Desserts

If You Were Only Allowed Five Unhealthy Foods...

What would they be? It would be extremely difficult for me to whittle the choices down to just five, but let's play this sadistic little game, for the hell of it. Here come my death-defying picks: *Vanilla ice cream. Even from a fast-food chain. I'd add lots and lots of rainbow sprinkles, but tha ... More >>

Is There a Pastry Chef in the House?

I've been tasting a lot of desserts lately that are sloppy and off-key, that don't quite make sense, that look and taste lazy or rushed. In each case, the kitchen lacked a pastry chef. Dessert is an essential part of a great restaurant meal, but too many kitchens in New York seem to be operating w ... More >>

Get The Scoop

A sweet alternative to brunch

5 Pies to Stuff Yourself Silly on Today, a/k/a National Pie Day

Lauren ShockeyNorth End Grill puts out a fine lemon meringue pie​Today is National Pie Day, woot woot. While Fork in the Road believes that this holiday should really coincide with the other Pi Day (March 14), any day that celebrates the bounty of baked, filled pastries is still pretty damn a ... More >>

Fat Pants Friday Says 'The End' With Amy's Bread's Monkey Cake

Rebecca Marx​ Because this is the very last Fat Pants Friday installment I'll ever write (not counting, of course, this morning's regurgitation of my all-time favorites), I spent a fair amount of time trying to decide how to best consume my last professionally-mandated serving of simple carboh ... More >>

Epicurious Perpetuates Macaron/Macaroon Confusion

jchong/FlickrQu'est que c'est?​ Epicurious has added its two cents to the ever growing list of year-end lists with a fun roster of Food Trend Predictions for 2011. Among them are food halls, pop-up cafés, tiki bar cocktails, foraging, sweet potatoes, and macaroons. Or macarons.

Shut Your Piehole! Desserts (Other Than Pie) That Deserve to Be the Next Big Trend

Gourmet​ Over the past several weeks, pie has been repeatedly touted as the next big trend in desserts. Yes, it's time for the cupcake to disappear within Dante's Third Circle of Hell, but is pie, America's iconic diner food, worthy of being the next big trend? No, and here's why.

William Greenberg's Black and White Cookies: As Good As You've Heard

​I'd heard a lot about the black and white cookies at William Greenberg's Desserts--they're often found on lists of the best black and white cookies in NYC. But I don't often make it to the Upper East Side, so when I ran across William Greenberg on the way to pay-what-you-can night at the Whit ... More >>

Chatting With the Treats Truck's Kim Ima: Food TV, Cops Who Like Cookies, and Three-Card Monte

Copyright the Treats TruckKim Ima and a caramel cream sandwich payload.​When she first hit the road in the Treats Truck in 2007, Kim Ima was one of the very first of the new wave of so-called fancy food trucks. Selling homey, retro desserts under the motto of "Not too fancy, always delicious," ... More >>

Timmy O's Is Beloved by Foodies. So Where Are the Crowds?

Ken MaldonadoTim O'Leary keeps watch over the sidewalk outside his shop.​On a recent Sunday evening, a teenager came into Timmy O's Frozen Custard and waited nervously by the door. When owner Timmy O'Leary offered him a custard sample, he declined, opting for a cheeseburger. Another young guy ... More >>

Chatting With The Big Gay Ice Cream Truck's Doug Quint: Keeping Cool, Neil Gaiman, and a New Golden Girls-Inspired Flavor

Donny TsangDoug Quint plies his wares.​Yesterday, we spoke with Doug Quint, the endlessly amiable co-proprietor of the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck. Today, our conversation continues, as Quint enlightens us about staying cool, Neil Gaiman's ice cream cone, and his newest Golden Girls-inspired creat ... More >>

Battle of the East Village Vegan Ice Creams: Stogo v. Lula's Sweet Apothecary

Lula's cone, with peanut butter fudge on top, Drumstick on the bottom.​ Last week, Battle of the Dishes turned its attentions to the newfangled popsicle. This week, with the heat of August still bearing down upon us, we travel to the East Village to explore another corner of the frozen treats ... More >>

