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This dessert at Villa Azur in Dallas by chef Gerson Pineda has the elements of a traditional tiramisu with house-made biscuit, coffee liqueur, and mascarpone cheese, but the cheese is liquified and enhanced with Amaretto, and it’s given extra texture with cacao nibs.
It’s priced at $16.
This is another variation on the Tiramisu, a name which means “pick me up,” from Jack Rose in New Orleans. Pastry chef Eka Soenarko adds ube paste and extract to a combination of mascarpone cheese, crème fraîche, sweetened condensed milk, and vanilla extract to make a creamy purple confection. She mixes that with egg yolks beaten with sugar and coconut liqueur, and then folds in egg whites whipped with sugar. She puts a scoop of that on the bottom of a jar and then tops it with a disk of pistachio cake. She brushes that with warm coconut syrup, tops it with more purple cream, dusts it with ube powder, and tops it with baked kadayif, or shredded phyllo.
The chef said the dessert reflects her own Asian identity as well as her passion for creativity.
It’s priced at $15.
For this festive dessert at Crave Kitchen and Bar in Eagle, Idaho, pastry chef Rich Gardunia adds a lot of fun to the classic layer cake by using five different cakes: Carrot, red velvet, chocolate chip, chocolate, and confetti. It’s frosted with a frosting of caramelized cream cheese and white chocolate and stands 8 inches tall. Every order comes with a sparkler and house-made gummy bears, the flavor of which is “constantly changing.”
This dessert is $18
This dessert at Vines Grill & Wine Bar in Orlando, Fla., is inspired by the birthday cakes that chef Tomica Antoine’s mother would make when she was growing up.
Being Haitian, her mother used spices that reminded her of home, including allspice, and cinnamon as well as more traditional vanilla extract. It also has a little red wine vinegar for added zip and mayonnaise for more richness. The frosting is a buttercream with added cream cheese, vanilla and a little lemon zest.
A slice of this cake is $14.00
Chris Cheung, chef and owner of East Wind Snack Shop in Brooklyn, N.Y., developed his version of this item that he says was originally made centuries ago for the Chinese emperor and now is a popular street food. It’s hand-made cotton candy (no machine), with the flavors of sweet sesame seeds and peanuts that the chef pulls similarly to pulled noodles, turning one sugar strand into 12,000 strands.
It’s $10.
Equal parts bread and doughnuts are the foundation of this variation on a classic at Guard and Grace in Denver, for which those ingredients are cubed and dehydrated so they can soak up a custard spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and vanilla. That’s mixed with diced Granny Smith apples from Colorado’s Western Slope, allowed to soak for 30 minutes, and then baked. It’s served with brown butter ice cream, dulce de leche poured tableside, and a dehydrated apple slice.
It’s $15.
This is a true classic at Harris’ Restaurant in San Francisco. Really: It was on the original menu when the restaurant opened in 1984, and had been on and off the menu periodically until it was given a permanent spot in 2020.
The classic combination of cake, ice cream, and meringue flambéed tableside does have rotating flavors orchestrated by pastry chef Joann Vaega Buhagiar. The current iteration is almond sponge cake with chocolate and raspberry ice cream.
It’s price is $16.
At Cuba Libre Restaurant and Rum Bar in Atlantic City, N.J. pastry chef Monica Couch developed this Latin variation on the pineapple upside down cake. The base is a polenta poundcake poured over the classic combination of caramelized pineapple and maraschino cherries. It’s baked, flipped over, and served with butterscotch sauce and vanilla ice cream.
“Warm and sweet, like a hug from abuela,” Couch said.
It’s $17.50
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