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New Orleans is a paradise for dessert lovers, offering an array of sweet delights that reflect the city’s rich cultural heritage. Each dessert in New Orleans tells a story of tradition, flavour, and indulgence, making the city’s sweet offerings truly unforgettable. Here is a guide to some of the must-try classic desserts that can be found around the city.
Bananas Foster
This distinctive dessert is made with a fantastic combination of bananas that are flambéed (a cooking technique where liquor is added to a hot pan to briefly set the contents afire) with a sauce of dark rum, sugar, and spices then served with ice cream. It was invented at the famous Brennan’s Restaurant, established in 1946, and was and continues to be one of the most popular items on the menu requiring 35,000 pounds of bananas each year!
Beignets
Sometimes called a “French doughnut,” these decadent treats were brought to Louisiana by the Cajuns. A beignet is a square piece of dough that, once fried, forms a slightly doughy, slightly crispy pillow, the perfect canvas for a coat of powdered sugar. Indulge in beignets and chicory coffee at the famous Café Du Monde. More varieties of this classic treatincluding savoury beignets are also available across New Orleans.
Bread Pudding
What began as a creative way to use old bread has progressed into a popular dessert course and a New Orleans menu mainstay. Soaked in milk, eggs, and sugar, the bread is baked and topped with a sweet, typically bourbon-based sauce. Local chefs add their own spin to the dish, adding white chocolate, pecans, and even Krispy Kreme doughnut made famous by Boucherie. Other joints to try out bread pudding include Commander’s Palace and Café Reconcile.
King Cake
While king cake is eaten mostly during the Mardi Gras season, you can find it any time of year at establishments like Haydel’s Bakery and Sucré, both known for their king cakes. King cake is essentially a huge cinnamon roll with icing coloured with the Mardi Gras theme in purple, green,and gold but in recent years, bakeries have gotten even more creative with this classic, with everything from babka and croissant king cakes to savoury variants. Finding a hidden plastic baby inside the cake sets off a beloved tradition where the finder is responsible for buying the next king cake.
Pralines
This dessert is a staple in New Orleans. These treats feature Louisiana-grown pecans smothered in a creamy mixture of sugar and butter that is decadent and rich. They are available (usually wrapped individually) at many gift shops in the city like Aunt Sally’s Pralines, Loretta’s, or Leah’s Pralines.
Sno-Balls
Sno-balls (or snowballs) are different from the usual snow cones. Sno-balls are freshly shaved ice with a consistency similar to that of snow. Unlike crunchy snow cones, the juice in sno-balls does not sink to the bottom of the cup. During summer in New Orleans, sno-ball stands are bustling, offering dozens of flavours from wedding cake to margarita. You can get them “stuffed” with soft-serve ice cream or drizzled with condensed milk.
Roman Candy
For a throwback candy with historic charm, try Roman Candy which is a chewy taffy sold in three flavours: vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry. It has been made and sold by the Cortese family since 1915. You can find the original mule-drawn wagon all across the city, but your best bet is the Audubon Zoo. Long, thin sticks of the candy sell for a dollar and come wrapped in wax paper.
