California is rapidly stepping up their food and dessert game. Everyone knows New York has some of the most Instagram-worthy desserts, but California is not far behind. If you are running out of dessert places or want to go on a trip up or down the California coast, make sure to stop by one or all of the best dessert spots around the Golden State.
1. The Bigg Chill
Photo courtesy of @thebiggchillofficial on Instagram
The Bigg Chill has been voted best fro-yo in LA for 20 years. Not only do they have great frozen yogurt flavors that they change weekly, but they also have dairy-free options. Now, we all know the best part of frozen yogurt is the toppings. The Bigg Chill has the most delicious cookie dough that they load on top of their yogurt. What more could you ask for? To find more of the best frozen desserts, check out The Best Frozen Dessert in Every State.
#SpoonTip: If one serving of fro-yo isn’t enough for you, you can get a whole fro-yo Bigg Chill pie.
2. Churro Borough
Photo courtesy of @churroboroughla on Instagram
Churros and ice cream, need I say more? Churro Borough specializes in small batch flavors. Not only do they make churro ice cream sandwiches, but they also make churro fries and churro bites.
3. DK’s Donuts
Photo courtesy of @dksdonuts on Instagram
DK’s Donuts takes a fun spin on the well-known, New York cronut. DK’s Donuts is the home of the double decker O’nut (their name for a cronut). The double-decker O’nut is a cronut stuffed with frosting. They also make waffle donuts called Wow-nuts, as well as an ice cream-stuffed cronut.
4. The Milk Shop
Photo courtesy of @themilkshop_la on Instagram
The Milk Shop takes a classic Gossip Girl favorite, the macaron, and makes it a perfect summer treat. And if that doesn’t sound good enough, they also dip the ice cream sandwich in a topping of your choice.
5. Churros Calientes
Photo courtesy of @dinela on Instagram
Churros Calientes the home of organic churros. Not only are they absolutely delicious, but they can be paired with ice cream or drizzled with caramel, chocolate, dulce de leche, guava, sweet condensed milk or Nutella. SO MANY OPTIONS!
6. Honeymee
Photo courtesy of @gterraneo on Instagram
Honeymee, in addition to the adorable name, also has adorable soft serve ice cream. Their true milk ice cream can be topped with honey, honeycomb, Ghirardelli chocolate, or can even be made into an affogato.
7. Baked Bear
Photo courtesy of @thebakedbear on Instagram
The Baked Bear is the home of everything ice cream sandwiches. They make cookie ice cream sandwiches, brownie sandwiches and DONUT ice cream sandwiches. And if you can’t decide on just one, they can even mix and match with their brownies, cookies, and donuts.
8. The Dirty Cookie
Photo courtesy of @girlswhofork on Instagram
The Dirty Cookie makes the best shots ever (cookie shots with flavored milk, of course). They have a variety of flavors: the classic chocolate chip cookie, a chocolate chocolate cookie and red velvet cookie shots. They even have flavored milk like vanilla and chocolate milk.
#SpoonTip: If you’re a coffee lover, you can always get cold-pressed coffee in your shot instead of milk.
9. Cauldron Ice Cream
Photo courtesy of @cauldronicecream on Instagram
Although most go for the Hong Kong egg waffle cone, Cauldron Ice Cream is made to order. Along with their many toppings and designs, they can even make your ice cream into a rose shape. Cauldron Ice Cream was named one of The 20 Most Insta-Worthy Ice Cream Spots in California.
10. Donut Bar
Photo courtesy of @ccb5 on Instagram
The Donut Bar is known for their entirely creative and larger-than-life donuts. Although one of their most talked about donuts is the creme brûlée donut, which has a crunchy sugar shell and a cream filling, they also have donuts filled with things like Oreos and Pop Tarts.
11. Van’s Bakery
Photo courtesy of @vansbakerysj on Instagram
Van’s Bakery is a small mom-and-pop ice cream and macaron shop in San Fransisco. Their specialty is an unbelievable toasted s’more ice cream macaroon combo. Does it get any better than that?
12. Sidecar Doughnuts
Photo courtesy of @sidecardoughnuts on Instagram
Sidecar Doughnuts makes their donuts fresh everyday in-house. As you walk in, you’re greeted with amazing donut smells. Featuring on-point seasonal flavors like blueberry cheesecake, apple fritter and lemon pound cake, they also have their classics flavors like huckleberry, butter and salt, maple bacon and gluten-free donuts.
13. Amorino USA
Photo courtesy of @lukeyvuitton on Instagram
Amorino USA has gelato shops all over the world. Not only do they have rich and creamy gelato flavors, but they also have unbelievably refreshing sorbets. To top it all off, they can shape any of their ice cream flavors into a beautiful, very realistic rose.
#SpoonTip: You can get up to 20 flavors in one rose-shaped ice cream.
14. Mr. Holmes Bakehouse
Photo courtesy of @aesthetically.wheezing on Instagram
Mr. Holmes Bakehouse in San Fransisco makes a variety of amazing pastries and desserts. They are most known for the “cruffin,” which is a hybrid of the croissant and muffin. Their cruffin, as well as their donuts, are filled with many flavorful and creamy fillings. A destination for many, Mr. Holmes Bakehouse has an illuminated pink sign that reads “I got Baked in San Fransisco,” which has quickly become their slogan.
#SpoonTip: Keep a lookout for a Mr. Holmes Bakehouse opening in LA coming soon.
15. Dandelion Chocolate
Photo courtesy of @theyumdiaries on Instagram
Dandelion Chocolate is a chocolate factory in San Fran. They have a huge variety of chocolates as well as chocolate taste-tester flights. One of their amazing chocolate creations includes the gourmet, ooey-gooey s’more. This chocolate factory is a chocolate lover’s heaven.
16. Afters Ice Cream
Photo courtesy of @aftersicecream on Instagram
Afters Ice Cream has handcrafted ice cream flavors such as Vietnamese Coffee, Jasmine Milk Tea, Cookie Monster, and Milk and Cereal. Afters Ice Cream is famous for their milky buns stuffed with ice cream and toppings of your choice.
Check out these one-of-a-kind locations next time you want to satisfy your California sweet tooth.