No doubt, San Francisco has a mind-blowing list of savory foods that one can enjoy any time, any day. But not tasting the desserts that the city offers is an inexcusable offense towards your taste buds. Hop on the sweet train to find out what you are missing out on!
28 Best Desserts You Must Try Out in San Francisco
1. Hot Fudge Sundae
The Sundae is a decadent ice cream dessert that features multiple scoops of ice cream along with lip-smacking nectareous sauces or syrup. San Francisco’s Hot Fudge Sundae is a genuinely lovely rendition of this frozen dessert. It stars warm, creamy, dense chocolate fudge with an utterly sinful chocolate sauce.
2. Penis Cookie
Erotics cakes and cookies are pretty hot right now. Wildly trending in the sphere of Bachelor and Bachelorette Parties, the Penis Cookie is highly recommended. This is a dark chocolate cookie moulded in the shape of a penis and topped with grated coconut.
3. Cruffin
Once upon a time, a croissant and a muffin had a steamy affair, which resulted in the birth of a delightful dessert called Cruffin. It is a crisp pastry that is generously filled with a variety of jams or cream and topped with exciting garnishes such as cute, red cherries.
4. Banana Cream Tart
One of the best tarts that you would gladly indulge in, The Banana Cream Tart is a San Francisco favourite. It has a nippy, sweet dough shell filled to the brim with molten chocolate, vanilla pastry cream, banana slices, and a smooth caramel sauce.
5. Kouign Amann
Named after two Breton words for “cake” and “butter,” Kouign Amann is an exciting treat. Layers of dough, butter, and sugar are subjected to a slow bake, allowing crisp caramelization on the outside. It might be the fattiest pastry you will come across, but it is incredibly yum at the same time.
6. Russian Honey Cake
Known initially as Medovik, the Russian Honey Cake is most definitely a must-try. Primarily featuring honey and condensed milk, this glorious cake has myriad layers of wafer-thin honey biscuits bound together by a deluxe whipped sour cream.
7. Ice Cream Roll
San Francisco is a city that loves getting creative, especially when it comes to desserts. Rolled Ice Cream is one such example. Spiral rolls of decadent, smooth ice cream are loaded with extravagant toppings and served in a cute cup. Rolled Ice Cream is totally an Instagram-worthy dessert.
8. Toffee Chip Cookies
If you think cookies are overrated, The Toffee Chip Cookies in San Francisco will turn your opinion right around. These cookies are supremely crisp on the outside and have copious amounts of chewy toffee bites that are just too pleasing for words.
9. Egg Custard Tarts
This charming dessert consists of a crusty pastry shell filled to the brim with deliciously soft egg custard. Egg Custard Tarts in the city have a perfectly balanced sweetness that is too good to be true.
10. Cheesecake
It doesn’t get more “American” than a classic Cheesecake. Remember Chandler and Rachel devouring one, even off the floor? Yeah, they weren’t crazy. Get a bite of this rich, creamy, dense cake and you, too, will forget all etiquettes and attack this iconic dessert like a hungry lion.
11. The Giant Donut
If you are one of those who cannot get enough doughnuts, San Francisco has you covered with its humongous Giant Donut. It is super creamy and is part of the famous Donut Challenge, wherein if you finish it within two minutes, you get a full refund along with your picture permanently earning a place in the Hall of Fame.
12. Coffee Crunch Cake
A super scrumptious delicacy, the city’s Coffee Crunch Cake is one of the best desserts you will ever lay your hands on. It is baffling how ingredients as simple as strongly brewed coffee, sugar, corn syrup, and baking soda can blend to form one fantastic treat.
13. Cannoli
Cannoli is a traditional Italian treat and is so yum that it can be found easily throughout San Francisco. It is a pastry that has a tube-like shape. Filled with sweet ricotta and chocolate chip, or at times, candied fruits, it is dusted with powdered sugar as a classic sweet finale.
14. Strawberry Matcha Latte
As we all know, boba tea has taken America by storm, and obviously, San Francisco is no exception. The Strawberry Matcha Latte is an exuberant boba tea that will get you instantly hooked. Matcha powder, zingy strawberry puree, and ice blend together to create this unparalleled drink.
