The Sweet Spots
Check out our interactive location map to find the most creative ways across the country to satisfy your sweet tooth.
Sugar Porn 19 Photos
Flip through pics of some of the most decadent, mouthwatering desserts money can buy.
Meet the Contributors 16 Photos
These hilarious sugar fiends take the cake (literally –– and then review it).
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Digital-Original Series: Sweetnr
When desserts start using dating apps, crazy mash-ups are born.
The Country's Top 5 Best Desserts 4 Videos
We've rounded-up the best pies, doughnuts, cupcakes and breakfast treats around.
Instagram Dessert Pics Actually Worth Looking At 26 Photos
Episodes
See Episode GuideSweet Imagination
Life's too short for boring desserts, so we're sinking our teeth into some of the country's most imaginative sweets. Moojo is helping keep Austin weird and oh so delicious with customized ice cream sandwiches made with warm cookies. Hail Mary in Brooklyn is the answer to your sweet tooth's prayers thanks to American classics with colorful, modern makeovers. At Super Chunk Sweets and Treats in Scottsdale, Arizona, mouthwatering desserts are brilliantly packaged in small bites that are big on flavor.
European Sweets
Today we're getting a sweet taste of Europe in the U.S.! In Atlanta the Little Tart Bakeshop rolls out decadently traditional French pastries. In New York City, the extremely popular Italian restaurant Maialino proves why you must save room for dessert. And finally, Nielsen's Pastries in Seattle serves some of the most delightful and unique Scandinavian treats, with recipes that have barely changed since its Danish owner settled there.
Sweet Reinvention
We're traveling the country in search of people giving classic sweets a modern and delicious makeover. In New York City, a charming little shop is putting a gourmet spin on the crispy rice treat, with flavors loved by children and adults alike. In Atlanta, the simple ice pop has been transformed into a frosty combination of real ingredients and unique textures. And in Seattle, there's a new take on the soda shop that serves amazing ice cream floats, made with the house's premium ice creams and their very own dessert beers.
Capital Cravings
We visit some of the eateries that satisfy the sweet cravings of Washington, D.C.'s power brokers. First stop: GBD, which stands for "Golden Brown Delicious" -- the perfect way to describe the unique doughnuts at this hotspot. At Cupcakes Actually, the shelves are stocked with 10 varieties of this sweet treat daily, including its signature dipped cupcakes. And we'll sample the refreshing artisan gelato at Dolcezza, which combines local ingredients, old-world methods, and innovative flavors.
Desert Desserts
We're heading to the Arizona desert to find some of the coolest desserts. At Fluff It Marshmallows in Gilbert, they're all about - you guessed it - the magnificent marshmallow and all its cloud-like flavor possibilities. Sweet Republic Artisan Ice Cream in Phoenix sells sundaes that will simply shock you, so loosen your belt for handcrafted ice creams, homemade toppings and a huge cookie at the bottom! Finally, Paletas Betty in Chandler offers dozens of Mexican ice pops to choose from every day, including a mix of sweet and spice and everything ice.
Sweet Spins in Austin
In Austin, we find a unique spin on sweet treats at every turn. Sugar Mama's Bakeshop serves up sweet surprises like old-fashioned chocolate malted milkshake cupcakes and shortbread unicorns with edible glitter. Churro Co. is turning churros, the beloved Mexican street treat, into delightful and decadent desserts with toppings like buttery popcorn sugar and vanilla ice cream. And at Gelateria Gemelli, they're using savory flavors like olive oil and herbaceous liqueurs to create gelatos that would delight even the most traditional Italian nonna.
Sweet Treats in NYC
We're on the hunt for the best sweet treats New York City has to offer. Sweets by Chloe is a cute vegan bakeshop that's creating giant cookies and fudge cakes that are rich and moist, creamy and chocolatey. Daly Pie in Brooklyn Heights has a mouthwatering lineup, but one pie loaded with peanut butter, chocolate hazelnut and potato chips that has everyone talking. And Brigadeiro Bakery brings international flair to Soho with their chocolate truffle-like confections.
Pies
Pies are anything but humble in the hands of these innovative bakers. Whether it's a Seattle shop that imagines pies on sticks or in jars, a San Francisco baker who likes his pies on the spicy side, or pies both deliciously peculiar and uniquely down-home coming from New York City, the pie has arrived.
Breakfast Sweets
Of bakeries and brunches from the Pacific Northwest to New York City, we've found the best reasons to roll out of bed in the morning. Think outside the toaster and try a warm slice of brioche sweetened with almond paste and homemade almond syrup, a hand-forged donut, a towering stack of peanut-butter filled chocolate waffles, or a coffee cake made just for you (with a single-drip artisan coffee brew to match).
Cakes
We're returning the favor and celebrating cakes in every form, flavor and size. Take a slice of inspired, traditional French cakes from New York City, over-the-top masterpieces from a San Francisco mainstay, Seattle's best delicate and exotic coffee cakes or out-of-the-box cupcakes. Cakes never deserved their pedestal more.
Toronto Sweets
We head north of the border to Toronto, Canada, where the childhood favorite of milk and cookies are taken to a whole new level at Moo Milk Bar, which offers a variety of classic and signature cookies that can be paired with their all-natural flavored milks. Glory Hole Doughnuts specializes in artisanal yeast doughnuts made with all-natural ingredients like the Lemon Ricotta Doughnut. Clafouti Patisserie is known for their exceptional croissants and we check out one of their inventive treats calleda crookie.
