6 of Your Favorite Rochester Restaurant Desserts – Post Bulletin

North Mr. Pizza | 4040 28th Street NW | 507-252-9400 |

northmrpizza.com

Classic recipe. The recipe for the white chocolate raspberry cheesecake comes from original pastry chef Heather Fulton, who is part of the former family that owned North Mr. Pizza. Current pastry chef Kara Mischke trained under Fulton for four years and perfected these cheesecake recipes that are still on the menu today.

Cheesecake for every day. Here’s a pro tip from North Mr. Pizza Kitchen: Have the cheesecake at the end of your family’s meal, even if you have room to eat it. The generous slice will also be great after lunch tomorrow. (Or why not for breakfast? You’re an adult.)

Yin and Yang: Try the “Big Peppi,” a thin crust, double pepperoni pizza with marinara sauce, roasted garlic, mozzarella, Asiago and Parmesan, and pair it with the white chocolate raspberry cheesecake. The savory pizza pairs perfectly with the sweetness of the dessert.

Joe Ahlquist / Post Bulletin

Third | 30 3rd Street SE | 507-216-9590|

terza3.com

I make it from scratch. Terza’s kitchen makes the tiramisu in-house every other day. First, the chefs whip up the base layer of mascarpone, taking prepared ladyfingers and dipping them in house-made espresso and brandy. Then come layers of creamy mascarpone and ladyfingers, all topped with cocoa powder.

From the Old Country, not from Google. The recipe comes from chef Vincenzo Giangiordano (yes, he’s Italian) who brought this traditional and classic recipe to Terza when it opened about nine years ago. It’s been a staple on the menu since the restaurant opened.

Perfect combination. Tiramisu also inspired the “Terza-misu,” a special tiramisu cocktail that combines vanilla vodka, Rumchata, Kahlua, chocolate liqueur and a splash of cream. Expect this cocktail to return for a limited time later this year.

Traci Westcott / Post Bulletin

Canadian Honker | 1203 Second St. SW | 507-282-6572 |

canadianhonker.com

Mom knows best. When Joe Powers finished the menu for his first Honker restaurant in Canada in 1984, his father kept pestering him to put his mother’s cake on the menu. The debate raged, but eventually the elder Powers wore his son down and Joe reluctantly added his mother’s coconut cake. The cake became an instant hit. “Thank goodness I did it. The rest is history,” says Joe Powers, CEO of Powers Ventures.

That’s a lot of coconuts. Over the Easter holidays alone, Honker sold enough Bunnie’s Coconut Cakes for a total of 300 cakes. At 12 slices of each cake, that’s 3,600 slices of cake.

Bunnie’s secret continues. The exact origin of the recipe is unknown. Powers thinks his mother may have found the ingredients in a 1960s cookbook. But he also acknowledges that his mother was an accomplished cook and may have put her own spin on it. In his own travels as a restaurant owner, if he comes across a coconut cake on the menu, he tries it to see how it performs. “I haven’t found one like hers yet,” he says.

Maya Giron / Postal Bulletin

Sorellina’s | 1155 16th St SW | 507-516-0641 |

sorellinasmn.com

A new take on a classic. Sorellina’s bills itself as a twist on the classic Italian cuisine offered by its sister restaurant Victoria’s, of which the tiramisu cheesecake is a direct representation. Pastry chef Rachel Dolton specializes in cheesecake, and once she learned how to make Victoria’s tiramisu, she began developing her own recipe, combining tiramisu and cheesecake for the restaurant.

Cakes on cakes on cakes. Sorellina’s makes about 384 slices of tiramisu cheesecake per week, or about 48 cakes total. It’s the most popular of their desserts, and while the dessert menu changes its cheesecake offerings, the tiramisu cheesecake is always available.

Have some coffee with your coffee. The lighter, sweeter cheesecake pairs well with Sorellina’s chocolate martini, or even a classic black coffee.

Joe Ahlquist / Post Bulletin

Marrow | 332 Broadway Ave. S. | 507-258-4184 |

marrowmn.com

Foie gras donuts? Marrow’s Danish doughnuts are described as brown pancake balls, filled with a hazelnut mousse, with foie gras serving as butter.

A Christmas miracle. The idea behind Danish Donuts came from co-owner Sarah Schwenker’s family, where the dessert is served every Christmas morning. From there, husband and co-owner Jeff Schwenker took his own long-standing pancake recipe and designed an upgraded version for the restaurant.

This translates into something… completely different. They’re called “abelskiver” in Dutch, which literally means “apple slices,” though apples aren’t usually part of the dessert anymore. Danish doughnuts have been on Marrow’s menu since it opened as a pop-up restaurant in 2018.

Joe Ahlquist / Post Bulletin

Our Paladar | 20 Fourth St. SE | 507-206-0483 |

notrepaladar.com

Leave the berries, take the bananas. While Pavlova is typically a meringue-based dessert topped with an assortment of berries and kiwis, our Paladar opts for a lighter version, more akin to Bananas Foster, with caramel and rum along for the ride.

Step 1: The pasta. Step 2: What do we do with all those eggs? Step 3: The pavlova. When the chefs at Our Paladar started making their dough by hand, they found themselves with four dozen egg whites a day. How could they put them to good use? Easy. A dessert centered around egg whites. Enter the meringue-based pavlova.

Elevation on activity. For co-owners and chefs Kiefer Manning and Nick Diaz, it’s not about overly detailed dishes that bombard the palate, Manning says. With Pavlova, it’s about making sure every step is perfect, from the perfect peaks on the egg whites, to the proper resting time in the oven, to the short shelf life of the meringue. “We want to take great local ingredients, apply a solid foundation and technique, and let everything shine on the plate,” Manning says.