Whimsical Desserts
By Amelia Levin, Contributor
Pie a la mode, a slice of cheesecake, molten chocolate cake. Everyone loves the basics when it comes to sweet treats, but why not tempt your eyes as well as your tastebuds? These whimsical desserts not only taste delish--they're almost too cool looking to eat. Not.
-
Hot Chocolate
1747 N Damen Ave, Chicago, IL
Obsessed with peanut butter? Mindy Segal admits she is and that's clear by her latest concoction, chocolate…again, a Napoleon-style pastry layered with peanut butter cookies, peanut butter cookie dough truffle ice cream and bittersweet chocolate foam. The sinful treat sits prettily atop swirls of port wine and Concord grape reduction, dotted with peanut brittle in chocolate sauce and a Nutter Butter cookie topped with salted peanut candy bar. -
Moto
945 W Fulton Market, Chicago, IL
The visual deception master, uber-creative Pastry Chef Ben Roche, has thought of everything, from making strawberry shortcake look like a hot dog and nachos, to his latest grapefruit dessert resembling a pink flower atop a white cloud surrounded by candy pieces. Inspired by a greyhound cocktail with gin and grapefruit, the flower is actually an image of a grapefruit morphed onto edible "paper," and the cloud is really grapefruit juice foam topped with a gelatinous bubble of liquid gin and tonic, coated with lime, and surrounded by a cubes of creme brule and toasted coconut cake plus a grapefruit slice. Talk about inventive. -
Cakegirls Limited
2207 W Belmont Ave, Chicago, IL
Now you can have your purse, and eat it, too. Sisters Mary and Brenda Maher gained Food Network stardom for their adorable cakes, including ones shaped like small purses inspired by Louis Vuitton patterns, polka dots, flowers, even animal prints, all in pretty pastels. Finished with iced initials of the purse bearer's name, these edible bags are perfect as presents for girlfriends, or who's kidding, yourself. -
mk The Restaurant
868 N Franklin St, Chicago, IL
Pastry Chef Amy Sampson's "chocolate orange" dessert's not as simple looking as its called. Three triangle-shaped pieces of dense chocolate cake (marquis) sit next to mascarpone and orange zest-filled "cannolis" that stand up on the plate in what Sampson says resembles "free form pyramids." -
bluprint
222 Merchandise Mart Plz, Chicago, IL
Known for their science-y approach to food, Chef de Cuisine Sam Burman and Pastry Chef Christine McCabe teamed up to create the "chocolate banana" dessert, a flourless chocolate cake topped with an cylinder-shaped mousse that's made by injecting frozen chocolate and banana mousses into a mold made out of an acetate-based strip of paper-like material. No, you don't eat that thing but it does make for a sweet look. -
BIN 36
339 N Dearborn St, Chicago, IL
Pastry Chef Matt Kelley says customers often get confused when the carrot cake arrives because it looks anything but. Instead of a slice of cake on a plate, this delectable treat arrives in layer form with the orange-colored cake on the bottom, topped with a thin piece of carrot gelee for extra color and flavor, and a large dollop of cream cheese ice cream, plus a dusting of candied lime. If that's not enough, a scoop of coconut and kaffir lime tapioca doused in galangal (ginger-like) caramel sauce also sits on the plate that's painted with carrot and lime-basil coulis (puree) for dipping. -
The Kerryman Bar & Grill
661 N Clark St, Chicago, IL
A boat you can eat? Yep, the "St. Brendan's Boat" dessert at this Irish pub is made to resemble the vessel, called the Kerryman, that St. Brendan took when, some say, he first discovered America, long before Chris Columbus. Puff pastry gets cut in a boat-like shape, then baked and filled with vanilla-bean flavored Chantilly cream, topped with fresh strawberry slices and "sails" made out of more pastry. Bon voyage, er, appetite.
