The best dessert(s) you've ever had?

Chocolate Upside-Down Cake, a recipe from my husband's aunt. Deep, chocolatey, fudge cake that rises over a molten pool of the most decadent chocolate sauce, as it bakes in the oven. It screams to be served with vanilla ice cream.

MY Carrot Cake. Works well as a sheetcake, a two-layer or cupcakes. Moist, not too spicy nor overly sweet, paired with a walnut cream filling and the de rigueur cream cheese frosting. Toasted coconut as a final garnish(sometimes)

The napoleons at Ponzio's Restaurant in Cherry Hill, NJ.

The Zoo at Farrell's. But I was 10 at the time.

An upscale Chinese place near me makes this interesting and tasty dessert - three different flavors of sherbet (orange, lemon and strawberry) layered in a ball and then covered in white chocolate. I don't often do desserts, but I always order it whenever I'm out at the restaurant.

I live in Vienna, which is pretty much the fine dessert capital of the world (in fact, even the French call the fanciest pastries "Viennoiserie"). So there is so much irresistible stuff, it's a real battle to keep away from it. (On the other hand, when I come back to the States now, I have no trouble avoiding most desserts, because they typically taste too flat and sugary to me.)

For me, apricot strudel with local Wachau apricots, served warm with vanilla sauce or whipped cream, is very close to heaven. Also, there is a layer cake called a Fächertorte at the famous pastry shop Demel that is to die for: three layers of apple, nut, and poppy seed wrapped in a buttery pastry crust (see link). I think I gained half a pound just thinking about it right now.

I once was served "Pavlova," the famed Australian signature dessert, on a warm summer day in Canberra and I still think it was the best dessert I've ever enjoyed.

I had Ben & Jerry's "Holi Cannoli" flavor ice cream just two times before they retired it forever. That was almost 20 years ago but I still long to have it again.

Woops--the pic I posted at r6 is for a different variety. The real Holy Cannoli had pistachio.

A bag of Famous Amos cookies back in the day when Wally Amos was running the show before the corporate sharks took over his company.

A bread pudding souffle with a rum custard sauce at Commander's Palace in New Orleans.

- An incredible apple and maple desert at the Casino in Montreal many years ago.

- My grandma's pumpkin pie. Best in the world.

- A Ghirardelli's hot fudge sundae at Disney World. I nearly peed my pants it was so good.

Don't have much of a sweet tooth so I haven't really had a lot, like never having cream brulee, but the best I ever had was back in the 90's. Supermodels Claudia Schiffer, Elle MacPherson and Naomi Campbell put their name on a restaurant called the "Fashion Cafe". Naomi Campbell had a family dessert which was a pancake with cinnamon ice cream and caramel drizzled over it.

Only had it once, but the absolute best was a piece of chocolate cake at Fogo de Chão Brazilian steakhouse in the early 00s. It was heaven on a plate.

I'm torn on the second best. A great-aunt made some very good pound cake when I was sick as a kid. I think she put cream cheese in it. The other was some packaged Spanish bar cake my ma used to buy.

A chocolate cake made with bitter Valrhona chocolate at the Bofinger brasserie in Paris

Pineapple fritters that my dad would buy me as a child at the local Chinese place.

My mother's Millionaires Shortbread

There used to be this little place in mall food courts called Pennsylvania Dutch that made funnel cakes in a variety of flavors, from strawberry to chocolate to blueberry, you name it. Even though I mostly got the plain, they were the best funnel cakes I've ever had. Wish they were still around.

We once held a Southern Cake cook-off amongst our friends. Somehow all of our stars aligned, there was a perfect humidity/altitude mix, and everyone;s cooking was on point. We had the most amazing coconut cake, red velvet (not the cheap-ass quick chocolate cake with red coloring), lemon chiffon, and a crazy-good jam cake that I would have never tried if I hadn't been told to do so. Nothing has ever rivaled even one of those cakes, much less the AMAZING 3 day weekend we had making and enjoying them.

r12 Are you a Philly guy?

crepe Suzette at this little place in Melbourne, Australia . Quite good indeed!

I've never had a real first rate dessert in the South. Everything tends to be too sweet. For a great cannoli, go to Corbo's Dolceria in Cleveland.

The first time I had tiramisu was over 20 years ago.

I couldn't believe something so delicious existed and I had never had it before.

I have since tried it all over the world, including Italy. The best Tiramisu is found at a French bakery I. Baltimore (and I think they now have a branch in Union station DC--can't recall the name)

Well there's a chocolate burbon pecan pie from a place called I Heart Pies

There's a chocolate salted caramel torte from the baker that works at McCalls Meat and Fish Co.

And there a flourless chocolate torte from a bakery called Proof in Atwater Village in LA.

There's a crepe place in Montreal - Crêperie chez Suzette - and they had a chocolate, banana crepe that was amazing.

