i would work pan-up. figure out what's your best method of transportation (in the pan, in tupperware, etc) working with what you have, and then figure out where to go from there. i've made the mistake of, say, making gooey smores cookies that can't be stacked without thinking about how i would get several trays to a picnic, haha. :)

Something like a deep dish cobbler would transport great. Bring some custard on the side for a topping!

If you put a bundt cake back into it's pan after cooling, cover it firmly with foil and bring along your glaze in a mason jar you could do pretty well.

I agree that a bundt cake sans icing travels really well, and I often take crisps (they can stay at room temp for a while and you serve them out of the same dish they were baked in, so that's easy).

Pies, cobblers, puddings, trifles, and other things that are served from the dish they're made in would work.

Cakes with stiff icings (like fudge or caramel) or glazes that have been given time to set could work.

When we traveled for holidays and I'd do desserts, I usually went with a big cake with regular american buttercream. Packed in a cake carrier, we'd go 5 hour drives just fine. You can really bring anything so long as you pack it properly (sans things with dairy.)

Bundts are a good idea, anything you serve from the pan it was baked in, like cobblers, pies or brownies are great. If its casual, cant go wrong with cookies.

Plum pudding travels well very well right in the bowl it's steamed in.

I also have traveled many times (by car and train) with pies and with bundt cakes and they've always held up just fine.

I've been making caramels the past couple years (along with some other candy, like toffee, fudge, brittle, and truffles) for the holidays: sea salt caramels and bourbon spice caramels They travel more easily than any baked good because they're wrapped and you can just shove them into a bag, backpack, or whatever's easiest to carry.

I have 2 recipes on my blog that may work for you. One is even called Portable Chocolae Snack Cake.

http://thecuttingedgeofordinary.blogspot.com/2009/02/portable-chocolate-snack-cake.html

The other is super easy Chocolate Pumpkin Snack cake. You could easily make them into muffins too!

http://thecuttingedgeofordinary.blogspot.com/2009/02/portable-chocolate-snack-cake.html

I've made that double apple cake the last 3 Christmases. 1) It's fabulous and 2) it would travel great, IMO, with the caramel sauce on the side or made at your destination.

Now I want cake.

I like cakes that do no require any frosting. This pound cake recipe at smitten kitchen is one of my favorites.

http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/03/cream-cheese-pound-cake-strawberry-coulis/

The apple cake from Smitten Kitchen is my go-to holiday dessert. It's easy to make, transport, and can feed a ton of people with no fuss. It's even better after the second day. I made it for a 95 year old neighbor this past weekend and he called to tell me it "awakened his tastebuds"! http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/09/moms-apple-cake/

That Double Apple cake listed is Delish! It travels well. I would make extra sauce....it's addictive. Some people more than others. I add dried cherries to the batter as well. It's my fave recipe I have ever gotten off the Kitchn!

hi,
I make sticky date pudding, in muffin size portions, and take some caramel sauce in a mason jar. What I like about muffins (apart from everything :) is that you can transport them in a cardboard box, lined with teatowels, which makes them great for stacking in a car full of bags, but also means less hassle when its time to go home. Not sure where you are going, if its someones house or a venue, if its a house, I usually compost the cardboard box, (worms like to hatch their babies in cardboard scraps) but we are in the countryside. Have a great trip! cheers

I have often traveled with desserts. If you have a cake carrier, pretty much any cake can travel well, at least by car. If not, you can always bake a cake in a 9x13 pan and even frost it--travels perfectly as long as you don't stack anything on top of it! Bundt cakes are great, as are pound cakes. Last year I made Ina Garten's lemon cake which was spectacular (search on food network website for the recipe). I even froze it ahead of time and just took it out of the freezer in time for travel. By the time we were ready for dessert a few hours later if was perfectly defrosted. Non-cream pies work well. I've even traveled with an unbaked bread pudding. The key is to wrap it well and keep it as level as possible. It worked great though. Just stuck it in the oven when we sat down to dinner and it was perfect. For most any dessert, I recommend you get a plain cardboard box that's just slightly wider/longer than the dessert you're carrying. Line it with some towels and put the pie plate/cake pan/etc in there. That will protect any dessert quite well, and it stops you from putting anything on top of it by accident. Good luck!