Austin Sweet Freeze
Austin can get sweltering hot but they have plenty of delicious options to keep you cool. At Cow Tipping Creamery, Corey Sorensen is making stackers, her layered version of a sundae that not only gives you plenty of ice cream but ensures that you can get your fill of her homemade toppings. At Dolce Neve you can savor their authentic Italian gelato flavors made with in-season Texas produce and at Sweet Ritual you can try a vegan ice cream that has all the creaminess and flavor you crave with none of the animal byproducts.
Cool Cookies Sandwiches
There's nothing better than the perfect cookie -- unless you take two of them and put some filling in between! At DC Patisserie they make delicate macaron with delicious American flavors. Milk Cult in Washington, D.C., has a true fan following for their unique ice cream sandwiches. And in New York, an art gallery/spice lab creates little sandwich cookies exploding with flavor.
Updated Classics
Trigger your fondest food memories with flavors you never remembered in our favorite picks for revisited retro and nostalgic desserts. Indulge in caramel corn in San Francisco, a Meyer Lemon Shaker Pie, the creamiest of cheesecakes to have all to yourself, or a slice of birthday cake unlike any mother ever made.
Cookies
Craving cookies that are too cool for your childhood cookie jar? Nibble on a crumbly, oat-flecked peanut butter sandwich cookie in New York, a psychedelic sugar cookie from Brooklyn, a serious chocolate chip cookie with cocoa nibs in San Francisco, or a wacky snickerdoodle "cookie pizza" from Chicago.
Childhood Favorites
We found the top spots from Seattle to New York to keep the kid in you hopped up on sweets. Boxed supermarket desserts take on a grown-up twist with flavors like black sesame or passion fruit, as do the freshest of fruit pops, in two boutique shops in New York. For a more innocent indulgence, try sprinkle-scattered hummingbird cupcakes in Seattle or caramel apples dipped in cookie crumbs in Chicago.
Sweet & Savory
Forget bacon and chocolate: we found the spots for sweet-and-savory desserts that are new to the menu. Between sweetened tofu, donuts that raid the savory spice cabinet, roasted red pepper gelato and a cupcake that's fit for dinner, you'll never look at dessert the same way again.
Small Bites
Need a nibble of something sweet? Take a bite of sticky, stacked baklava and creative candies from Brooklyn and Queens, N.Y., or a tiny taste of decadence with twisted French classics in Chicago or upscale Farmer's Market fare in San Francisco. These treats may be tiny, but are huge on flavor.
Chocolate
If a love for chocolate can be described as a religion, we have found the ultimate places of worship that claim devotion to little else. Atop the shrine to this beloved ingredient sits a collection of playful chocolate confections, a chocolate-doused brownie sundae, a molten chocolate tart unlike any you've ever seen and a chocolate cake that's known as the best in the world.
Sweet Mornings in Sunny L.A.
If you think the folks in Los Angeles eat only health food, think again. Especially when it comes to breakfast! We visit some L.A. Hotspots that are the sweetest places to start the day. From artisanal doughnuts fried fresh all day long, to the most decadent stuffed French toast, to the best buns in Koreatown -- these are breakfasts worth setting your alarm for.
Old is New Again
Classic desserts get deliciously updated at three sweet shops across the country. Skull and Cakebones rocks vegan cupcakes in Austin, Texas, with flavors like basil berry, dirty chai and just beet it, you'll be singing a new tune about dairy free desserts. Valerie Confections in Los Angeles is resurrecting vintage cake recipes with mouthwatering results: Head here for a slice of coffee crunch cake or banana shortcake. And in Brooklyn, Hay Rosie uses unusual ingredients like champagne and hops to flavor super creamy scoops of ice cream.
Cute and Sweet
Sometimes good things come in small packages, and we visit three locations that pack big-time flavors in small servings. First stop is Cake Monkey Bakery in Los Angeles, where their mini layer cakes allow you to have your favorite cake -- and eat the whole thing! And the fluffy, coconut-coated Mogul takes a cute childhood favorite and makes it even better than you remember. Next stop is Tiny Pies in Austin, Texas, where a mother-daughter duo are making some of the best pies you've ever tasted, like the brownie-pecan combo Texas Two Step and the juicy Peach and Blueberry, and sizing them to fit in the palm of your hand. Finally, it's a twist on some classic French pastries at Canele by Celine, where delectable canele -- crispy on the outside, custard-like inside -- come not just in a rainbow of flavors, but bite-sized as well so you can try them all!
L.A. Decadence
We head to the City of Angels to discover what makes this west coast city so decadently sweet. Sit down to a breakfast that's about way more than waffles, indulge in pastries that take the cake and stop in for a sweet snack that's on a stick.
Ooey Gooey
Whether to swipe the sticky sugar from your hands or to catch a drip on your lip, these ooey gooey desserts require a napkin or two to conquer. Dive into the stickiest of sticky buns, a coconut cake soaked with syrup, a fried apple pie dipped in spiced caramel and a sundae that's dripping with two different sauces. Take our advice and save your fingers: grab a spoon.
Southern
Your grandmother might learn a new trick or two from these Southern-inspired sweet spots. Between New York and Miami with a stop in the deep South, we were charmed by a ladylike Lady Baltimore cake, a staunchly Southern restaurant that reinvents regional classic desserts, the cutest pies with surprising fillings and heavenly layer cakes.
Exotic
Travel to distant lands from the comfort of a pastry box. Old culinary traditions are made new again at a few of our favorite bakeries, where sweets cross cultural lines and are made personal. Traditions from France and Japan collide at a New York City bakery, a family bakery in Miami brings us South American treats and two Boston shops bring us to Turkey, Morocco and beyond, from adventurous American bakers.
Sugar Central