I think the all time best pastry was in Italy at a place that isn't even that well rated. I just ended up there. It's called Il Fornaio in Rome. I ordered a few things, randomly - and this tart in the pic was the best thing I ever tasted in my life. It was some kind of berry - like a cherry but not really. The glaze wasn't thick or syrupy.

I'm more of a chocolate person, but that berry thing was unreal. I used to be obsessed w/ the black out cake at the cheesecake factory, despite how basic that sounds - it was so good.

Another vote for pavlova. Homefresh eccles cakes , still slightly warm. In Germany, schneeballs.

Poster upthread - love the flavour texture balance you describe for your signature carrot cake.

The Strawberry Charlotte I had last night at Le Diplomate in DC is a new favorite. I could have eaten it all night.

Momofuku has a famous dessert called crack pie, because it is supposed to be so addictive. I had it once and discovered it was basically a St. Louis gooey butter cake filling on a pie crust. My grandmother's version was so much better, as she incorporated chocolate chips.

I stopped eating desserts long ago except for simple fruit things, but I remember some amazing kid stuff. Carrot birthday cakes from a family friend, my cousin's sticky buns, Swiss Colony Dobosh tortes around the holidays, tin roof sundaes at a place called Mary Coyle's.

Apple Strudel mit schlag at Peter Luger's.

My red currant fool!

Bread pudding. Yum!!

I've had the Creme Brulee at Le Cirque too. It's a real treat.

This bakery near my grandparents in Perth Amboy NJ used to make a simple chocolate layer cake with a whipped cream frosting.. That's it, but somehow it was the most incredible dessert ever.

I remember the Zoo, R2!

I bet we know each other.

I would have to say campfire s'mores

Anything mit schlag -- in Vienna

When I was a kid, there was a chain of restaurants called Besty Ross. I remember they had a chocolate chip malt that I just loved. You would get to the bottom and there would be just a ton of chocolate chips left. One of my favorites.

There was also a place in Ventura, CA that existed for a brief while called Pineapples. We used to drive up there just to get their Pineapple Upside Down cake. It was really good.

There used to be a restaurant and bakery in San Francisco called Blum's. The sundaes were spectacular.

They had one called a Cof-fiesta sundae, made with coffee ice cream, coffee and chocolate syrup, and pieces of coffee crunch candy (also called honeycomb, or sea foam candy, depending on where you're from), all topped with whipped cream. It was heaven.

They also made a coffee crunch cake, which for many years was my annual birthday cake (mom knew enough to stay out of the kitchen and take us out for birthday dinners, followed by coffee and cake at home). It's possible to make it, but it's a lot of work, and easy to screw up (voice of experience here).

HOWEVER - if you are in San Francisco, there is a little bakery in Japantown, Yasukochi's Sweet Stop inside the Super Mira Market, that still makes the cake, and you can special-order one from a baker in Los Angeles, Valerie Confections. Those of us transplanted San Franciscans living in the east, however, are out of luck.

Apple Tarte Tatin at the French Laundry was a very close second to my grandmother's peach cobbler. She made it for my birthday every year until she died at age 95.

The Jamie Oliver Choclate Tart that I made a couple of years ago. Google the recipe.

I'm usually disappointed by desserts in restaurants in cafes. They look just great but also taste so ordinary. Has anyone else noticed this?

Talenti pistachio gelato, insanely delicious.

R21, i think those are "visciole": a kind of cherry often used in italian desserts

r38 Might also be an amarena.

I made a layer cake with carob butter honey icing from a Gourmet Magazine recipe in the 70s, when i was in HS.

I made it a few times. It was the bomb.

Recipe lost to time.

My aunt Mildred's Southern layer cake. At least 10 layers, usually more. With boiled chocolate icing. This NYT article sums them up nicely. My moms family was from close by too, but in Georgia.

(We've done this thread before and someone lost their shit about boiled chocolate icing.)

Another vote for Vienna. 40 years ago there was a wonderful restaurant in the park just down from the Prater. These ancient old waiters served Birne Helene with pears and ice cream, Dutch chocolate sauce, brandy and whipped cream. Part of it was the dignity of the old waiters, but most of it was because every ingredient was absolutely fresh and of the highest quality. We went back 4 days in a row.

Runner up was some toasted sesame gelato in Cologne, Germany. I can't pass a gelato store without reading all the tags on the chance sesame is one of their flavors.

My adopted Brazilian mom makes two great desserts in Rio. Creme de Mamão is one. Takes chunks of red papaya called Mamão and blend it with vanilla ice cream til smooth and then drizzle in cups with creme de Cassis liqueur. The other is a mousse torte made from passion fruit. Both are refreshingly delicious.

Is this not the correct answer?

The Coconut Cake at Smith & Wollensky in Chicago is ridiculously wondeful as is the Coffee Eclair at Patisserie Valerie in London (SoHo).

The best dessert I've eaten lately was a Chocolate Mousse at this just barely okay restaurant on St. Barts. Mediocre prix fixe lunch followed by the most delicious Mousse ever......I still think about it's awesomeness.

Cranachan - raspberries layered with toasted oats, cream, whisky, honey. Truly delicious.

