{"id":214156,"date":"2026-04-29T15:32:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T15:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/214156\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T15:32:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T15:32:10","slug":"nycs-funkiest-desserts-to-delight-the-senses-from-24-layer-pickle-cake-to-chocolate-plant-soil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/214156\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC’s funkiest desserts to delight the senses, from 24-layer pickle cake to chocolate \u2018plant soil\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summer in the Big Apple is right around the corner, and after a punishing winter with arctic temperatures and record-breaking storms, nothing sounds better than ending a fun day in the sun with a sweet treat<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But rather than a typical Mister Softee cone, NYC dessert shops are offering a slew of jaw-dropping, out-there desserts<\/a> that will have tourists and locals licking their lips \u2014 or maybe pursing them in confusion.<\/p>\n

From a towering 24-layer pickle cake to an interactive potted plant dessert that diners \u201cwater\u201d with a can of milk tea, former pastry chef at Eleven Madison Park and owner of Lolo\u2019s Pastry<\/a>, Lauren Day, told The Post that these trending treats \u2014 which often appear to be designed for social media as much as to titillate taste buds \u2014 are \u201ca reflection of where we are right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSocial media has changed how people experience food \u2014 it\u2019s not just about taste anymore,\u201d said Day. \u201cIt\u2019s about the full experience: how it looks, how it feels, and how shareable it is \u2026 Honestly, I don\u2019t think that\u2019s a bad thing. New York has always thrived on being over-the-top, creative and a little unexpected.\u201d<\/p>\n

Day emphasized that while an eye-catching sweet treat that has gone viral online can \u201cabsolutely take a bakery from being completely unknown to having a line out the door every weekend,\u201d getting people to come in once and converting them to loyal customers are \u201ctwo totally different things.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe focus still has to be on flavor and technique,\u201d said Day. \u201cPeople might try something because it looks wild or different, but they\u2019ll only come back if it actually tastes good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Below, feast your eyes on five unexpected desserts that are sure to tickle your taste buds \u2014 and sweeten up your social media feeds.<\/p>\n

Maison Pickle, 24-layer Pickle Cake<\/p>\n

As if a restaurant moniker like Maison Pickle<\/a> isn\u2019t out-there enough, this 24-layer pickle-fueled<\/a> culinary creation may just take the, well, cake. The Upper West Side establishment\u2019s signature dessert features two dozen layers of the creamy green frosting \u2014 complete with tiny chunks of pickle rind \u2014 and is topped with a garnish of sliced pickles.<\/p>\n

As to why Chef Jacob Hadjigeorgis<\/a> decided to make the cake 24 layers, he told The Post it hits the \u201csweet spot\u201d in respect to both structure and taste.<\/p>\n

Pickle lovers will get a kick out of Maison Pickle\u2019s 24-layer pickle cake. <\/p>\n

\u201cThin, even layers give you the perfect balance of cake and frosting, and structurally it holds up the way we need it to,\u201d said Hadjigeorgis. \u201cIt\u2019s precious like 24k gold and it\u2019s the kind of dessert you can keep coming back to every hour of the day. And let\u2019s be honest \u2014 26 would start to feel a little ridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Maison Pickle team went through three iterations of the cake \u2014 adding more and more pickles each time \u2014 before officially adding it to their menu.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe pushed it a little further each time until it clicked,\u201d said Hadjigeorgis. \u201cWe landed on a balance where the pickle shows up, but the vanilla keeps it smooth and approachable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sam Goldberg, who runs the NYC food-centric Instagram page @respectthechain<\/a>, recently reviewed the wacky dessert, giving it two thumbs up.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s got that texture and feel of a sweet cornbread and then it\u2019s like, you put a pickle on top of the cornbread \u2014 it really works,\u201d Goldberg said in the vid.<\/a> \u201cIt\u2019s actually really good. It\u2019s very sweet, which I love.\u201d<\/p>\n

A slice of the sweet yet tangy treat will cost curious diners $18 \u2014 though a full cake of the stuff rings in at a whopping $165.<\/p>\n

