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
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Episodes
See Episode GuideOoey 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.
Doughnuts
Glazed, sprinkled, filled or even plain, there's nothing so delectable as a freshly fried doughnut. So when you add some unique twists on this all American treat, they are quite simply, irresistible.
Neighborhood Gems
These are the places that everyone flocks to for desserts they can't get anywhere else. Homemade pies that fly off the shelves, ice creams that people stand in line for late at night and unique spiced cakes that tickle the taste buds. These are neighborhood gems that sparkle.
Sweet Americana
Mojo Monkey pays tribute to iconic American sweets through their dynamic doughhuts. Brooklyn Farmacy is a soda shop that pours out a funky collection of housemade nostalgic fountain treats. Chicago Diner creates classic diner desserts that taste so divine and decadent you can't even tell they're vegan! Teaspoon Bakeshop takes pride in creating their modern American sweets.
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.
Cravings
We discover unique versions of the most sought after sweets. Chocolates that have no chocolate, brownies and cookies baked in together in perfect harmony, ice cream that's literally farm to cone and mini pancakes like you've never seen before. It's what you crave, only better.
Sweet and Sticky
Sweet, sticky, ooey gooey. It's everything you want in a sweet, delectable dessert. We take a tour from the east coast to the west coast, tasting our way through unique caramel bread puddings, ooey gooey sticky buns, mini bites of caramelized goodness and old fashioned candy like you've never seen before.
Modern Comfort
Dominique Ansel in New York takes traditional French pastries and bakes them for the 21st century. Angel Food Bakery in Chicago satisfies the cravings for retro American sweet treats. French and Vietnamese flavors and traditions come together at Elizabeth Street Cafe in Austin. Salty Tart creates pastries with a midwestern flair in Minneapolis.
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.
Sweet Sandwiches
It's that perfect little dessert that you can hold in your hands. Travel to Los Angeles for the ultimate ice cream sandwich, to Portland, Ore., for sandwich cookies gone wild and taste unique New York concoctions spread between waffles and even doughnuts.
Brooklyn
We step off the island and head deep into the heart of Brooklyn to find the best sweets this New York City borough has to offer. Inspired by her Mexican heritage, Chef Fany Gerson pushes flavor combinations with hibiscus, passion fruit and even horchata in her doughnuts at Dough. Ample Hills Creamery whips up small batch artisanal ice cream in flavors like caramel, honey and breakfast cereal. Ovenly is combining salty and sweet with a touch of spice to craft cookies and cakes. At Robicelli's, familiar desserts like cheese platters, and root beer floats are packaged into cute cupcakes.
Austin Hangouts
From an ice cream shop to a pop-up bake sale, we found the best hangouts in Austin, Texas, to satisfy the sweet tooth. At Lick Ice Creams the flavors of Texas will hit you with each lick. Jump in line at pop-up F&D Bake Sale to try pastries that reinvent American traditions. Cake & Spoon serves personal-sized Southern sweets. Delish Bakery serves sugary decadence in downtown Austin.
Fruit
A fruit is made almost sinful again with some of the most decadent, exotic and chic desserts around. Pick an in-season fruit galette or chic tart, a dessert with a tropical fruit you're unlikely to have seen before and fresh fruit popsicles with a cool twist.
Classic Twists
We discover classics desserts that have been pushed into uncharted territory. Pies and cakes turned into cookies, ice cream made from goat's milk, salt water taffy that stretches the rules and pies that are renowned -- and served raw.
Kids' Treats
We bring out the kid in you with places that are sure to satisfy the sweet tooth for all ages. At Papabubble, whimsical candies that look too beautiful to eat, like grapefruit soda candies, and lollipops. Wooly's Ice frozen shaved ice in outrageous flavors like green tea and sea salt dulce de leche. It's a trip back in time when you step into Little Cupcake Bakeshop for their blue velvet cupcakes and s'mores bars. Take your cake to go at Stick & Pop where flavors such as peanut butter and jelly are served in bite-size spheres on a stick.
Wild West Sweets
In Denver, it's all about wild sweet creations that always leave the customers coming back for more. The Shoppe is a funky full service cereal bar and bakery. Victory, Love & Cookies crafts works of art in the form of cookies. Sweet Action constantly pushes the flavor boundaries of ice cream. And at Sugar Bakeshop you'll find handcrafted sweets made with care.
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.
After School Favorites
Cupcakes, brownies, toaster pastries, ice creams and chocolates -- there's nothing like that sweet treat to snack on when school gets out. These afterschool favorites are breaking all of the traditional rules and winning.
Chicago Sweet Spots
Spend a weekend exploring all that Chicago has to offer. Salted Caramel challenges the idea of what makes for a sweet treat. Lovely Bakeshop is serving a little bit of Southern comfort with homey breakfast pastries. Southport Grocery and Cafe experiments with the best ingredients to create inventive brunch treats. And a small but focused menu at Waffles makes for exciting flavor combinations.
Sweet Peanut
These sweet shops showcase peanut butter in all its versatility and glory. Treats Truck Stop is a kid-friendly neighborhood bakery in Brooklyn. Two Smart Cookies whips up cookies that taste just like home, including the popular peanut butter hideaway. Capital City Bakery is a vegan food truck that spreads joy and peanut butter love all over Austin, Texas. In East Nashville, Pied Piper Creamery has created over a hundred flavors, and those flavored with peanut butter take the cake in terms of creativity.
Sweet Mash-Ups
We take a bite out of some of the sweetest mash-ups in the Big Apple. Dominique Ansel shares his famous Cronut, as well as a new combination of two desserts that defies the laws of physics. At Butter and Scotch, old-fashioned pies and quenching cocktails collide with delicious results and Oddfellows proves that some of the most unique flavors can make ice cream even better.
Grown-Up Goodies
In this episode, childhood treats that are all grown up. In Portland, Ore., an ice cream shop adds cocktails to the mix-ins. In Healdsberg, Calif., the area's bountiful produce finds its way into hyper-seasonal cupcakes. And in New York, chocolate is eaten unroasted and raw, infused with some very sophisticated ingredients.
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.
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.
Big Apple Breakfast
There's no better way to start your day than with one of New York's most unique breakfast treats. At the legendary Doughnut Plant, Mark Isreal makes his signature square doughnuts and his sophisticated alternative to the doughnut hole. At Lafayette, one bite of their luscious creations transports you into a classic French bistro. Then it's off to Wafels & Dinges where they're taking wafels to a whole new level of deliciousness.