Sugar High at the 5th Annual New England Dessert Showcase

By: Jessica Cickay

Shortly after celebrating my wedding in September and my birthday early in October, I continued feeding my sugar high at the fifth annual New England Dessert Showcase at the Westin Waterfront Hotel. There were no shortage of ways for me to continue riding my recent delicious wave of dessert, as bakeries and restaurants from all over the region had their sweetest offerings on display for me taste and, in all honesty, shove in my sugar-loving face.

Whoopie Pies

This gorgeous mess of a chocolate cake greeted us as we entered the venue, with forks haphazardly stuck in random slices for guests to just grab-n-go. I’ve really been into chocolate cake recently – although, I’m not sure of a time when I wasn’t into chocolate cake – so this velvety milk chocolatey goodness was a great big bear hug of a hello.

Cake!

Boston Baking Company had a dizzying display of desserts for us to choose from, with my favorites being the chocolate chip whoopie pies and absolutely massive deep- chocolate crackle cookies, which were essentially brownies in a cookie costume.

Cookies from Boston Baking Co.

A fun addition to the festivities this year was a make-your-own s’mores bar, which I can’t imagine wasn’t a huge hit with everyone there since no one in their right mind could dislike s’mores, right? Right. Bowls of graham crackers, Hershey’s bars and marshmallows were just begging to be burned in the mini fire pits, so I did them them all the favor and toasted up a few and/or many.

S'Mores

My recent chocolate kick couldn’t have come at a better time, apparently, as Finale and The Chart House both made my eyes grow wider – and, likely, eventually my stomach – with their decadent chocolate desserts. Finale’s rich and creamy chocolate mousse was sitting atop a circle of chocolate cake dipped in crunchy sugar. The Chart House’s mini brownie bites were oozing warm chocolate from the center but topped with a cool scoop of vanilla ice cream and sprinkled with heath bars. Need I say anything else?

Mini Brownie Bites from The Chart House

There also were cookies, cupcakes, ice cream, shots of frosting (?!), cannolis, apple squares, eggnog truffles and pretty much anything your inner fat kid could desire (see plate of dessert below to prove it). The New England Dessert Showcase allowed me to dream about dessert beforehand, get my fingers sticky with sugar during, and leave fully satisfied but still wondering “Oooh, do I have ice cream in the freezer for later?” Mission accomplished – a true sugar fiend never stops.