Papa D\u2019Amour, Butter Vanilla Soft Serve<\/p>\n

Butter? Good. Ice cream? Even better. Ice cream dipped in butter? Apparently, it\u2019s a Big Apple warm-weather hit.<\/p>\n

Created by Chef Dominique Ansel<\/a> (who runs Dominique Ansel Bakery<\/a> and Papa D\u2019Amour<\/a>), the inspiration for it came after he and his partner took their young children to France for the first time last spring. During this trip, they visited the Isigny Ste. M\u00e8re farm in Normandy, where their bakery sources all the butter for their croissants and viennoiserie (French baked goods that lie somewhere between bread and pastry).\u00a0<\/p>\n

This butter vanilla soft serve is the perfect decadent treat for when the temps get warm. Papa D’Amour<\/p>\n

Being that the butter is of such high quality and allows Ansel\u2019s staff to give their croissants a \u201cbeautiful, flaky texture and flavor\u201d \u2014 along with a desire to create something new for summertime \u2014 Ansel decided to dip their homemade vanilla bean soft serve into a thin layer of the French butter. And thus, Papa D\u2019Amour\u2019s Butter Vanilla Soft Serve was born.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe make the soft serve in small batches, so we\u2019ll usually cap it around 100 a day to maintain quality,\u201d Ansel told The Post. \u201c(With) the nice balance of creamy and smooth, lightly sweet and salty, it works really nicely together.\u201d<\/p>\n

The $9.50 ice cream, which is topped with fleur de sel French sea salt and has a little mochi at the bottom of the cone, first went viral last August when it was released, but is still a New Yorker favorite, perhaps unexpectedly.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a lot better than I thought it would be,\u201d Sabrina Carey, who runs the Instagram page @fooodforfooodies<\/a>, said in a vid<\/a> posted in October of last year. \u201cThis is actually delicious. The butter gives it a salty taste. And the fact that this makes it a shell really makes it good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other taste testers were more bewildered and not so impressed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI actually really liked it, but the first bite or two had a little too much butter for my liking. It was super rich, and honestly unlike any ice cream I had ever tried before,\u201d Grant Willian, who goes by @grantwillian<\/a> on Instagram, told The Post. \u201cThe vanilla soft serve felt premium, but the cone itself was pretty standard. The mochi at the bottom was a great touch.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a completely normal cone,\u201d Willian told his followers in a more recent vid<\/a> of himself trying the treat. \u201cIt\u2019s like bougie Dairy Queen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chim Chim NYC, Sliced Butterfly Pea Jelly Pie<\/p>\n

Butterfly pea, a pantropical plant found in Southeast Asia, is more often used in high-end cocktails due to its brilliant natural blue dye. But seeing the blue hue in a pie \u2014 which Natthaya (Aing) Wongsamphan makes at Chim Chim NYC<\/a> \u2014 is a sweet shock to the system.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur family visits Thailand every summer because we want our children exposed to the culture and food,\u201d Wongsamphan told The Post. \u201cOn our last trip in summer 2025, we did some experiments by making tea from dried butterfly pea flower, and I carefully grew the recipe for each layer (of the pie) from that point.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pie\u2019s five components are coconut meat sauce, butterfly pea sponge cake, coconut meat butterfly pea jelly, coconut fresh cream, and, of course, a buttered cracker crust. Wongsamphan shared that each layer requires separate preparation and has a different, distinct flavor and texture.<\/p>\n

The jelly pie is a visual feast for sweet-toothed customers. @chimchimnyc\/instagram<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole process for one batch usually takes me two days, starting from prepping the pie crust to finishing the cream,\u201d Wongsamphan said.<\/p>\n

The price for just one slice is $14 before tax. While Wongsamphan admits it\u2019s on the expensive side, she chalked it up to the extensive labor involved in preparing it and the imported ingredients from Thailand.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was so different but in a good way!\u201d Sydney Zandi, who filmed herself<\/a> trying a slice of the pie on her Instagram page @moan.appetit<\/a>, told The Post. \u201cThe different textures and flavors were also so unique on their own, but combined it was really something amazing. I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever tasted anything like that before, in both texture and taste.\u201d<\/p>\n

