From gelato to ice cream and cookies to cake, these are the best desserts in Salt Lake City.
Whether you visit Salt Lake City in the winter to enjoy the greatest snow on earth, in the summer to hit the hiking trails, or during another time of year, add a sweet treat to your stay with one of these fantastic desserts.
What's Your Favorite Dessert in Salt Lake City?
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Banbury Cross Donuts
For the best donuts in Salt Lake City, head to Banbury Cross. They are known for their raised donuts – and a glazed donut is a classic way to start your day on a sugar high. Or for something more adventurous, try the cinnamon crumb or Bavarian cream bismarck. Not in the mood for donuts? Banbury Cross also makes sensational apple fritters and cinnamon rolls. And be sure to pair your pick with a cold drink of milk or a warm cup of delicious coffee.
Gelato at Capo Gelateria Italiana
If you prefer to satisfy your sweet tooth with creamy gelato, Capo Gelateria Italiana is a delicious option. Tucked between Settebello Pizzeria Napoletana and Buca di Beppo, this quaint spot in downtown Salt Lake City is a perfect stop after pizza or pasta. In addition to classic Italian flavors like ricotta, Amaretto, and stracciatella, Capo Gelateria also offers weekly specials that are sure to have you coming back for more.
Gelato at Dolcetti Gelato
Another fantastic spot for gelato is Dolcetti Gelato, where you’ll be tempted by 40 amazing flavors of creamy gelato. You can always count on Dolcetti to have chocolate, pistachio, and coconut sticky rice, their signature flavor. Although this popular gelato spot can have a line spilling onto the street – yes, the coconut sticky rice gelato is that good – every flavor I’ve tried has been worth the wait.
Sage Advice: Are you wondering what the difference is between gelato and ice cream? Gelato is an Italian-style ice cream with more milk than cream that is slow churned to create a creamy, custard-like dessert.
Chocolates at Hatch Family Chocolates
If you’re a chocolate lover, you’re sure to love Hatch Family Chocolates. Choose from a wide variety of hand-dipped chocolates in a tantalizing range of flavor combinations, including dark chocolate-dipped dried fruit, milk chocolate nut clusters, and old-fashioned turtles. You can also opt for a frozen treat like a banana dipped in chocolate and sprinkled with chopped nuts or a sundae made with their homemade ice cream and housemade toppings.
Pastries at Eva’s Bakery
With an assortment of freshly baked French pastries, Eva’s Bakery serves up some of the best desserts in Salt Lake City. Stepping into the bright boulangerie, it’s hard not to drool as you gaze at the delicious treats behind the long, glass case. And it can be even harder to pick a treat! As expected, this European bakery does French classics exceptionally well, whether it’s a chocolate croissant, colorful macaron, or fruit-filled tart. For something out of the ordinary, try a kouign amann. These round, croissant-like disks from Bretagne are the perfect blend of buttery, flaky layers and sugar.
Cake at Gourmandise
For more European-inspired desserts in Salt Lake City, there’s also Gourmandise with its incredible cakes. I particularly love the white chantilly strawberry cake and the strawberry mille-feuille (also known as a Napoleon on this side of the Atlantic). You’re also sure to love the tres leches, tiramisu, and passionfruit mousse cakes. If you prefer croissants to cakes, Gourmandise is also a great choice, offering fruity delights like blueberry and raspberry croissants and nutty favorites like almond.
Italian Cookies at Carlucci’s Bakery
Just across 300 S Street from the Downtown Farmer’s Market in a small, U-shaped red-brick strip center shared with Bruges Belgian Bistro and Caputo’s Market and Deli, Carlucci’s Bakery is a hidden gem in Salt Lake City. While you can certainly satisfy your sweet tooth with a slice of carrot cake or vanilla bean cheesecake, I love their excellent selection of Italian cookies like biscotti, chocolate hazelnut, and lemon ricotta.
Tarts at Tulie Bakery
From its breakfast pastry menu to a broad selection of cookies and bars, Tulie Bakery has something to satisfy any sweet craving. I’m a big fan of their tarts, that feature sweet pastry cream in flaky crusts. Try the fruit tart featuring seasonal fruit, tangy lemon tart, or almond cream with fresh fruit and almond liqueur.
Cookies at RubySnap
While one gourmet cookie shop founded in Utah now has locations from coast to coast, RubySnap remains firmly planted in the Beehive State with its flagship bakery in Salt Lake City. If you’re a stickler for clean ingredients, you will love that every cookie is made using the freshest, purest ingredients to produce some of the most delectable desserts in Salt Lake City.
All of the cookie flavors feature women’s names, like the Mexican-inspired Frida, made with spicy chocolate and cinnamon-toasted pepitas, and the Lola, made with panela curd and topped with a fresh-squeezed lemon glaze. Even RubySnap’s take on classic sugar cookies rolled in cinnamon and sugar is named the Snickerdudette.
Tollhouse Pie at The Dodo Restaurant
Located in the Sugar House neighborhood in Southeastern Salt Lake City, The Dodo Restaurant’s decadent dessert menu features a dozen varieties of sweet treats. Choose from six staples – including key lime pie, banana cream cheese pie, and chocolate almond mousse pie – as well as six ever-changing specials. But The Dodo’s most famous dessert is the Toll House Pie. With classic chocolate chip cookie dough baked in a flaky pie crust and topped with whipped cream and chocolate chips, it’s the perfect choice when you can’t decide between cookies and pie.
Banana Puddin' at Porch Restaurant
Summertime in Salt Lake City is porch time. And there’s no dessert that conjures up wonderful memories of a laid-back summer evening quite like banana pudding. Served in a glass jar, the layers of creamy pudding, ripe bananas, and crispy vanilla wafers in the banana puddin’ at Porch Restaurant is a great way to end any day.
What’s Your Favorite Dessert in Salt Lake City?
Have you enjoyed dessert in Salt Lake City? What is your favorite sweet treat in Utah’s capital city? Are there any special dessert or restaurant missing from this list? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
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That tollhouse pie looks out of this world! Looks like we are going to have a make a stop when we are out west in a couple of months!
It’s pretty darn delish!
Wow! Never realized how many great dessert spots there are in Salt Lake City. Definitely saving these for our ski trip this winter to Utah. Thanks!
These dessert spots are the encore you won’t want to miss after skiing the “Best Snow on Earth.” Happy skiing and even happier indulging! 🎿🍰
This article is so timely as I have a conference in Salt Lake City. This list is great and my goal is to hit as many of these places as possible!
Have so much fun satisfying your sweet tooth!
We are going to Salt Lake City for my daughter’s birthday and I wanted to do a dessert tour for her. We are definitely going to visit some of your suggestions!
How fun is that? What a great way to celebrate your daughter’s big day!