Why stick with familiar desserts when you can choose truly remarkable ones? We’re talking about unique desserts that look stunning, use strange ingredients, or simply have bizarre names.
More importantly, the desserts we’re focusing on today are all treats you can make yourself. The creators of these masterpieces provide plenty of instructions and images, so you can recreate the desserts in the comfort of your own home. You could even experiment with the recipe to make your own exciting version.
Of course, plenty of other desserts haven’t made the list, including over-the-top creations offered by restaurants, some of which are featured in the video below. It often seems like companies simply try to out-compete one another with the most ridiculous creations possible.
For more ideas, check out our lists of exciting cake flavor combinations and alcohol cake infusions, not to mention extravagant 21st birthday cake ideas.
Unique Desserts
Malaysian Shaved Ice
This dish isn’t the same as the shaved ice or snow cones that you find at a local fair. There is still shaved ice in the recipe, but there are also a ton of other ingredients, including bean flour, kidney beans, condensed milk, and creamed corn.
The combination of ingredients creates a complex balance of flavors and textures. While the style takes a little getting used to, you’re likely to love it before too long. Bee from rasamalaysia.com provides a fantastic recipe that allows you to try the dessert yourself.
Miso Chocolate Peanut Butter Cornflake Bars
This recipe comes from gimmesomeoven.com and should look pretty familiar. It features the standard chocolate and peanut butter flavor combo, plus plenty of crunch from the cornflakes.
The weird twist here is the inclusion of miso paste. Miso is typically used in savory meals due to its strong umami flavor and doesn’t often feature in sweet recipes. Adding white miso paste to these cornflake bars, gives them plenty of extra complexity. You could also experiment with the type of nut butter used in the recipe to mix things up still further.
Sex In A Pan
The fun thing about this recipe is its title – sex in a pan. You could even play on this idea by serving the dessert with a sex on the beach cocktail.
The dessert gets its name simply because there are six layers in a pan. “Six in a pan” sounds like “sex in a pan”, if you’re not speaking clearly. The recipe comes from jocooks.com and has plenty of delicious features, including a cream cheese layer, chocolate pudding, and vanilla pudding.
This would be a fantastic dessert for parties, especially if you have a few kids attending. Of course, you might want to change the name if there are kids present.
Beetlejuice Buttercream Board
Doesn’t this Beetlejuice Buttercream Board look stunning? It comes from the site forktospoon.com and is designed to mimic the theme of the Beetlejuice movie. It does so well, particularly with the black and white piped buttercream.
This isn’t a traditional dessert like most others on this list. It’s more like a dessert charcuterie board instead. The dessert charcuterie board style works well, as you can choose the ingredients based on who you’re serving.
Giant Frosted Strawberry Pop Tart
This recipe follows a modern trend of making large versions of classic treats. You’re basically making a giant Pop-Tart, complete with frosting and sprinkles. It would be pretty easy to tweak the flavor in the middle of the Pop-Tart or the icing as well, giving you a different version of the same dessert.
The recipe comes from bromabaker.com and is surprisingly easy to prepare. You could even make it with a store bought pie crust rather than making your own.
Avocado Vegan Chocolate Truffles With Champagne
These chocolate truffles have a few unusual features. For one thing, they’re vegan friendly. They also rely on avocado to make them creamy and provide extra health benefits. But, don’t worry, you can’t taste the avocado, so it won’t ruin the truffles.
Then there’s the champagne. Alcohol is always a fantastic addition to desserts and champagne seems even more decadent. You can even include agave in the recipe to bring the truffles up to an entirely new level.
Keto Peanut Butter Cup Cookie Pizza
Here’s another example of giant food. This recipe comes from alldayidreamaboutfood.com, which is one my favorite sites for dinner and dessert recipes. Truly, there are some remarkable recipes on the site.
Making a giant cookie like this would be great for parties, especially as you can experiment with the toppings and the icing flavor. This recipe has another exciting feature too – it’s keto friendly. This is great news for anyone watching their carb intake.