Salswee Bakery, Fruit Mousse Cakes<\/p>\n

The petite fruit-shaped desserts at Salswee<\/a> \u2014 a French-Asian bakery located on Fifth Avenue in NYC \u2014 are nothing short of mesmerizing. While the culinary team affectionately refers to them by the fruits they resemble (they call the one that looks like a banana, \u201cbanana\u201d), their technical terms are \u201cfruit-shaped pastries\u201d or \u201cfruit mousse cakes,\u201d and are filled with real fruit compote.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe inspiration was born out of a desire to create something that is not only delicious but visually striking, bringing a sense of hyper-realistic art into the pastry case,\u201d the Salswee team told The Post.<\/p>\n

While the techniques required to achieve the hyper-realistic look and perfect texture are highly intricate and complex and remain \u201ca closely guarded house secret,\u201d Salswee was proud to share that the IRL demand for the viral treat has been \u201cincredibly exciting for our team\u201d \u2014 and that they typically sell a whopping 600 pastries a day.<\/p>\n

Customers can\u2019t get enough of these fun fruit cakes. @salswee\/Instagram<\/p>\n

\u201cThe viral success on platforms like TikTok and Instagram was beautifully organic,\u201d the Salswee team told The Post. \u201cWe actually didn\u2019t partner with any influencers in the beginning. Because of the desserts\u2019 unique and playful appearance, they naturally captured attention online. People are instinctively drawn to how they look, which naturally translates into organic shares online and increased foot traffic in the store.\u201d<\/p>\n

The small desserts, which range from $6.95 and $11.95 in price, have indeed captured the palettes of Gothamites and tourists.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s only the first dessert and I understand the hype already,\u201d British digital creator Joshua Kirby<\/a> recently posted on Instagram<\/a> as he ranked different variations. \u201cEating fruits has never been so fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTell me those are not the prettiest fruit pastries you\u2019ve ever seen,\u201d Adreyel Eats<\/a> captioned an Instagram video<\/a> of himself trying different variations this January.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat mousse is delightful \u2014 one of the best things I\u2019ve tried,\u201d he shared in the vid when trying the mango-shaped dessert. \u201cFor sweets, absolutely. Mango, ten out of ten.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spot Dessert Bar, Plant Dessert <\/p>\n

Greenery or gourmet? With this dessert that comes in the form of a potted plant, Spot Dessert Bar <\/a>diners can be the judge. The multi-location bakery has sold the dessert, which is built in layers to mimic the classic piece of porch decor, for over 10 years, where it has remained one of the bar\u2019s most hot-ticket items. Staff estimates they sell between 500 and 600 \u201cplants\u201d per week.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt typically includes Oreo \u2018soil\u2019 crumble, whipped cream, chiffon cake, strawberries, and edible \u2018plant\u2019 details like parsley,\u201d the Spot Dessert Bar team told The Post. \u201cEach component is made separately and then carefully assembled to create both the visual effect and a balanced bite when you dig all the way through.\u201d<\/p>\n

To enjoy the culinary creation, guests water the plant with milk tea and then dig in to enjoy all the layers together, making it a \u201creally interactive experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spot Dessert Bar\u2019s plant dessert is a fun, interactive treat for customers. @spotdessertbar<\/p>\n

The dessert, which is priced around $15, is shareable (in line with Spotless\u2019 tapas-style concept) and \u201chas become especially popular for catering and events because of how fun and visually striking it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMany guests also say it brings back a sense of nostalgia, reminiscent of classic dirt-and-gummy-worm desserts, but with a more elevated twist,\u201d said Spot Dessert Bar staff.<\/p>\n

In July of 2025, Instagram user @staseatsstuff<\/a> posted a video<\/a> where he tried the viral art-turned-food experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey served us a POTTED PLANT,\u201d he captioned the vid.<\/p>\n

\u201cLoved visiting this place when I lived in the East Village,\u201d said one commenter.<\/p>\n

\u201cTHE SPOT for a sweet treat!\u201d @staseatsstuff replied.<\/p>\n

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