10 Sydney Desserts You’ll Want Right Now
We can all agree that one of the best things about being an adult is eating the best desserts available, whenever we feel like it.
Cake for breakfast? Why not! Doughnut for lunch? Sorry, mum. More cake before dinner? It’d be rude not to.
Luckily, Sydney spoils its citizens rotten with some truly incredible bakeries, cafes and patisseries that make it all too easy to indulge your sweet tooth any time of the day.
We’ve found the best desserts in town, from famous cakes to creamy soft serves and fluffy pancakes to die for.
Here are 10 of the best desserts in Sydney:
#1 Grumpy Donuts
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This Camperdown store might be tiny, but its doughnuts are huge — in size and flavour. A rotating menu of specials have seen the shop serving up flavours like tiramisu, creaming soda spider, apple turnover, passionfruit slice and even a birthday cake doughnut.
But the classics at Grumpy Donuts are just as good, especially the doughnut bits and one inspired by Homer Simpson’s favourite strawberry-frosted doughnut.
#2 Gram Cafe & Pancakes
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Japan’s coveted soufflé pancakes have finally landed in Australia, and they’re like no pancake you’ve ever tried before. Irresistibly soft, jiggly and fluffy, they come in eight flavours including tiramisu, matcha, caramelised banana and honey apple with earl grey tea.
You can also order chocolate and banana French toast, crepes, parfaits and smoothies — but we all know the real star of the show here is the pancakes, that come stacked three high with creamy fillings in between each layer.
#3 Aqua S
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The soft serve at Aqua S is just a bit of a step up from the 70c Maccas cone. The signature flavour is the bright blue sea salt soft serve, which you can order on its own or swirled with one of the rotating specials.
The real fun begins when you add OTT toppings like fairy floss, sweet popcorn, popping candy, grilled marshmallow and mochi.
#4 Black Star
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While everything on the menu at Black Star Pastry could easily claim to be the best in Sydney, it’s the strawberry watermelon cake that really holds that title. More specifically, it holds the title of “the world’s most Instagrammed cake,” and it’s not hard to see why.
The famous dessert layers almond dacquoise, rose-scented cream and watermelon, topping the whole thing with fresh strawberries, pistachios and dried rose petals. Coles mud cake, eat your heart out.
#5 Saga
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Oh, to be let loose inside Saga in Enmore. The bakery is home to some of Sydney’s finest, from salted honey tarts to decadent sticky buns. You can’t go wrong no matter what you pick.
But if you want the best of the best, you’ve gotta get a slice of the flourless chocolate cake. The rich cake is dusted with cocoa nibs and sea salt, and there’s something so indulgent about ordering cake after brunch.
#6 Pasticceria Papa
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Ask anyone where the best cannoli in Sydney is, and they’ll point you here. The baked ricotta cake is the signature item on the menu, but the real must-have is the ricotta cannoli.
They’ve also got vanilla and chocolate cannoli, and they’re both very good choices as well. But, whoa, the ricotta cannoli is crispy on the outside, creamy on the inside and pretty much said by all to be a perfect dessert.
#7 Dopa Don and Milk Bar
This spot is a Japanese take on the old-school Aussie milk bar. Instead of burgers, Dopa has donburi: rice bowls topped with things like teriyaki chicken, tofu and katsu pork. And instead of ice cream sundaes, Dopa has shaved ice desserts.
Consisting of shaved ice, gelato and fresh fruit, these desserts are sweet, creamy, and huge. Choose from flavours like matcha and strawberry or get around the parfaits, puddings, brick toast and cheesecake.
#8 XS Espresso
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Now, some people might say that a milkshake isn’t a dessert, but those people have obviously never attempted a seriously loaded shake. The Golden Gaytime from XS Espresso is a caramel, vanilla crumble and coffee shake topped with Golden Gaytime-flavoured doughnuts.
Just look at that jar absolutely overflowing with sweet treats. Look at the multiple (yes, multiple!) doughnuts stacked on top. You can’t get more Aussie than having a Golden Gaytime, but this shake comes close.
#9 Rollers Bakehouse
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Rollers Bakehouse serves amazing croissants (some made from charcoal dough), but you know what happens to all the bits of pastry that don’t make it into the final product? The offcuts get mixed with brown sugar caramel, cardamon, cinnamon and banana, stuffed into muffin tins and baked, and topped with a cinnamon and cardamom glaze. ‘Nuff said.
#10 Cremeria De Luca
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Two words for you: gelato burger.
At Cremeria De Luca, traditional Sicilian gelato is served in a brioche bun with Nutella and whipped cream. We’re sure there’s no wrong way to eat gelato, but this is definitely the right way.
(Lead image: Gram Cafe & Pancakes / supplied)