Peanut Butter Cookie S’mores Pizza
This recipe comes from fivehearthome.com and is a variation on the idea of a giant and decadent cookie for dessert. It’s an even more unexpected recipe because the whole thing is designed to look and taste much like s’mores. That is, if s’mores were ever that large.
The melted marshmallows on the top are a perfect finishing touch, making the whole thing look even more impressive. There’s one catch though – this is a messy dessert. You’ll need to provide plenty of napkins, especially if you’re serving it at a party.
Peanut Butter Banana Quesadillas
This treat is both simple and strange at the same time. The recipe comes from budgetbytes.com and gives you a wrap-like dessert that features bananas and chocolate (a flavor combo that always tastes amazing).
Not only is the dessert simple, but it’s also versatile. You could easily change the ingredients or add extra ones to create the perfect flavor. Beth even provides a list of ideas to get you started.
Don’t worry. There isn’t any cheese in these ‘quesadillas’. They’ve been given that name because of how they look.
Deep Fried Mars Bar
The only thing more bizarre than a deep fried Mars Bar is the fact that these bars are popular. They’re commonly sold in the UK, Scotland, Australia, and New Zealand, often in fish and chip stores.
If you have a deep frier, you can easily make these treats at home too. The homemade version may be even better, as you can use sweet pastry around the outside.
Still… be warned, deep fried Mars Bars are seriously decadent. You might only be able to eat half of one at a time. If you want to try, the site cookingperfected.com provides all the measurements and instructions you need to make this treat for yourself.
Fried Cookie Dough
You might consider this recipe a healthier version of the previous one. You’re still getting that delicious chocolate interior, coupled with crisp batter.
The first difference is obvious – this treat is made using cookie dough rather than Mars Bars. This is also an air fryer recipe, rather than one that’s been deep fried. The air fried version isn’t as oily and decadent, which should make it much better for you.
The recipe comes from fabulesslyfrugal.com and is incredibly easy to follow. It’s even made using store-bought cookie dough and crescent roll dough (although you could easily make your own versions if you prefer). You might even try a similar approach with an actual Mars Bar rather than cookie dough.
Chocolate Sauerkraut Cake
This dessert manages to be familiar and unexpected at the same time. It’s you’re traditional moist chocolate cake with rich frosting, but there’s one shocking ingredient – sauerkraut.
In her post at iambaker.net, Amanda talks about the history of the cake. It seems this dessert was first developed as the result of excess canned sauerkraut and a request to school lunchroom managers to find new uses for the sauerkraut.
While chocolate cake is an odd place to include sauerkraut, the sour fermented food works well. It provides a subtle tanginess that contrasts the sweet chocolate of the cake. The sauerkraut even contributes to the texture, making the cake even better.
Peanut Butter Potato Candy
Potato candy isn’t as unusual as you might expect, but it’s still a strange product if you’ve never seen it before. The treat lives up to its name too, as potato is one of the main ingredients for this candy.
The recipe from aspicyperspective.com includes just five ingredients, all of which are familiar. The potato works surprisingly well, as it provides plenty of starchiness, without adding a ton of flavor.
You could easily tweak this recipe by using a different type of nut butter or even a chocolate hazelnut spread instead of peanut butter. Doing so would create a different flavor profile, perhaps making the candy even more delicious.
Pesto Ice Cream
Ice cream comes in plenty of familiar flavors, along with some that don’t make sense at all, including wasabi ice cream and this pesto ice cream. Pesto is a strange choice, as it’s savory rather than sweet.
Yet, there’s something about the savory and sweet balance that is exceptional in this dessert. The recipe is also very easy, even if you’re making the pesto yourself. Check out larderlove.com for full details.
Hungarian Poppy Seed Noodles
The strangest thing about this recipe isn’t the use of poppy seeds, but the fact that poppy seeds are being used to create a sweet pasta-based dessert. This is also a shockingly simple dessert, with just four ingredients.
