Nothing competes with going out for a delicious meal—except when that delicious meal is topped off with a mind-blowing dessert. If you’ve got a sweet tooth, these great eateries in Pennsylvania will certainly satisfy. From multi-tiered banana chocolate chip cake to heavenly cream puffs, here are the 10 best places for dessert in the state.
You would expect superb French cuisine at an authentic French restaurant and you’d be correct at the renowned Townsend in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The former row house that is home to one of the city’s best haute cuisine features a selection of amazing courses like broiled East Coast oysters with fennel, spinach, bacon, and Pernod cream, and seared moulard duck with foie gras, toasted farro risotto, Brussels sprouts, and red wine Salmis. But no meal would be complete without dessert and the chocolate soufflé is a must and not to be missed. Open every day except Tuesday, reservations are highly encouraged.
Appropriately named for their memorable apple walnut pie, the Apple Walnut Café in Broomall, Pennsylvania, has been serving up this little slice of heaven from a true from-scratch kitchen for over 54 years. Featured in many publications over the years and on “Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives,” visitors can look forward to other sweet treats like devil’s food chocolate fudge cake, Jewish apple cake, and orange crunch cake. Get your favorite dessert, but better get there before the kitchen closes at 2:30 p.m. every day.
There’s an old saying that we should eat to live, not live to eat, but it’s hard to keep that in mind when you visit the New American Bistro in Folsom, Pennsylvania. With delicious desserts like their famous apple and cranberry pie topped with ice cream, whipped cream, and fresh berries, the red velvet cake, or melt-in-your-mouth brownies, you may have to rethink your reason for eating dessert. Monday is the only day you can’t get your favorite dessert, so better stop by another day of the week and stock up!
Cafes are often known for their coffee and breakfast and lunch combos, but some stand out among the rest. Café Moulin, located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, offers great coffee and lattes with free refills, friendly and helpful servers, and a unique and fun atmosphere. Serving sweet and savory crepes, you’ll find it hard not to have favorites like the Tivoli made with fresh mozzarella, baby spinach, and sun-dried tomato pesto or the Alaskan, with smoked salmon, spinach, avocado and sun-dried tomato pesto. Sweet crepes like the Super Belgium made of a cookie spread with dark chocolate, banana, and strawberry, or the Walnut Street with brie, walnut granola, and a butter, maple, and salted caramel drizzle will have you craving dessert all day long seven days a week.
What could be better than a new tradition involving chic designs and gourmet desserts? The Baker’s Table in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, is so much more than another bakery or café. It’s a hidden gem of deliciousness. Housed in the original Lancaster Cork Works factory, the Baker’s Table is synonymous with creativity, versatility, and great taste. Bringing together sweetness from all around the world, you can dine in or take out specialties like the Tandy Cake, a three-layered vanilla cake with peanut butter mousse, iced with peanut butter buttercream icing, and a drizzle of chocolate ganache, or the three-layer banana chocolate chip cake filled with peanut butter mousse, buttercream icing, and chocolate curls. The only problem you’ll have is choosing what to eat there and what to take home. Open seven days a week for your sweet indulgences.
Miller’s is a Pennsylvania Dutch restaurant located in Ronks that’s been serving old-world comfort food with a smile for almost 90 years. Using local ingredients to make the popular buffet items like chicken and waffles, roasted beef, breast of turkey, meatloaf, fried chicken, and all the fixings, the desserts abound and include everything from cherry pie to baked apples. There’s no doubt as to the star of the show, however, it’s the chocolate pecan pie. Open every day.
Vegan Treats in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, is an award-winning gourmet dessert bakery. Named one of the “Top Ten Bakeries in the World” by American Express, they offer plant-based treats that will change your mind about what dessert should taste like. For over 15 years, owner Danielle Konya has been working to make the best cakes around, vegan or otherwise. Open every day except Sunday, stop by and taste the delightful difference at Vegan Treats.
Finding an authentic Cajun eatery in Pennsylvania may seem unlikely, but that’s exactly what you’ll find at Marty’s Blue Room in Nanticoke. Influenced by the flavor combinations created by the international cuisines that make up Cajun and Creole foods, Marty’s Blue Room brings New Orleans to the North in a big way. Some of the entrees featured there include salmon with craisins in a dark rum sauce, southern fried catfish, Cajun shrimp & pasta, and cattleman’s cut Cajun ribs. And don’t leave without trying the house dessert—a puffed pastry stuffed with vanilla ice cream and topped with hot fudge! Open Wednesday through Saturday.
Janina’s Bakery & Café in York, Pennsylvania, is a family-owned establishment with a secret. That secret is pastry chef, Janina Turziak. With a love of baking that spans over 20 years, Janina takes sweet treats to another level with her experience with cakes, mousses, ganaches, cream puffs, and more. Closed Sunday and Monday, you can stop by and enjoy locally-sourced and organic meals that feature eggs, fresh baked breads, Applewood smoked bacon or turkey bacon, or something from the griddle like classic buttermilk pancakes. In addition to cookies, Danish, and fruit tarts, specialty cakes include mouth-watering favorites like the Black Forest chocolate cake with cherry liqueur, whipped cream, topped with cherry and chocolate shavings or the famous Opera Cake—an almond cake brushed with coffee extract, ganache, and coffee buttercream icing. Are you hungry yet?
You’ll fall in love with the place the moment you step through the door. With the aroma of Asian cuisine teasing you, you’ll find the exotic music and eclectic surroundings engaging you to enter another world. With a menu that features foods from China, Thailand, Korea, Japan, and other countries, your visit to Soba in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, will be more of a journey than a stopover. Everything on the menu will please your palate, including the desserts served there. Try the frozen cashew terrine with chocolate ganache, raspberry-mango coulis, and candied cashews or their famous banana split. There’s nothing simple about this favorite, made with three different ice creams, banana cake, and bruléed bananas. You’ll never see dessert the same.