I find the humblebrag tart of R45 a bit too rich, heavy.

Oh mystery solved...I wondered what those were forever. It seems like all the recipes come up in Italian & the Williams Sonoma page has a recipe, but it says they mostly grow in Rome. I've never seen them here. They weren't that tart from what I remember. It was a perfect balance of sweet and tart...That pic is two years ago but I still know exactly what it tasted like. I like grapes & cherries - and it was sort of a hybrid. I have another pic of me stuffing a canoli in my face at the same restaurant.

I lost 5-10 lbs before Italy so I could gain it back there. I doubt I'd ever go back - the whole thing was insanely expensive. But, the food was incredible (with some research on where to eat).

I love Marie Callender's fruit pies. Stop in every now and then for an apple, boysenberry, or cherry.

I've never had a pecan pie better than my mom could make.

Uncomplicated desserts are usually the best, I find.

Tiramisu at some Manhattan restaurant. I ate two of them because it was just sooo good.

R40 Could this be the frosting? Did you try emailing Gourmet about the recipe? I had an amazing recipe for chocolate cake from a very old copy of Redbook magazine (1980) that I found in my parent's basement. Lost the magazine during a move, so I emailed them back in 2006, and they found it and sent it to me.

Jellied apricots in dark chocolate sauce.

The dish looked like fried eggs post-Armageddon.

There was a lovely gooey sweetness that didn't linger, different textures, and a true chocolate taste without the ACK! properties of milk chocolate.

Crate and barrel came close to the taste, but the chocolate was too bland.

Sticky Toffee Pudding at a restaurant in Hong Kong many years ago. Chef was a young Brit ex-pat.

My entree was passable but his dessert pudding was exceptionally good! Still remember it two decades later.

Thanks R51 that was kind of you!

I flew to Amsterdam once, and after an overnight flight and not eating for about 15 hours I bought a cup of coffee and a piece of chocolate cake from a stand outside the train station. It was the richest cake I've ever eaten. Incredibly moist, loaded with Dark Dutch chocolate, and still warm from the oven. Combined with the coffee it was like mainlining heroin. Actual waves of euphoria and pleasure hit me to the point where I had to sit down. I have never had a physical and mental reaction like that from food before or since. I promptly bought a 2nd and then a 3rd trying to recapture that high, but of course I couldn't do it.

If you ever doubt that chocolate is a drug, find that little coffee bar and have the cake.

Oh I know that feeling! An ice-cream soda will do it for me.

My pleasure, R54 :) I hope you're able to find the whole cake recipe!

R55 Sounds pretty good!

Two stand out in my mind: A vanilla cake I had at Harry's Bar in Venice, and a Passionfruit soufflé I had at L'Orangerie in Los Angeles.

R6 Ben and Jerry's is making Cannoli ice cream again. I don't know for how long, though.

I wish they'd bring Boston Cream Pie back. I was addicted to that back in 2009.

The first time I visited my sister in NYC, I had tiramisu. I had never tasted something so delicious before.

I also remember having a cake that was one layer chocolate cake, one layer mousse, and one layer cheese cake, with a thin spread of raspberry in between two layers. I’ve never seen that cake again although I’ve searched my life for it

[Quote] I love Marie Callender's fruit pies.

The problem is the frozen Marie Callender pies found in the store don’t have much fruit

Decades ago, when I was a poor student, I went to the Getty Museum. At lunch I saw that the cheesecake was an outrageous $5/ slice. I decided to splurge and buy a slice. It was so delicious, I got a second.

$10 was a lot 30 years ago

Pastries and fruit tarts from Patisserie Dumas in NYC back in the '70s.

A trip to France proved to me that any “French” dessert in the US doesn’t even come close to how scrumptious the real thing is.

I gained 5 lbs in Paris

A tres leches cake at a small restaurant in San Juan, PR.

A caramel (dulce de leche) cream pie served at a home cooking cafe in my town.

Russian milk ice cream with chocolate shavings or berry jam. Or just the regular plombir or eskimo ice creams. Say what you want about Russia but their ice cream is the very best.

In love and in Venice for the first time. Ordered strawberries for dessert and got a small bowl of the sweetest wild strawberries with a squeeze of lemon on top.

R58 bump bitch. R67, Russian ice cream, really?

R69, yes, Russian ice cream is delicious. You can taste the natural ingredients. It has this pure, full, wholesome taste. Try it if you can - there are many Russian food stores in the US, especially in NY.

A chocolate macaron the size of my palm with chocolate cream filling, at a patisserie in France. 5€

sigh.

This thread should have been titled Fat Whores Reminisce!!

I just ate frozen key lime pie. Jealous bitches???

Melania’s pussy

My ex-wife’s sister-in-law used to bring her specialty Charlotte Russe dessert to family gatherings. Chilled. Not a cream. Not a pudding. Delicate vanilla flavor. Melt in your mouth.

Best dessert I ever had.

After the divorce. After coming out. I still miss those.