The video above shows you how to make the noodles. You can also check out the step-by-step instructions at natashashome.com.
Chocolate Pasta With Gorgonzola Sauce
Heidi from foodiecrush.com offers a second pasta-based dessert. This one combines chocolate pasta with gorgonzola cheese and a handful of other ingredients to create something that’s delicious and decadent, without being too sweet.
I love how this recipe balances sweet and savory so well. After all, dessert recipes are often excessively sweet or just don’t get the flavor balance right.
Hunk O Burning Love Chocolate Banana Ice Cream Cake
Honestly, this recipe stands out more for its name than anything else. Seriously, calling it a Hunk O Burning Love Chocolate Banana Ice Cream Cake feels extreme, especially as the cake relies on familiar flavors.
Still… this is a delicious cake that’s worth trying. It’s also exciting because it fits well onto so many diets. In particular, the cake is vegetarian, grain free, gluten free, dairy free, and paleo friendly. You can even make a low carb version.
Tavuk Gogsu (Chicken Breast Pudding)
Now we’re up to something truly bizarre. Tavuk gogsu is a traditional Turkish dessert with a name that translates to chicken breast pudding. Surprisingly, that name is completely accurate, as the dessert uses chicken breast as one of the main ingredients.
Contrasting the chicken breast are some more traditional dessert ingredients, including milk, sugar, and vanilla extract. There’s one even more strange feature – this dessert actually tastes good. You can find a simple recipe for it at turkishfoodchef.com.
If you’re not convinced by this one, the recipe above provides a link to a false chicken breast pudding recipe. This follows the same structure and style as the traditional version, just without the chicken breast.
Basil And Bourbon Peach Hand Pies
These delicious little hand pies have an unusual flavor combination, but at least the flavors all make sense. You’ve got peach, basil, and bourbon, all of which beautifully complement one another.
The crusts of these little pies make them look even better. This crust is a little unexpected too, as it relies on einkorn flour. Einkorn is an interesting ancient grain that could be healthier than regular flour (which isn’t actually a difficult feat).
Check out the full details for this treat over at casadecrews.com. The recipe includes plenty of images and step-by-step instructions so your versions can look as good as Nicole’s.
Croquembouche
The name croquembouche is one of the unique features of this recipe, as it’s seriously a mouthful. The treat itself is also stunning. It’s a decorative desert from France that’s often used for celebrations and is certain to impress guests.
Can you guess how the dessert works from the image? It’s basically a stack of cream puffs that have been dipped in caramel and bound together with even more caramel.
While the concept of the dessert is straightforward, it can be tricky to make, due to the various components and steps. Still, the recipe from seriouseats.com will help you get started. Even if your croquembouche doesn’t look picture perfect first try, it will taste delicious no matter what.
Edible Pumpkin Cookie Dough
Why does this recipe make our list of unique desserts? Well, for one thing, cookie dough is normally a stage in the completion of your cookies – not a dessert in its own right.
This isn’t any old cookie dough either. Samantha from bitesofwellness.com has created a fall-themed version that’s vegan friendly, dairy free, and gluten free. Also, if you add a teaspoon of baking powder, you can actually make cookies using this dough.
Brown Butter Sourdough Ice Cream
Bread is a strange addition to ice cream, yet Thalia from butterandbrioche.com has created a recipe that uses sourdough and still tastes amazing. The sourdough crumbs provide an interesting crunch that makes the ice cream stand out.
While you’re there, check out some of Thalia’s other recipes. She has a delightful writing style that’s completely different to any other food blogger.
Wasabi And Cucumber Ice Cream
Speaking of unexpected flavors, what about this wasabi and cucumber ice cream from greenevi.com? The wasabi flavor isn’t intense here, just enough to create a little tingle in your mouth. The ice cream also contains plenty of refreshing flavor notes from the cucumber, making it a perfect summer treat.
There’s another cool thing too – this is a vegan recipe. That means it’s completely dairy free and suitable for many diets. Plus, the flavor combo is so good that even dairy lovers might love this recipe.
