Sometimes it seems like chocolate-lovers have all the fun, delighting in menus that are heavy on the cocoa and light on, well, everything else. But it doesn't have to be that way. From the chain restaurants down the street to some of the nation's best bakeries, there are plenty of tantalizing chocolate-free treats to satisfy your sweet tooth if you know where to look. Here are 20 of our favorites.
Where to get it: Brennan's, New Orleans
Bananas foster has made its way onto the menus of many a fancy steakhouse in the past several decades, but for the truest rendition, go to the source: Brennan's, where this treat made with butter, sugar, cinnamon, and liquor-soaked bananas was invented. At Brennan's, the dessert is still flambéed tableside. If you're feeling ambitious, you can also try to replicate the recipe at home (but keep a fire extinguisher close at hand).
Where to get it: Angel Food Bakery & Donut Bar, Minneapolis
Homer Simpson himself would surely drool over this eye-popping cake. More than a cake that looks like a donut, it's actually layers of massive, raised donuts that look like a cake. They're fused with plenty of buttercream, then topped with donut icing and sprinkles. Bonus: If you're a bacon lover, you can get one topped with maple-bacon icing. Take that, chocoholics.
Where to get it: Applebee's, nearly 2,000 locations nationwide
Say what you will about one of the most ubiquitous chains in America, but Applebee's blondie has been a longtime oasis in a sea of predictable, chocolate-slathered family-restaurant desserts (lava cakes, we're looking at you). We're not sure what puts it over the top: the dense, nutty blondie, loaded with brown sugar; the luscious vanilla ice cream; the drizzle of maple cream cheese sauce; or the sprinkling of candied pecans. Got a craving at home? The web is replete with copy-cat recipes like this one.
Where to get it: Boston Burger Company, Somerville, Massachusetts
Crazy milkshakes have been popping up all over the place, and they aren't exclusively for chocolate lovers. Case in point: The Boston Burger Company's Strawberry Shortcake Freak Frappe (that's Massachusetts speak for milkshake). Topped with a thick slice of shortcake, it's also garnished with mounds of whipped cream, cookies, strawberry syrup, and Twizzlers. Oh, and there's a strawberry shake somewhere under all of that, too.
Where to get it: Prantl's Bakery, Pittsburgh
If you have nut allergies, move along. If not, this longtime Pittsburgh treat may just be your new favorite dessert. The impossibly airy cake, bisected by a layer of mouth-watering custard, is frosted in buttercream and generously topped with candied toasted almonds and sugar flakes. "Taking a bite out of one is like reaching into the sky and stuffing a cloud into your mouth," raves The Huffington Post. Well, when you put it that way, we'll take two.
Where to get it: Milk Bar, 16 locations nationwide
Once called "crack pie" because of its addictive nature, Milk Bar Pie is admittedly hard to describe. The store says it's "gooey, buttery goodness" and a "magical mashup of sweet, salty, and sticky." Its closest contemporary may be chess pie, but as the Los Angeles Times notes, the cookie-like crust sets Milk Bar Pie apart, launching it into a "level of dessert nirvana" previously unknown to the chocolate-averse.
Where to get them: Schmidt's Sausage Haus, Columbus, Ohio
If you have any room left after downing one of Schmidt's famous Bahama Mama sausages, a jumbo cream puff will take care of that really quickly. These half-pound behemoths feature dense but delectable whipped cream filling bursting out of a delicate pastry shell. Just be glad you won't have to devour them hands-free.
Where to get it: The Cheesecake Factory, more than 200 locations nationwide
Those with a savvy sweet tooth know cheesecake is decadent enough on its own without being overwhelmed by dollops of chocolate. Still, if you want something other than The Cheesecake Factory's admittedly excellent original Fresh Strawberry flavor, try another fruity favorite, the Mango Key Lime. It features a vanilla coconut macaroon crust with a smooth key-lime filling and mango mousse. Sweet, tart, and yum.
Where to get it: PieCaken Bakeshop, Roseville, Minnesota
The PieCaken was conceived on a lark to compete with the Thanksgiving poultry mashup known as the Turducken. The rest, as they say, is history, with PieCakens selling at such a rapid clip that the novelty dessert morphed into a business staple. So, what exactly is a PieCaken? It's pecan pie, pumpkin pie, spiced pound cake, and apple pie, all covered with a thick layer of cinnamon buttercream, crumbled oats, and apple-pie filling.
Where to get it: Commander's Palace, New Orleans
You know your dessert is an icon when Martha Stewart adapts the recipe for her legions of fans. Still, instead of going the DIY route, we highly recommend a trip to Commander's Palace, home of one of the nation's best brunches, to sample the real deal. The rich nutmeg- and cinnamon-infused bread-pudding soufflé is finished tableside with a warm whiskey cream. Just be sure to give the kitchen at least 20 minutes of lead time — as even amateur chefs know, soufflés are an art, not a science.
