk. Homemade rice pudding with whole milk is 145 calories per 100 g against 85 for tinned, so a 200 g bowl is 290 against 170. Stir in 30 g of double cream and 20 g of jam and the homemade bowl reaches 491.

Which custard is best for weight gain?

Custard made at home with whole milk is 114 calories per 100 g, ahead of tinned or carton custard at around 96 to 98. Confectioners' custard, the thick kind in tarts, is 153. Whichever you use, 30 g of double cream stirred in adds another 149.

What dessert is 400 or 500 calories?

A Gü Chocolate Melt in the Middle pudding is 390, and a 125 g slice of homemade cheesecake about 406. For 500, the chocolate mug cake above is 493, rice pudding with cream and jam 491, and an 80 g brownie with 60 g of vanilla ice cream 506.

What is a high calorie vegan dessert?

The overnight oats above made with 150 g of sweetened soya drink and golden syrup instead of milk and honey come to about 621 calories, and half a 400 g tin of coconut milk adds 338 to any pudding it is stirred into. Dark chocolate is 510 per 100 g. Our vegan high calorie foods guide lists more.

How many calories are in a slice of cheesecake?

Homemade cheesecake is 325 calories per 100 g in McCance and Widdowson's data, so a 125 g slice is about 406. Shop-bought fruit cheesecake is lighter at 264 to 294 per 100 g, because it carries less fat: 12 to 16 g per 100 g against 23.

Related guides

For the rest of the day, see high calorie breakfast ideas, high calorie lunch ideas and high calorie dinner ideas. For ice cream ranked by the tub, see high calorie ice cream. For the porridge method and other ways to eat a bar, see how to use Phoenix Bars.

Sources: McCance and Widdowson's Composition of Foods Integrated Dataset 2021; NHS, Healthy ways to gain weight; NHS, Sugar: the facts; Tesco product pages for Gü, Tesco sticky toffee pudding, Auntys and Ambrosia, checked October 2026; TwistedFood, the most calorific desserts.

Written by James Frost, founder of Flaming Phoenix. Updated October 2026: new rankings of desserts, sweets and cakes per 100 g, shop-bought puddings checked at Tesco, and every recipe re-weighed with its calories shown. James started Flaming Phoenix in 2024 and has spent the years since working out how to get the most calories into the least food. You can reach him at jfrost@flaming-phoenix.co.uk or through the contact page.