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Dessert is one category that even the most steadfast carb avoiders can’t resist. In fact, restaurant dessert orders have inched up the past five years, according to NPD Group research. These days guests want to be seduced by over-the-top masterpieces, reinvented classics (s’mores, anyone?) and pure indulgence. And often just a taste will suffice: One of the top dessert trends in the National Restaurant Association’s 2016 “What’s Hot” chef survey was bite-sized portions. The other top five trends include house-made or artisan ice cream, savory sweets, smoked dessert ingredients and hybrid desserts.
Consumers literally want to have their cake and eat it—with their ice cream, too. As for flavors, Datassential last year noted traditional tastes like rhubarb, chocolate hazelnut, mint chocolate chip, shortbread, buttermilk and marshmallow were surging on dessert menus.