Where to get it: The Loop Churros, four Los Angeles-area locations
If you want a dessert that will make you a social-media star, head to The Loop, known for its giant, Instagram-worthy churros. Our pick? The Crème Bruloop, covered in a crème brûlée custard and sugar, then torched for that extra "wow" factor. Order it chilled and it will come stuffed into a cup of soft-serve vanilla ice cream drizzled in a crème brûlée sauce and garnished with berries.
Where to get them: Lulu's Bakery and Café, San Antonio
Cinnamon rolls aren't exactly ground-breaking territory for a bakery, but order one at Lulu's any time of day or night (they're open 24 hours) for a gluttonous experience all its own. These monsters weigh in at 3 pounds, but they're not just big — they're so delicious that they've been shipped to more than 40 countries. So if you make the trip, bring a few friends, especially if you want to sample some of Lulu's famous chicken-fried steak first.
Where to get them: B Sweet Dessert Bar, Los Angeles
Sure, you could stick to a donut filled with regular cream, but where's the fun in that? The evil geniuses of L.A.'s B Sweet Dessert Bar churn out a made-to-order treat they call the "Halo," which is a not-exactly-angelic hot glazed donut that's been sealed shut around a generous scoop of ice cream. Non-chocolate-centric choices include vanilla, mint chip, cookie dough, and even purple yam.
Where to get it: Flour Shop, New York City
Rainbow cake may be the most Instagram-friendly dessert of all time — you just can't help but smile at all those colorful layers. To find the kaleidoscopic king of rainbow cakes, head to the Big Apple's Flour Shop. Their Explosion Cake looks like the stuff of unicorn fantasies with six rainbow-colored layers of vanilla cake, decadent cream-cheese frosting, rainbow nonpareils, and a surprise core of colorful candies and sprinkles. How many sprinkles, you ask? Close to 2 pounds of ‘em.
Where to get it: Blue Duck Tavern, Washington, D.C.
No list of chocolate-free desserts would be complete without this patriotic staple, and you can find one of the most mouth-watering versions at the classy Blue Duck Tavern in the nation's capital. The longtime menu dessert declared one of America's best apple pies by Food & Wine gives the dish a French twist with a buttery, tart-like pastry crust that holds in the Granny Smith apples, layered with thick caramel and a cinnamon-crumble topping. To really indulge, order some ice cream to go with it.
Where to get it: I CE NY, 17 locations nationwide
Rolled ice cream, a Thai import that's been taking the U.S. by storm, is made by pouring an ice cream base and other mix-ins onto an extremely cold metal plate. Once mixed, they firm up into a thin sheet that can be scraped into neat rolls. One of I CE NY's signature flavors, Mango Sticky Rice, plays homage to Southeast Asia with fruity rolled mango ice cream topped with chunks of mango, coconut sticky rice, and coconut sauce.
Where to get them: Wondermade, Orlando
Indulge like the high roller you are (or were meant to be, at least) with what might be the most luxurious marshmallows money can buy. They're cooked with champagne and then hand-brushed with edible 24-karat gold. While a handful makes a decadent dessert on its own, you could use them as a garnish for a spiked hot chocolate or another libation, as The New York Times suggests.
Where to get them: The Cookie Dough Café, Portland, Oregon
Edible cookie dough — that is, egg-free cookie dough that's specially made to eat raw safely — is one of the newest dessert trends to sweep the nation. At Portland's Cookie Dough Café, you can often grab cereal doughwiches made of different flavors of ice cream sandwiched between two slabs of cereal-speckled cookie dough. Recent flavors, sure to appeal to the kid in you, have included Fruity Pebbles and Lucky Charms.
Where to get them: Pastiche Fine Desserts, Providence, Rhode Island
At first blush, a fruit tart may not seem like as much of an indulgence compared to some of the other treats on our list, but one look at the fruit tart at Rhode Island's Pastiche Fine Desserts may change your mind. The bakery's signature treat is a glossy kaleidoscope of fresh fruit like blueberries, strawberries, and kiwi resting on a generous layer of vanilla custard, surrounded by a crispy, buttery pastry shell. TripAdvisor reviewers sing its praises, saying it alone is worth seeking out this small spot.
Where to get it: Dairy Queen, more than 4,500 locations nationwide
That's right — for our money, one of the best non-chocolate desserts money can buy is available for just a few bucks at your local Dairy Queen. Introduced a few years ago, the Royal New York Cheesecake Blizzard features pieces of cheesecake and graham crackers blended into that eponymous DQ vanilla soft serve. But wait, there's more: A core of strawberry filling. The Takeout calls it "rich and surprisingly light." We call it a welcome respite in the otherwise chocolate-heavy Blizzard menu.