Chatting With The Big Gay Ice Cream Truck's Doug Quint: Ice Cream Turf Wars, Flirtatious Customers, and His New Go-Gos-Penned Jingle

The Big Gay Ice Cream TruckDoug Quint, spreading the love.​While certain ice cream truck drivers may be driven to combative extremes, you will never catch Doug Quint complaining about his job. And how could he? As the co-proprietor (with his partner, Bryan Petroff) of the Big Gay Ice Cream Tru ... More >>

Bodega Frozen Treats

King Cone by Good Humor​Sometimes you want a roasted plum People's Pop, but other times you'd just rather stuff your face in a junky sugar-bomb from Good Humor. Any old bodega is likely to have a long, low cooler filled with all sorts of cheap frozen treats--reach in, and what you come up wi ... More >>

Spot's Condensed Milk Ice Cream with Nata de Coco

​It seems like this particularly sweaty summer has spawned some particularly inventive ice cream. Rebecca brought news of Guerrilla Ice Cream's unorthodox treats and the word that Park Slopers can now order frozen yogurt topped with chocolate-covered crickets. Over at Spot Pichet Ong's dess ... More >>

Fat Pants Friday: Lula's Sweet Apothecary's Ice Cream Sundae

​ If the success of vegan ice cream can be judged by its degree of similarity to the real thing, then Lula's Sweet Apothecary is an unqualified victory.

The Fat Pants Friday Guide to Restaurant Ice Cream Carts

Cookshop's lemon curd ice cream.​ The Fourth of July is nearly upon us, and few things are more American than the over-consumption of frozen dairy products. Last year, Fork in the Road ranked Our 10 Best Ice Creams and Other Frozen Treats, so this year, Fat Pants Friday has decided to celebrat ... More >>

Battle of the Dishes: Fourth of July Berry Pie Edition

Two Little Red Hen's strawberry rhubarb pie​This weekend is prime berry pie time--cherries, blueberries, strawberries, and gooseberries are at the farmer's market and we all have a license to eat liberally at Fourth of July barbecues. Be a hero: Bring a pie to a cookout. But if you don't feel ... More >>

Craft's New Pastry Chef Jennifer McCoy Talks Summer Flavors, Apothecary-Inspired Treats

Jennifer McCoy​As Craft approaches its 10th anniversary, it has brought on a new pastry chef. Jennifer McCoy, previously of A Voce. McCoy has worked in Chicago's Charlie Trotter's, Blackbird and Bittersweet Bakery, and New Orleans' Emeril's. But most interestingly, she took time off from resta ... More >>

The New Fat: This is Why You're Huge

thisiswhyyourehuge.comThe Kabul Wafflenator: the food porn of the future?​ This is Why You're Fat may have gone the way of Betamax, but your need to view over-the-top gutbombs need not go unfulfilled. This is Why You're Huge brings you such calorically-outrageous creations as the Kabul Waffle ... More >>

The Best Chocolate Cake in the World? "As a Matter of Fact, It Sucks."

​Call your business the Best Chocolate Cake in the World and you might as well slap a target sign on the window, particularly in New York, where there's a) already a lot of superlative chocolate cake and b) a lot of opinionated people. But that doesn't seem to have bothered the Best Chocolate ... More >>

Street-Level Molecular Gastronomy: Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream at Lulu & Mooky's

​The moment when the liquid nitrogen is poured into the ice cream mixture is your dramatic payoff. It was inevitable that the "science chef" techniques employed by such noted chefs as Grant Achatz and Wylie Dufresne would work their way down to the street level - with mixed results, of course ... More >>

What Kind of Sherbet Can't Be Eaten in a Cone or a Cup? Sherbet Fountain

​The Sherbet Fountain is not a fountain at all, nor is it sherbet as we know it. We all know what sherbet is, right? Here in the States, it's often cheesy cheap ice cream sold in one-gallon plastic tubs in supermarkets, featuring a range of dishearteningly artificial pastel colors in a single ... More >>