15. Adorable Crepes
Adorable Crepes in San Francisco are just that- adorable. They are served like a loaded ice cream cone filled with whipped cream, fresh fruit cuts, and tangy-sweet sauces. The catch is, all these toppings are styled to form an adorable shape of an animal. Thus, Adorable Crepes make an absolutely Instagram-worthy dessert.
16. Fortune Cookies
This quirky item originated in Japan and has been quickly adopted by American eateries. Fortune Cookies are incredibly light and crispy and hit delightful sugary vanilla notes. What makes these cookies unique is the piece of paper you find inside when you break open a cookie. This note has vague prophecies or aphorisms that add a fun element to the entire experience of cookie-munching.
17. Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies
Yep, the title says it all. Rich, creamy, nutty peanut butter is sandwiched between crisp, chewy chocolate cookies. Chocolate pairs exceptionally well with salty flavours, and this cookie item unabashedly exploits this fact, resulting in a dessert that anyone would love to indulge in.
18. Chocolate Bingsu
Bingsu is a super-exciting Korean dessert that will challenge the special place that the plain old ice cream has in your heart. Chocolate bingsu is a shaved ice dessert that is as wildly popular in San Francisco as it is in Korea. It has an assortment of elements such as fresh strawberries, condensed milk, almond flakes, sweet red beans, rice cakes, and loads of dark chocolate.
19. Golden Brick Toast
Brick Toast refers to a variety of Honey Toast that originated in Japan. Toasts are in style right now, and San Francisco has capitalized on this trend in the form of an exuberant Golden Brick Toast heavily laden with ice cream, syrups, jams, and even ricotta cheese or avocado.
20. Pineapple Upside-Down Cake
An upside-down cake is a quirky loaf that, while baking, has toppings at the bottom-most layer instead of the top. The Pineapple Upside-Down Cake is baked in a single pan with juicy ingredients such as maraschino cherries and pineapple rings. Interestingly enough, the upside-down cake, once done cooking, is served the right side up.
21. Deep Fried Oreos
As though an Oreo wasn’t right as is, dessert-makers in San Francisco have perked up this cookie sandwich by adding pancake batter to the mix. Oreo biscuits are deep-fried after being generously coated in pancake batter, with sugar snow dusted on top.
22. Mini Donuts
No other dessert beats the good ol’ comfort brought about by doughnuts. Even better, if these treats are bite-sized and can be devoured in one go. San Francisco has just that— fluffy mini doughnuts, pillow-soft on the inside, and a delightful crunchy texture on the outside, coated typically in a rich vanilla-bean glaze. There are so many other glazes and toppings to choose from that you would be too confused for words.
23. Organic Soft Serve
The soft-serve ice creams in San Francisco are not only super-good, but they are also super healthy. Made from fully organic fresh ingredients, the flavours are unbelievably wild and unique. What do you think of a Malted Vanilla ice cream with peanut brittle, milk chocolate, and basil?
24. Pastries
Bakeries have a very special place in the hearts of people in San Francisco. The city has a pastry to suit absolutely every mood and whim, from decadent chocolate croissants to trendsetting loaded toast and jam-filled baked goodies to super-cute tartlets.
25. Ice Cream Sandwich
Going beyond the usual cups and cones, dessert enthusiasts in San Francisco have cracked the code for instant happiness- ice cream sandwiched between crisp cookies or wafer slabs. They haven’t shied away from experimenting with the cream flavours too. Seasonal fruits and Coffee-Caramel are some of the unique ones you could try.
26. Beignets
Beignets are cushiony-soft, fluffy fritters that are feathery-light despite being deep-fried. They are square-ish in shape and are dusted with powdered sugar, which gives their golden-brown hue an amazingly tempting look. San Francisco’s pillowy beignets are an unmissable highlight.
27. Pot De Crème
This iconic French dessert is so good that even those not too keen on sweets would madly fall in love with it. Translated as a “pot of cream,” the Pot De Crème is a delightful bowl of chocolate cream that is simply too marvellous for words.
28. Thai Tea Shaved Ice
Thai Tea Shaved Ice is a mountain of ice that shines with bright flavours. Shaved ice and tiny bits of bread are thoroughly doused in a blend of five different teas, forming one complex combination of Thai Tea. This frozen dessert is so yum that you don’t have to be a trekker to scale it.
Thus, San Francisco boasts of an absolute sweet parade that you should unquestionably participate in if you are looking for a refreshingly zingy dessert adventure.
