From an edible golden snitch to a cocktail in a tiny red telephone box: these are the most mouthwatering and visually spectacular Australia desserts.
Come with us on a visual journey to tantalise your tastebuds: these are the most like-inducing, indulgent desserts in Australia. From pretty, pillowy layers of mousse and sponge to downright filthy, chunk-laden cookie dough – these taste as good as they look. What better reason to take a trip interstate? Whether you’re on a romantic escape or travelling as a family, everybody loves a sweet treat.
SYDNEY
Watermelon Sugar High: Black Star Pastry’s Watermelon Cake
You can’t have a roundup of Australia’s most Instagrammable desserts without including Australia’s most Instagrammed dessert. The stuff of cake legend, this inimitable dessert garnered global fame after being featured by the New York Times – and has been snapped more often than a street-style influencer. The cake features delicate layers of almond dacquoise, rose-scented cream and watermelon, topped with strawberries, pistachios and dried rose petals. It was created by Sydney patisserie Black Star Pastry, which sells over one million slices a year from its stores. There are four Black Star Pastry stores across Sydney – in the CBD within The Galeries centre, Moore Park, Rosebery and Newtown – so you’re never far away from a slice.
Pure Dessert Wizardry: KOI Dessert Bar’s Golden Snitch
When dessert wizard Reynold Poernomo appeared on the 2020 series of MasterChef Australia, he unveiled a Harry Potter-inspired creation that was heralded one of the best dishes the judges had ever seen. Happily for dessert lovers and Potter fans alike, his ‘Golden Snitch’ creation is now available at Sydney’s KOI Dessert Bar, which he runs with his brother. Its brown-butter mousse and tonka-bean caramel flavours truly are a work of magic. You can find KOI Dessert Bar a short walk from Darling Harbour and the Chinese Garden of Friendship.
MELBOURNE
Four Pillars Meets Pav: Gin & Tonic Pavlova by Burch & Purchese Sweet Studio
Dessert and gin are two of life’s greatest pleasures, so when they collide, sweet, sweet magic happens. Melbourne’s Burch & Purchese Sweet Studio is renowned for its innovative and oh-so-pretty creations, from deconstructed cake tubes to indulgent party cakes – but it’s really outdone itself this time. Pillowy pavlova is topped with Four Pillars Gin-spiked cream, tangy lime and lemon curd, gin and tonic jelly, white chocolate and juniper marshmallows, in the most dreamily Instagrammable cloud. If you’re staying in the city, head to the store in South Yarra for a taste – then drive one hour out to the Yarra Valley to sample more of what the Four Pillars Gin Distillery has to offer.
Down the Rabbit Hole: High Tea at Om Nom Kitchen
We might not be able to travel to London right now, but we can certainly enjoy indulgent high tea like the English and drink cocktails out of a tiny replica red telephone box. This is what’s on offer at Melbourne’s whimsical Om Nom Kitchen, located within the Adelphi Hotel. Decadently decorated, this Alice in Wonderland-inspired restaurant and bar serves up desserts and cocktails that are nothing short of a work of art. For the full experience, treat yourself to afternoon tea and enjoy a never-ending array of candy-coloured macaroons, cake pops and delicate desserts – with the prettiest tableware, to boot.
BRISBANE
Black Forest Magic: Milk Chocolate & Morello Cherry Cake at BCC Dessert & Cake
The Instagram magic happens inside this dreamily light dessert, whose perfectly glazed exterior gives way to layers of cloud-like mousse and sponge, with a heart of zingy morello cherry. Formerly known as La Casamia, BCC Dessert & Cake, located south of the CBD in Runcorn, has delighted the sweet-toothed of Brisbane with its perfectly executed creations for almost 20 years. If you’re stopping by, be sure to give its signature crème brûlée a try, featuring a crunchy sesame basket and creamy custard, delicately scented with fresh vanilla beans. Be still, our beating hearts.
Our Cup of Tea: Sonder Dessert’s Matcha Raspberry Tarts
Bringing the art of Japanese cake-making to Brisbane is Sonder Dessert in the city’s southern Sunnybank Hills suburb. It’s near-on impossible to choose from the patisserie’s endless array of parfaits, cakes and desserts, but our pick is the pretty matcha raspberry tart. Perfectly piped matcha chantilly is the dreamy bedfellow of plump raspberries in all their magenta glory, while beneath the surface awaits a lychee gel, raspberry compote and matcha ganache. But the question remains: can you bear to cut it?
PERTH
American-Style Indulgence: Get Chunky’s Cookie Dough Sandwiches
Sometimes, pure extravagance attracts the likes – and there’s no doubt Get Chunky, Australia’s first New York-style cookie bar, north of Perth’s CBD in Mount Lawley, offers exactly that. Big, fat cookies studded with everything from chocolate to Oreo chunks, ‘injections’ of Nutella, creamy custard and caramel, raw cookie dough… pile it up high and watch the likes roll in, before submitting to the most intense sugar high of your life.
Berry Nice: Kumo Kumo’s Wild Strawberry Pancakes
Doesn’t this picture just invite you to drift away on a pink cloud of strawberry-scented bliss? Happily, Kumo Kumo’s Japanese street-style soufflé pancakes taste as divine as they look. This particular variety is topped with wild strawberry cream, strawberry coulis, edible rose petals and lime-zested strawberry, for a zingy take on the patisserie’s signature dish. Oh, and did we mention they make gelato, too? Head just north of the CBD to Northbridge for your fix, or for those living in Brisbane, your luck’s in, as a new store is set to open in late 2021.
CAIRNS
The Showstopper: Strawberry Shortcake Creation Jar by Petals & Pinecones
Well, we had to go out with a bang, didn’t we? We’re not sure where we’d start with this princess-pink creation, but we’re sure going to take a photo of it, first. This strawberry shake is piled high with mini cupcakes, Swiss roll, musk sticks, strawberry syrup, cream and sprinkles – the question is, to spoon or not to spoon? The award-winning Petals & Pinecones in Atherton is famed for its ‘freak shakes’, which leave even the most dedicated dessert-lover breathless. Cairns may not usually top the foodie travel list, but this is well worth the road trip and the 1.5-hour drive out of the city.
Looking for more foodie inspiration? Check out Australia's Best Food Festivals.
