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  3. America's Best Regional Desserts

America's Best Regional Desserts

By Food & Wine
Updated June 13, 2016
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Credit: Photo courtesy of The Varsity
You can get molten chocolate cake anywhere in the U.S., from Washington state to Maine, but good luck finding a fried peach pie in New York or kuchen in Key West. Despite the widespread availability of many foods across America, some dessert traditions remain hyper-regional. —Siobhan Wallace
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The Brown Derby Grapefruit Cake

Credit: Photo courtesy of Valerie Confections

The heyday of Hollywood's Brown Derby restaurant may be over, but its signature Grapefruit Cake has been revived by the terrific Los Angeles bakery Valerie Confections in Silver Lake. Owner Valerie Gordon frosts layers of citrus-scented cake with cream cheese buttercream perfumed with grapefruit zest and tops it with fresh grapefruit segments and pieces of candied grapefruit. valerieconfections.com

  • America's Wacky Fair Foods

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Shave Ice

Credit: Photo © Nina Kuna

A specialty of Hawaii, shave ice is shaved from blocks of ice and topped with Day Glo syrups and Asian toppings, like sweet red adzuki beans and chewy mochi balls made from rice flour. In Lahaina, Ululani’s shave ice is so fine that it recalls a sorbet; toppings range from fresh fruit to tapioca pearls in coconut milk. ululanisshaveice.com

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Coca-Cola Cake

Credit: Photo © Ben Johnson

From the soft drink's hometown of Atlanta comes this unique dessert—a layer cake that gets its extra-light texture (and caramel color) from the effervescent soda added to the batter. At the popular all-day spot West Egg Café, Coca-Cola cupcakes and cakes are served with Coke-flavored frosting and topped with bottle-shaped gummies. westeggcafe.com

  • Amazing Layer Cakes

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Black-and-White Cookies

Credit: Photo courtesy of William Greenberg Jr. Desserts

Whether prepackaged at a bodega or freshly baked, the cakey, oversize cookie—covered with white fondant on one half and chocolate on the other—is sold throughout NYC. The origins have been linked to glazed Amerikaner cookies in Germany and Halfmoon cookies topped with chocolate frosting and vanilla buttercream at Hemstrought's Bakery in Utica, NY (available only by phone order). In New York City, a great stop for black-and-whites is William Greenberg Desserts, which has been baking the cookies on the Upper East Side since 1946.

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Frozen Custard

Credit: Photo courtesy of Kopp’s

Frozen custard is available in pockets throughout the country (including Shake Shack locations along the East Coast), but Milwaukee joints like Kopp’s made the egg-enriched soft-serve ice cream famous. In addition to classic vanilla and chocolate, the sleek fast food spot’s bow-tied staff pump specialty flavors like chocolate chip cookie dough and peach melba, and they also make indulgent sundaes, such as a tiramisu version with espresso custard, hot fudge and bits of ladyfingers. kopps.com

  • America's Best Apple Pies

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Boston Cream Pie

Credit: Photo courtesy of Flour Bakery

Massachusetts's official state dessert isn't a pie at all. It traditionally features layers of sponge cake and vanilla custard, all covered in chocolate ganache. At Flour Bakery in Boston's South End, star pastry chef Joanne Chang updates the classic by brushing each cake layer with robust coffee syrup before adding an ethereal pastry cream. flourbakery.com

  • Boston Travel Guide

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Pączki

Credit: Photo courtesy of Mayor Karen Majewski

Fluffy pączki doughnuts are made with a rich yeast dough and contain more eggs, butter, and sugar than American doughnuts. They’re found in Polish neighborhoods like the Detroit suburb of Hamtramck, which hosts a pre-Lent Pączki Day each year. Coinciding with Fat Tuesday, the celebrations result in lines at pączki-makers like New Martha Washington Bakery, where the doughnuts are filled with custard or fruit jams like raspberry and apricot.

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Kuchen

Credit: Photo courtesy of H2M

North Dakota’s large German community still enjoys kuchen, which translates to “cake” in German but has morphed into a pie-like dessert, often filled with local apples and berries. At Kroll’s Diner in Fargo, the crust is topped with thick custard and whipped cream.

  • America's Best Apple Pies

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Bananas Foster

Credit: Photo courtesy of Brennan’s.

