Desserts - Proof of the pudding

Venues need to focus on old English favourites if they want to delight customers with their desserts offer.

 When eating out, customers often want to indulge themselves and desserts shouldn't be ignored as an excellent profit opportunity for pub caterers. It's a case of "back to school" when it comes to what's in demand in the sweet stakes, with customers looking for comfort puds just like Granny used to make, such as sticky toffee pudding, jam roly poly and bread and butter pudding. Many chefs are already tapping in to customers' tastes for the traditional. At Heston Blumental's pub the Hind's Head in Bray, desserts include sherry trifle, treacle tart with milk ice cream, banana Eton mess and apple and blackberry crumble.

 Among the treats on offer at Andrew Pern's Star Inn in Harome, North Yorkshire, are banana bread and butter pudding with Northallerton clotted cream; steamed ale cake with Theakston's ice cream and dark Muscavado sauce, and baked Ampleforth Abbey apple tarte tatin, with Wensleydale cheese ice-cream. Sticking to tradition is also the theme of the menu at the Helyar Arms, where Carl Marcantonio - winner of the desserts category in this year's PubChef Awards - is pastry chef. On the menu are dishes such as caramelised baked apple with mincemeat stuffing and warm winter fruit tart.

 Another key trend in desserts is sharing options, with many pubs now offering a sharing plate or board of desserts. At the Jolly Sportsman in East Chiltington, East Sussex, a desserts-in-miniature plate is offered at £9.75. Innovation also adds interest to any dessert menu. On the menu at the Linnet, in Great Hinton, Wiltshire, is head chef Neil Clark's Cornish cream tea cheesecake with English strawberry jam. The cheesecake is served on top of a scone with a strawberry jam sauce and an Earl Grey-infused sauce. Old English puddings can add a certain something to your menu and chefs should consider scouring Granny's recipe books for some ideas, or research old recipe books for inspiration on desserts that may have been forgotten.

 Menu mastery​

 Introduce a tabletop dessert menu - an excellent way to tempt customers.

 Make the menus available from the beginning of the meal to ensure that desserts are not forgotten about

 Make desserts sound appealing - a chocolate cake, for example, could "ooze with warm chocolate sauce"

 Use point of sale material to incentivise purchases. This could be a simple meal-deal or price incentive like buy-one-get-one-free