Fish 'n' Chips Ice Cream Expands the Weirdo Ice Cream Universe

Fredericks DairiesIf it looks like fish 'n' chips and tastes like fish 'n' chips...​Although we haven't experienced the pleasure (terror?) of sampling it, we're willing to bet that the fish 'n' chips ice cream being produced by an English dairy company qualifies for the Strange Snacks of the W ... More >>

Today in 'Duh': A List of 40 Desserts That Are Really, Really Fattening

Applebee's chocolate chip sundae: not recommended for weight loss.​Taking a page from Men's Health, The Daily Beast has thoughtfully published a list of the 40 restaurant desserts most likely to cause death among those who consume them.

Summer Guide: The Village Voice's Field Guide to Cold Summer Treats

From gelato to affogato to fro-yo&emdash;our recommended frozen fun

Finally, an Ingenious Cure for Freezer-Burned Ice Cream

thisishongkong/FlickrHarness the power of melting ice cream.​This isn't really ground-breaking news unless you've ever desperately tried and failed to resurrect neglected, frost-encased pints of ice cream, but still, it's pretty cool: Food & Wine's Michelle Shih has found a cure for freezer bu ... More >>

Ice Cream Carts Are Now Out in Force

Robert SietsemaThe Big Gay Ice Cream Truck's big gay soft serve.​It's only May, but if you happen to run an ice cream cart, then summer is officially here. The latest cart to return to the streets is Bar Breton's, which, per Madison Park News, hit the sidewalks earlier this week with a line-up ... More >>

East Village Strange Soft-Serve Smackdown

Milk Bar's red velvet cake soft serve​As soft-serve ice cream flavors go, pandanus leaf and red velvet cake aren't exactly your basic chocolate-vanilla swirl.

Pichet Ong Debuts Dessert Menu at the Bubble Lounge Tomorrow

Andrew ScrivaniOng's chocolate layer cake with rasberries and cream​The Bubble Lounge (228 West Broadway) has been quietly pouring Champagne for 14 years, but tomorrow they're adding a dessert menu from Spot sweets maven Pichet Ong.

Fat Pants Fridays: Black Hound Bakery's Key Lime Macaroon With Momofuku's Cream Cheese Frosting Ice Cream

Black Hound Bakery's key lime macaroon is an ideal mate for Momofuku's cream cheese ice cream, even though it looks like a disembodied molar.​ Passover is not typically the best time for Fat Pants Friday, regardless of the abundance of flourless chocolate cakes on the market. Sometimes, you j ... More >>

The Early Word: Tully's Gluten-Free Bakery

A completely shite photo of the vanilla strawberry, peanut butter chocolate, and red velvet cupcakes from Tully's. ​ Back in January, we spoke with Tully Lewis about Tully's, the gluten-free bakery she was planning to open on East 11th Street. The bakery opened its doors on Monday, and earlie ... More >>

Aunt Butchie's to Bring Cupcakes and a "Little Bit of Brooklyn" to Manhattan

clevercupcakes/flickrThe cupcake army marches on.​It looks like the new year will bring new cupcakes to Manhattan: Aunt Butchie's, the Brooklyn-based bakery with four locations throughout the city, is opening a cupcake shop on the corner of 27th Street and Seventh Avenue.

Finally! Cupcakes for Dudes: Butch Bakery Debuts, Injects Testosterone into Cupcake Craze

Cupcakes for dudes: where butch meets butter cream.​Ever wonder what's been missing from cupcakemania? As it turns out, it's cupcakes for men. Since the very beginning of the trend, sparked by the gals from Sex and the City, bakeries like Magnolia, BabyCakes, and Baked by Melissa have predomin ... More >>

Holey Cream: Ice Cream and Donuts Coming Soon in Hell's Kitchen

Holey Cream, Batman!​ Tromping down Ninth Avenue in the snow, this soon-to-open dessert spot might catch your eye.

