Food: Keeping Austin's Desserts Weird

Magnolia Bakery cupcakes. Pinkberry frozen yogurt. Ladurée macarons. These icons contributed to sweets crazes across the country, leaving fad-loving dessert fans wondering, “What’s the next cupcake?” Curious about local dessert trends, we spoke with Caitlin Close of Coolhaus, Victoria Davies of La Boite Cafe, Angi Jiles of Blue Note Bakery, and Olivia O'Neal of Sugar Mama’s Bakeshop to learn more about where Austin treats are headed going forward.

Sophisticated Flavors
Dessert innovators have undeniably been appealing to adventurous palates. Jiles noted an increase in demand for unique wedding cakes. Her bakery’s most popular flavor is a chocolate chipotle cake with salted caramel buttercream. Davies mentioned that her shipping container cafe's floral macarons, with hints of rose, lavender, orange blossom, violet, or jasmine, are selling particularly well. Close, whose ice cream sandwich truck serves balsamic fig and mascarpone ice cream, stated, “Food culture is becoming more adventurous and diverse. [People are] not afraid to try bacon ice cream or Guinness ice cream.”

In contrast to the unique flavors, familiar items remain a key. When asked about local tastes, O’Neal mentioned Austinites’ penchant for southern desserts - think Red Velvet cake and Texas pecan pie. Davies noted throwback desserts with a major nostalgic factor, such as cupcakes, doughnuts, whoopee pies. She sees “people reviving the sweets that we had as children and making them a little more grown-up.” Jiles does just that, updating her Red Velvet cake with a lemon frosting instead of cream cheese.

Bacon
Bacon remains a ubiquitous trend throughout Austin. Look no further than Lick Honest Ice Cream’s Breakfast Bacon ice cream, Big Top Candy Shop’s chocolate-covered bacon strips, Pig Vicious’ bacon milkshake, Coolhaus’ brown butter and bacon ice cream sandwiched between chocolate chip cookies, and Gourdough’s Flying Pig doughnut. Blue Note Bakery takes a different route with their chocolate chip pecan bacon tart, which is baked with bacon fat instead of butter. However, Davies draws the line at bacon macarons, reasonably arguing that bacon buttercream might not be the perfect accompaniment to delicate macarons.

Cocktails
Local dessert innovators are looking to 6th Street’s dives and lounges for inspiration, pouring Maker’s Mark into Coolhaus’ ice cream and White Russians into La Boite’s macarons. From classic bourbon bites at Blue Note Bakery to Pink Champagne cupcakes at Sugar Mama’s Bake Shop, Austin dessert creators are enthusiastically concocting sweets loaded with alcohol. The Alamo Drafthouse even serves seasonal beer floats. Who knew Hefeweizens paired so well with vanilla ice cream?

Marshmallows
Both Close and O’Neal mentioned The New York Times’ article suggesting that marshmallows are “the next cupcake.” Coolhaus has been experimenting with ice cream flavor-inspired marshmallows, such as peppermint marshmallows and vanilla marshmallows, which are served with custom hot chocolates. Or if plain marshmallows aren’t your thing, Sugar Mama’s S’mores Bars, which consist of a thick layer of graham cracker crust, a layer of silky chocolate, and a fluffy marshmallow cream top, are heavenly.

However, perhaps emphasis shouldn’t be based so much on an actual baked, candied, or frozen good, but more so on the modernized flavor combinations. No matter what the next trend is, it’ll likely come in an assortment of customizable flavors, allowing pastry chefs to exert creativity while appealing to many different palates. O’Neal mentioned, “The key to longevity is variety and listening to the needs of the customer.” Originality and imagination may be paramount in both aesthetics and flavor, especially in a creative city like Austin. As Jiles, who hired an artist on her staff and has created a cake shaped like Jabba the Hut, stated, “I can teach anyone to bake, but I can’t teach anyone to be an artist.”