Unique Sweets

Fruit is made almost sinful again with some of the most decadent, exotic and chic desserts around.

Travel to distant lands from the comfort of a pastry box (no suitcases or passport required). Old culinary traditions are made new again at a few of our favorite bakeries, where sweets cross cultural lines and are made personal.

Between New York and Miami with a stop in the deep South, we were charmed by a Lady Baltimore cake, a Southern restaurant that re-invents regional desserts, the cutest pies with surprising fillings, and layer cakes.

Whether to swipe the sticky sugar from your hands or to catch a drip on your lip, these ooey gooey desserts require a napkin or two to conquer.

If a love for chocolate can be described as a religion, we have found the ultimate places of worship that claim devotion to little else.

Need a nibble of something sweet? Take a bite of sticky, stacked baklava and creative candies from Queens and Brooklyn, or upscale Farmer's Market fare in San Francisco. These treats may be tiny, but are huge on flavor.

Forget bacon and chocolate: we found the spots for sweet-and-savory desserts that are new to the menu.

We found the top spots from Seattle to New York to keep the kid in you hopped up on sweets (with the rest of the neighborhood).

Fave food celebs nibble on cookies that are too cool for the cookie jar, including an oat-flecked peanut butter sandwich cookie in NYC, a psychedelic sugar cookie from Brooklyn and a wacky snickerdoodle "pizza" from Chicago.

Indulge in caramel corn in San Francisco, a Meyer Lemon Shaker Pie, the creamiest of cheesecakes to have all to yourself, or a slice of birthday cake unlike any your mother ever made (on any day of the year).

Fave food celebs celebrate cakes in every form, flavor and size, from traditional French cakes in NYC and masterpieces from a San Francisco mainstay to Seattle's most exotic coffee cakes and out-of-the-box cupcakes.

Of bakeries and brunches from the Pacific Northwest to New York City, we've found the best reasons to roll out of bed in the morning.

Pies, are anything but humble in the hands of these innovative bakers.