Chocolate Beer Bundt Cake With Beet Glaze
This unusual cake comes from abeautifulplate.com and has two unusual features. The first is the inclusion of beer. This provides extra flavor and moisture, making the cake even tastier than normal.
Then there’s the beet glaze. This is in a league of its own and really brings the cake to life. The style would be fantastic for a Halloween party or any time you want to astonish your guests.
Despite the unusual coloring, this glaze is entirely natural. It doesn’t use any artificial colors or additives, just good ol’ beets.
Chocolate Hummus Dipped Bananas
This is one of the simplest dessert recipes you’ll see – just bananas dipped in hummus, with optional added toppings. Yet, the recipe from emilieeats.com deserves inclusion on this list, as it relies on chocolate hummus.
Have you seen this type of hummus before? It’s often just regular hummus with added cocoa power and some type of sweetener (you could even make it yourself). You basically end up with a treat that tastes like Nutella but is often higher in protein and lower in sugar.
Candy Corn Cupcakes
Making candy corn cupcakes really is a strange idea, given that so many people loathe candy corn. Thankfully the cupcakes don’t mimic the original candy too closely – they simply use the same distribution of colors.
You can be confident that no candy corn flavor has snuck its way into the recipe, as the creator mentioned that even she doesn’t like the taste of the candy. So, why not check out the details for this dessert at damndelicious.net?
Banoffe Parfait
It’s not the flavor that makes this dessert unusual, but rather its style. Instead of combining the banana and toffee flavors in a pie, Martha from afamilyfeast.com has created a beautiful parfait instead.
Honestly, this is one of the most stunning parfaits I’ve seen and the appearance isn’t even its only feature. For one thing, making a parfait like this is actually easier than putting together a whole pie.
This style also makes it easy to play around with the proportions of different ingredients. You might want shortbread crumbs and more dulce de leche, or perhaps to make a version that’s much more chocolate rich than normal.
Limoncello Tiramisu
Sometimes the most unique desserts are the ones that take something familiar and flip it on its head. That’s exactly what happens with this tiramisu from bakinglikeachef.com.
While tiramisu is normally rich in coffee, with touches of vanilla, chocolate, and cheese, this limoncello tiramisu focuses on lemony flavors instead. Even the ladyfinger cookies have been soaked in limoncello syrup, which makes this a truly vibrant dessert.
‘Bananas Foster’
At first glance, this dessert recipe from primalwellness.coach doesn’t seem strange at all. But, once you look a little closer, you might spot the issue.
The key point here is that there are no bananas in this recipe. The main ingredient is zucchinis instead, which have been peeled and sliced so that they look like bananas.
Banana extract, rum extract, and vanilla extract are used to mimic the taste of a traditional bananas foster. The style works surprisingly well, mostly because zucchini easily takes on the flavors of other ingredients.
Sweet Potato Fries
Here’s another case of using a vegetable as part of a dessert recipe. This time the recipe comes from cottercrunch.com and features air fryer sweet potato fries.
Lindsay has done something unique with these fries. Instead of making a savory dish using them, she’s relied on sweetener and cinnamon to create a treat that tastes much like churros.
Not only is this a delicious idea, but the fries should also be much healthier than churros. That’s a win-win.
Black Sesame-Stuffed Matcha Sugar Cookies
This recipe, from loveandoliveoil.com, combines two unusual dessert ingredients – matcha and black sesame. The inclusion of sweetened black sesame paste in the middle of the cookies is a clever way to make them more exciting.
This paste is still sweet and dessert-like, but also offers some interesting savory flavor tones. It’s easy to see how people would keep coming back for more of these treats.
Chocolate Rainbow Cupcakes
Finally, we have these cupcakes from chocolatecoveredkatie.com. They look like regular cupcakes from the outside, yet have this stunning rainbow color in the center.
An even more exciting feature is that you can make the filling without food coloring. Ingredients like spirulina, turmeric, and acai powder provide the required color without any artificial ingredients. How cool is that?
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