Introduction
How time flies! Seeing that it was 2019 since we hunted down the cutest and most instagrammable trompe l’oeil desserts in NYC (see our past review here), it seems timely to publish an updated guide. In the below, we list our favourite trompe l’oeil desserts in Manhattan and in the outer boroughs of Long Island City and Flushing. If you come across a Labubu trompe l’oeil dessert, do let us know. 😛
NYC’s Best Trompe L’oeil Fruit Cakes
Dessert destinations:
- Patisserie Fouet (and here), Union Square – green apple
- Salswee, Union Square – various fruits
- Roam Gallery, Long Island City – various fruits
- Bad Roman, Upper West Side – giant lemons
- Short and sweet story: NYC is filled with a veritable fruit orchard of trompe l’oeil cakes. If you start at Union Square, you can work your way through a green apple at Patisserie Fouet and then fill a box of other fruit desserts from Salswee. We recommend subsequently heading up north to windswept Long Island City. While there, check out Roam Gallery, for a spot of high tea that includes several of the many trompe l’oeil mousse cakes there. If that still isn’t enough dessert for a day, see if you can score a much coveted reservation at Bad Roman in the Upper West Side. Fill your stomach with all the pasta, and finish the day with the lemon cheesecake. Good luck with these two bad boys. 😀
NYC’s Best Trompe L’oeil Corn Cakes
- Dessert destinations:
- Short and sweet story: In 2017 when we first moved to NYC, it was all about the corn husk meringue from Cosme. Who remembers that?? Fast forward so many years, and it is still a much-loved (or hated) dessert. We love two other corn desserts more – Konban‘s clone of a corn cob, and Lysee‘s more subtly-flavoured baby corn mousse cake. They also happen to be more more visually appealing too, compared to the albino corn creation at Cosme. 😛
NYC’s Best Trompe L’oeil Character Cakes
- Dessert destinations:
- Bibble & Sip, Midtown Manhattan – cute characters
- Delimanjoo, Koreatown – fish-shaped bunggeoppang
- An Jelly (here and here), East Village- wiggly jelly in the form of reindeers, rabbits, cats etc.
- Dominique Ansel (here and here), Soho – visit for seasonal creations (e.g., mousse cakes taking the form of tacos, hot dog bagels, pizza etc).
- Lilac, West Village, and other locations – chocolate characters
- Short and sweet story: A dessert tour of NYC’s best trompe l’oeil character cakes will start uptown at our old time favourite bakery-cafe, Bibble & Sip. It’s one of the few cafes in NYC where you can still order a tea or coffee for under USD $5. We love everything here, from the seasonal macarons, to the giant cream puffs, to the cutest character cakes. From here, walk or train south to Koreatown for a toasty bag of bunggeoppang. After that, spend the rest of the day downtown, checking out the seasonally-changing trompe l’oeil dessert creations from East Village’s An Jelly for wiggly jelly, Soho’s Dominique Ansel for mousse cakes that have taken the form of tacos, hot dog, bagels and pizza, and lastly, West Village’s Lilac for chocolate creations especially during Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas time.
NYC’s Best Trompe L’oeil Plant Cakes
- Dessert destinations:
- Spot Dessert Bar, East Village – tiramisu plant pot
- Urban Backyard, Soho– cactus cupcake
- Short and sweet story: Aside from trompe l’oeil desserts in the form of fruit, vegetables and cute characters, NYC has also imagined desserts that look like a plant. We have not in the past been very successful in nurturing potted plans in our NYC apartment, but we are decidedly much better at nibbling our way through Urban Backyard‘s cacti cupcakes (the chocolate one is especially luscious), and Spot Dessert Bar‘s potted plant, which hides a tiramisu inside. 😀
NYC’s Best Trompe L’oeil Flower Cakes
- Dessert destinations:
- Sarisa Cafe, Midtown Manhattan – Thai flower cakes
- QM Dessert Lab, Flushing – traditional Chinese flower-shaped pastries
- Uluh, East Village– modern Chinese swan-shaped pastries
- Short and sweet story: If you don’t have the requisite sugar tolerance for an entire day of dessert adventures, we highly recommend a high tea at either Sarisa Cafe or QM Dessert Lab – neither are too sweet. Sarisa‘s high tea is entirely trompe l’oeil in style, with miniature fruits filled with mung bean, and flowers made of coconut jelly pudding. QM Dessert Lab‘s high tea also features flowers, exquisitely crafted out of jasmine or other tea-infused jelly, or shaped into traditional Chinese pastries. Round out the day with a dinner at Uluh, and a not-too-sweet bite from swan-shaped pastries there.
Other Trompe L’oeil Desserts in NYC
- Dessert destinations:
- Short and sweet story: Aside from Bad Roman featured above, our other favourite trompe l’oeil restaurant desserts can be found at modern Asian restaurants. Juqi in Flushing has one of the most extensive dessert menus compared to many Chinese restaurants, including a peach dessert and a weiqi game dessert, but our hearts lie with its mahjong dessert. Make sure you visit with at least three friends to really take advantage of the incredible menu. Joomak in Koreatown is unfortunately now closed at the time of writing, but it will be reincarnating in another form soon. Keep an eye out for it, as it was home to exceptionally talented pastry chefs whose dessert creations were our absolute favourite restaurant desserts in the city. And don’t miss Hutong for a pre-dinner or nightcap cocktail at the glamourous bar, accompanied with its bao dessert.
Dessert Correspondents 