The 22 best dessert in NYC

While Enrique Olvera’s single-corn tortillas pop up frequently, it’s his husk meringue, with its fine, ash-dusted hull giving way to a velvety, supercharged corn mousse, that cements Olvera’s status as the corn whisperer of New York dining.

At this diminutive flagship—filled with stone tables and Venetian wood chairs—you'll find the café's signature 20-layer crêpe cakes. Our go-to is the green tea mille, which makes us green with envy that we'll probably never be able to make it ourselves.

You might know Magnolia for their cupcakes, but their banana pudding is a tried-and-true gooey gift from god.

You could walk by Burrow three times and miss it (and we have). Located inside the lobby of a run-of-the-mill glass building eyesore in Dumbo, there's no street-facing storefront giving you a glimpse at the magic inside. While others wait for the elevator, head to the back to find the patisserie version of a speakeasy. Burrow has quiet confidence. There's no over-the-top decorations or crazy flavor combinations, but what they create is nothing short of excellent. The pistachio cake is absolutely worth burrowing for with its pistachio mousse, praline and crunchy feuillantine layers. 

At Gage & Tollner, a reimagining of the classic downtown Brooklyn chophouse, the baked Alaska is an unlikely star. An ode to the restaurant’s history—which dates all the way back to 1879—this 19th century dessert has been brought into the future. Here, the baked Alaska is served for two, with layers of dark chocolate, mint and amarena cherry ice cream, then covered with a carefully-torched meringue. The result? Classic flavors that are more than modern enough to be Instagrammed. 

Since 1976, Fortunato Brothers has been serving Italian pastries in Williamsburg. Known for their affogatos, cannolis and sensational gelato, here you'll find old-school New York charm. What's especially unique about Fortunato Brothers is their dedication to the craft of marzipan art: bananas, eggplants, ears of corn and more are sculpted with almond paste to look like the real deal.

This is a bar unlike all others. Here, drinks aren't the focus. Stools are placed around the perimeter of pastry chef Chika Tillman so diners can get a voyeuristic thrill as she preps, pipes and plates her desserts in expert fashion. A multi-course “meal” may include an amuse-bouche such as coconut sorbet in a little pool of chocolate-infused tea gelée. The main course might be a warm chocolate tart with pink-peppercorn ice cream, a mocha-and-hazelnut trifle or a delicious fromage blanc cheesecake. It all ends with darling petit fours. As if you needed them.

Nicholas Morgenstern scoops inventive hard ice cream flavors (sesame caramel, salt and pepper pine nut, green tea pistachio) and sorbets (lychee raspberry, guava strawberry) at this scoop shop. Some say that durian is one of the smelliest fruits in the world, but if you can get beyond that, it's one of the most complex, interesting ice cream flavors available around town.

After a successful series of pop-ups, this Southeast Asian dessert spot opened up a permanent location. Here, you’ll find red tortoise cakes, filled with mung bean; Japanese onde onde, a glutinous rice ball made with molten palm sugar and salted coconut; durian custard slow-cooked in broth; and the stunning serimuka, a Malaysian steamed pandan custard that’s luscious, herbaceous and extremely photographable. 

With an original location in San Juan, Chocobar’s South Bronx outpost brings the chocolate of Puerto Rico to NYC. With a menu that serves chocolate on almost everything (including a chocolate grilled cheese with sweet brioche, cheddar and chocolate butter), it’s hard to choose the best dessert. Go for the Rico chocolate cake, made with chocolate mousse and 80% dark chocolate cream, washed down with an Old Fashioned with a chocolate rim. 

Sometimes we can't believe Rice to Riches still exists. Rice to Riches feels like what the '90s imagined The Future would look like. The space-age looking spot serves up flavors of rice pudding like Stubborn Banana, Black Cherry Birthday Suit and Coconut Coma. As a bonus, it’s served in reusable orange containers for carrying lunch to work the next day.  

This elevated vegetarian wonderland is an expansion of Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Paulette Cole’s ABC restaurant empire (ABC Kitchen, ABC Cocina) inside Flatiron’s ABC Carpet & Home complex. One of their best dishes comes at the end: a refreshing grapefruit granita, which you can think of as a deconstructed fancy slushie. 

This is no 16 Handles swirl. Here, handmade fro-yo comes with honey and lavender, more suited for eating in a fancy restaurant than on a Washington Square Park bench.  

This Dominican diner is one of the remaining relics of old New York. While we love the mofongo, we stay for the tres leches. True fans of El Castillo know that in addition to the classic, there's a special guava tres leches version that's even better.

One of our favorite store-bought ice cream brands finally opened up a brick and mortar in Cobble Hill. Founded by Pooja Bavishi, Malai serves up flavors from around the world including rose with cinnamon roasted almonds, sweet milk, star anise, ginger root and Turkish coffee. Look out for seasonal flavors like sweet roti and ghee; we love it served in a cone with toppings like cardamom shortbread and peanut chikki. 

Butter & Scotch is the feminist bakeshop and bar of our dreams. With staff t-shirts that read "Count Orgasms, Not Calories" and "Smash the Patriarchy" in piped icing, many items on the menu give proceeds to related causes like Planned Parenthood. And while their activist mission is enough to make us interested in stopping by, the s'mores pie makes it clear the desserts can back it up, too. 

At Missy Robbins’ second restaurant, the pared-down menu only offers one dessert option: gelato. The simple-yet-rich olive oil flavor is our favorite way to end the meal. 

Salt, not sugar, is the star of this fan-favorite treat at the famed Brooklyn pie shop. Encased in a crunchy, buttery crust, the chess pie–like base—with honey baked right into the custard—gets a savory finish of fine, large sea-salt flakes on top.

Pastry whiz Pichet Ong makes his return as the consulting chef at this East Village dessert bar. Ong melds Asian and Western traditions with this crispy honey buttered toast, served warm with condensed milk ice cream. 

Peacefood has the feeling of an old-school vegan gem largely untouched by time in the way that Souen was. The fonts on the menu are hideous, the plating doesn't focus on what's Instagrammable and the interior design is understated. But they don't need to hide behind any of it. Beyond the delicious savory sandwiches on the menu, the real star is their carrot cake. Which is not just the best vegan carrot we've ever had, but one of the best carrot cakes, full stop. 

At this cheery, kitschy Upper East Side family spot, sandwiches, salads and burgers merely set you up for the main course: dessert. The trademarked Frrrozen Hot Chocolate—a brain-freezing chocolate slushie—deserves its reputation. To avoid an ice cream headache, you better bring someone to split it with. 

At this UWS nook, size matters. Seductively gooey on the inside and golden brown on the outside, this Holy Grail of cookies is big enough to feed your whole crew (or not, if you don’t like to share). Semisweet chocolate morsels and chunks of walnuts mix and mingle, making each buttery bite better than the next. The only thing worse than waiting on the line out the door is the sinking feeling you’ll get when you’re left with no more bites.