Who can guess what more Americans usually turn to when they crave something sweet? (I know the answer, and I turn to it most too.) I’ll give a hint. Restaurants have discovered the answer, and so it’s also the most common dessert item/ingredient offered on menus.
Ice cream. And even more interesting is what’s happening on restaurant dessert menus in the No. 2 and 3 slots. They’ve switched places in the past three years, according to Mintel Menu Insights. Cake has overtaken pie for second standing in number of dessert items on the menu.
I think there are several reasons: There’s more innovation happening with cake and more that can be done combining chocolate and cake than chocolate and pie. I also think pie is more generational. Remember the old phrase, “As American as apple pie and baseball?” Well, who would choose apple pie over molten chocolate lava cake? Maybe your grandmother.
The trendy things happening with cake are gooey chocolate, cupcakes, and more up-and- coming, cake balls. That is mini cake bites covered in syrup or rolled in pecans, etc., that fit with the mini-dessert trend—everyone’s answer to price/value and portion control.
Here are a few recent menu additions along these lines:
- Popeyes is testing molten chocolate lava cake that serves up to six people. The customer is supposed to take it home and heat it. It would be interesting to know if customers will eat that up – or not. I bet they will for a cost of $3.99.
- Friendly’s did the right thing. It recently added hot fudge-filled warm chocolate cake served with three (count ‘em) scoops of mint chocolate chip ice cream with more hot fudge poured over the top and then chocolate chips. That’s a sugar coma I wouldn’t mind experiencing. It costs as much as a meal ($6.49), but I can see a group of women making a date to Friendly’s for that!
- A few weeks ago Cold Stone Creamery came out with eight-layer ice cream cakes. (Why stop at eight, I ask?!) They have three layers each of cake and ice cream plus two layers of whatever mix-ins desired. Let’s all pause and imagine that. If I described the cake and ice cream flavor combinations, we’d be here all day. But my heart palpitated when I read the list. They are designed to feed a small army for a price of $12.99 and are available for a limited time.
I guess the bottom line is, a restaurant can play around with cobblers, pies and tarts, or it can get serious and bring on the cake and ice cream!
What do you think?
Jody Shee
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