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The Infatuation
The Best Desserts In Austin
By Nicolai McCrary,
2 days ago
Some people treat dessert as an afterthought to dinner and drinks, while others consider it the main attraction. The truly dedicated might head to a restaurant just for the sweets. This guide is for the dessert diehards who somehow always have room for a few more bites, no matter how intense dinner was. When you want to try the best chocolate cakes, key lime pies, and soufflés in the city—whether or not you’ve just had dinner at a different restaurant—hit one of these spots.
While most of KG BBQ’s menu toes the line between Texan and Egyptian flavors, the food truck’s dessert leans a little heavy on the Egyptian side of the equation. When that influence brings us a bowl of rice pudding topped with pistachio butter, cardamom, and mascarpone cream, we’re perfectly OK with the scales tipping a little. This dessert isn’t overly sweet—it’s aromatic and complex, with lots of distinct layers that introduce new and exciting textures with each spoonful. Get it to go if you didn’t save room (we don’t blame you). It’s just as good the next day.
Fried milk has been on the dessert list in some form or another since Uchiko opened in 2010, and while we can’t promise the version you’re going to try will look exactly the same, you can usually expect something like a very light chocolate mousse, Cap’n Crunch cereal, toasted milk ice cream, and a few balls of fried milk. No matter the form, you’ll want to order it to see why it's never left the menu.
You’ll find banana pudding on nearly every barbecue menu in Texas, but only LeRoy and Lewis has banana pudding tiramisu. It starts with a thin layer of the beloved pudding, then gets topped with mascarpone and espresso-soaked ladyfingers. It’s rich and decadent without tasting too sweet, and it’s a perfect example of the restaurant’s new-school approach to Texas classics. But if you do find banana pudding tiramisu somewhere else, let us know immediately.
There are typically about eight to 10 baklava options available on any given day, and they’re all excellent ways to close out a meal at Peace Bakery. Order some shawarma if you’re here for dinner—it’s among the best in town—but save room for a personal flight of baklava. Start with a bird nest and (at least) one pistachio baklava, then grab whatever else looks good. The baklava has a lot of honey in it, which means it should (theoretically) last a while on your counter, so it doesn’t hurt to grab a little extra for later.
If you’re over the age of 12, you’ve probably had Klondike’s discontinued Choco Taco (and if you’re younger than that, get back to class). But you probably haven’t had a Choco Taco quite like this one, complete with a house-made chocolate masa shell, peanut caramel, cinnamon semifreddo, and roasted peanuts. It hits every nostalgia nerve at once. The best part: It never comes out smooshed.
Every so often, Birdie’s will swap in a few different flavors and versions of this dessert, but it always starts with a base of soft serve and a topping of citrus and olive oil. It’s soft and creamy, with a fruity bitterness from the oil that ties everything together. Pair it with a glass of dessert wine for the full experience, or just enjoy it for the delicious little treat that it is.
This Japanese-style dessert starts with a small mountain of flavored shaved ice, then gets topped with ice cream and other garnishes that change out seasonally. Our version paired alternating layers of finely shaved rosemary and apple ice with spiced honey ice cream, salted cream, matcha, and white chocolate on top. It’s almost as beautiful to look at as it is to eat—just don’t stare too long, because it melts quickly.
Most of Austin’s Thai restaurants have mango sticky rice, but we keep going back to Dee Dee’s because of the pact they made with the fruit gods to obtain a steady stream of mango that’s always at peak ripeness. The sticky rice is warm and chewy, and the sweet coconut milk drizzled over the top ties it all together. If you want to maximize your enjoyment, start with some spicy papaya salad before finishing with dessert. Tasting the extremes of spice and sweetness back to back is gratifying.
We’re not sure if Maie Day’s “world famous” three-layer chocolate cake is as famous as they claim, but we did tell a cousin living abroad about it, so there might be some truth to the story. Chocolate cake might not sound like anything special, but it’s seasonal toppings—like vanilla chantilly, sesame-seed crumble, caramel, blackberry powder, cayenne, and grilled lemon—that transform this slice from a sweet little finish into something worth seeking out on its own.
All of the desserts at Lutie’s are excellent, but we especially love the kouign-amann ice cream. It’s rich and creamy, with chunks of the sweet, buttery pastry inside. Think of a Dairy Queen blizzard that went to pastry school in France. The whole thing gets drizzled with beeswax creme caramel, then crowned with a cute mini kouign-amann perched on top like a little hat.
Jeffrey’s has a couple different soufflés, but we’re powerless to resist the classic chocolate version. It takes 20 to 30 minutes to prepare, so you’ll need to start thinking ahead while you’re still chewing on a slice of expensive dry-aged steak. The whole experience feels like a spectacle. A server comes by your table to break open the crispy top and fill the warm, fluffy interior with a drizzle of rose caramel. It’s bordering on overindulgent, and it’s the perfect way to wrap up a fancy meal.
A lot of desserts have come and gone at Bufalina, but an OG that stands the test of time is the ice cream and sherry. It’s exactly what it sounds like. A bowl of vanilla ice cream that looks like a frosty little volcano arrives at your table, then a server pours a glass of sherry into the crater and all around the outside. It’s creamy and sweet, but the sherry adds a tangy nuttiness that works as an excellent closer to a meal made up of pasta and Neapolitan pizza.
The birthday cake ice cream sandwich is exactly what it sounds like—all the flavors of a celebratory cake in a tiny, handheld format. The cookie is a bit doughy, but in a way that prevents it from getting too firm and crumbly while hugging all that ice cream. The sprinkles on top make the entire meal feel like you just celebrated something important.
Short of hopping on a plane to the Florida Keys, a quick drive to Bartlett’s is the closest you’ll get to a real-deal key lime pie in Austin. It’s tart and creamy, with a crumbly pecan graham-cracker crust that holds it all together. A giant dollop of fresh whipped cream keeps every bite feeling like a sweet, fluffy reminder of why we put up with all of the crazy sh*t that happens in Florida.
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