Battle of the Dishes: Brooklyn Pumpkin Pies from Trois Pommes and Colson Patisseries

​​ Pumpkin pie season is upon us. If you can't be bothered to track down your own canned pumpkin, you'll want to find a bakery that makes a pie so good that you don't mind passing it off as your own. But it's notoriously hard to tell just by looking if a baked good is tasty or not. Baker ... More >>

An Early Look at East Village Asian Dessert Place, Spot: Serving Ovaltine Ice Cream, Chinese Walnut Cookies

Ovaltine ice cream with "walnut soil"​ This week, Ace Watanasuparp and Chai Huadwattana opened Spot, a modern Asian dessert bar on St. Marks, with Pichet Ong as consulting chef. Last night, they were offering six different "seasonal dessert tapas," like white miso semifreddo and jackfruit cake ... More >>

Pichet Ong Gets Ready to Open Spot on November 17

Pichet OngPichet Ong at the soon-to-open Spot.​ Although Batch may have closed in March, Pichet Ong has been busier than ever these past few months. In addition to opening Spot, his Asian dessert bar with the owners of Michael Huynh's OBAO, next Tuesday, the 17th, the pastry chef plans to re-o ... More >>

This Week in Dear God, Why? A Cupcake Lounge for the LES

papertrailsleaver.blogspot.com​What's the only thing less necessary than another cupcake shop? A cupcake lounge serving booze-laced cupcakes to be paired with more booze. Per Eater, that's what the Lower East Side is in for, courtesy of two of the dudes responsible for bringing the neighborhoo ... More >>

Our 10 Best Frozen Treats

​Remember when you were a kid, and your summer was measured out in frozen treats? Maybe your mom kept Popsicles in the freezer, and you had to sneak through the noisy screen door to snitch one. Or maybe every Friday evening, your dad would summon the family and pile everyone into the car and g ... More >>

How Do You Spell G-U-T-B-O-M-B? "Baked Potato" at Cowgirl Sea-Horse

​​You're sitting at your desk dreaming of a baked potato--piping hot, crisp-skinned, white-fleshed, and surmounted by a cloud of sour cream. Somewhere in there, there's room for a couple of pats of butter, too. Well, if this savory treat is what you crave, you'll be totally frustrated a ... More >>

Food That Probably Shouldn't Be Allowed to Exist

​You're sitting at your office desk, fluorescent light streaming around you like the heavenly illumination of a saint in a medieval manuscript. It's lunchtime, time to satisfy the animal cravings for food that have beset you all morning. You swivel in your chair, trying to decide what morsels ... More >>

Mango-Saffron Frozen Yogurt

  Mango-saffron frozen yogurt What to do with a surplus of mangoes? Make mango-saffron frozen yogurt, a floral, sweet, and tangy confection that puts Pinkberry to shame. Mango-Saffron Frozen Yogurt Yield: about 8 cups You may wish to add more or less sugar depending on how sweet your mango ... More >>

On Cupcake Fanatics, Alice Waters, and Bread Baskets

Over at Food in Mouth, writer Danny has got a pretty hilarious response to my cupcake story (Plus, pretty shots of cupcakes.) He argues that cupcake fanatics are not so bad: So I see cupcake fanatics as Tamagotchi owners. Slightly annoying, and definitely makes me want to seek out a chicken bone so ... More >>

Van Leeuwen Readies for Sundaes on Sunday, New Trucks, and Cinnamon Ice Cream

boliston/flickrGather all ye lactose faithful: This Sunday, ice cream impresario Ben Van Leeuwen will team up with chocolatier Fritz Knipschildt for an ice cream social at Murray's Cheese. Van Leeuwen, who tells Fork in the Road this will be his first ice cream social, will be serving chocolate, van ... More >>

Death to Cupcakes

When will we finally be rid of the little bastards?

How Do You Spell G-U-T-B-O-M-B?--Eddies Sweet Shop

This Star Wars fan selected a sundae of chocolate ice cream topped with hot fudge, marshmallow syrup, and M & M's. Quick! Click on it before it melts! Founded in 1909, and looking every year its age, Eddies Sweet Shop in Forest Hills is one of the city's great ancient ice cream parlors. Th ... More >>

A Guide to the Curious World of Chinatown Bakeries