New Orleans’s iconic dessert of bananas flambéed in cinnamon, sugar, banana liqueur and rum is still best at Brennan’s, the place where it originated 60 years ago. The fiery ceremonial preparation is as famous as the dish itself: Waiters ignite the alcohol-covered bananas tableside and top the gooey result with vanilla ice cream. brennansneworleans.com

  • Amazing Bananas Recipes

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Moravian Sugar Cake

Credit: Photo © Jay Sinclair

Moravians emigrating from what is now the Czech Republic settled in Old Salem, NC, over 250 years ago. They brought this streusel sugar cake—which is often served in North Carolina for dessert, especially around Christmas—with them. The version sold at Winkler’s is a dense, dimply cinnamon-yeast cake baked with a crunchy brown-sugar topping. Winkler’s, 527 S. Main St.; 336-721-7302.

  • More Cake Recipes

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Hoosier Sugar Cream Pie

Credit: Photo © Markus Rae Photography Huntington, IN

Created by Indiana’s Quaker community, Hoosier Sugar Cream Pie combines a traditional crust with a firm, custardy filling made with heavy cream, vanilla and flour. At Nick’s Kitchen, a black-and-red diner in Huntington, the pie is sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar so the top becomes beautifully caramelized. nickskitchen.net

  • Pies and Tarts

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Huguenot Torte

Credit: Photo courtesy of Middleton Place Restaurant, Charleston, SC

Far-removed from any European torte, this low-country, meringue-like cake with apples, walnuts and lots of sugar is popular in South Carolina, where it first turned up in print via the local Junior League cookbook Charleston Receipts. According to the New York Times, the creator named the supersweet concoction after a restaurant where she worked (not after the Huguenots, who were French Protestants). At Middleton Place Restaurant in Charleston, each serving is topped with a mound of fresh whipped cream. middletonplace.org

  • Delicious Ice Cream Recipes

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Whoopie Pies

Credit: Photo courtesy of Labadie’s Bakery

Maine residents and the Pennsylvania Dutch both claim to have invented the whoopie pie—a chocolate cake sandwich filled with vanilla frosting—but only Maine named it the “official state treat” in 2011. What sets Maine’s whoopies apart is their immense, often knife-and-fork-worthy size. At Labadie’s Bakery, founded in 1925, the whoopies feature a thick, shortening-based filling and come in sizes ranging from five to 16 inches in diameter. The no-frills shop opens on weekdays only, from 6 a.m. to noon. labadiesbakery.com

  • America's Wacky Fair Foods

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Key Lime Pie

Credit: Photo courtesy of Key West Key Lime Pie Company

his south Florida classic is made from exceedingly tart and aromatic key limes, condensed milk and egg yolks, with a graham-cracker crust. Key West Key Lime Pie Co. coats the entire pie in soft meringue; the recipe beat Bobby Flay’s attempt in an episode of Food Network’s Throwdown. keywestkeylimepieco.com

  • Miami Travel Guide

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Shoofly Pie

Credit: Photo courtesy of Beiler’s Bakery

The Pennsylvania Dutch created gooey shoofly pie with a sweet egg-and-molasses filling that's topped with brown-sugar-and-butter crumbs. The name supposedly arose from the way this sticky-sweet dessert is prone to attract flies. Philadelphia's Reading Terminal Market has a beloved Amish bakery counter called Beiler's that sells exceptional shoofly pies. Beiler’s, Reading Terminal Market; 215-351-0735.

  • Pies and Tarts

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Fried Pies

Credit: Photo courtesy of The Varsity

Located on two acres in downtown Atlanta, the Varsity is the world’s largest drive-in and a preeminent pusher of fried pie, an addictive hand-held dessert popular in the South. Pockets of dough are filled with peaches or apples, deep-fried and stuffed into paper sleeves. The resulting half-moon has a crunchy, golden exterior and gooey fruit inside. thevarsity.com

  • Atlanta Travel Guide

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1 of 16 The Brown Derby Grapefruit Cake
2 of 16 Shave Ice
3 of 16 Coca-Cola Cake
4 of 16 Black-and-White Cookies
5 of 16 Frozen Custard
6 of 16 Boston Cream Pie
7 of 16 Pączki
8 of 16 Kuchen
9 of 16 Bananas Foster
10 of 16 Moravian Sugar Cake
11 of 16 Hoosier Sugar Cream Pie
12 of 16 Huguenot Torte
13 of 16 Whoopie Pies
14 of 16 Key Lime Pie
15 of 16 Shoofly Pie
16 of 16 Fried Pies

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America's Best Regional Desserts
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