A Pilgrimage for the Best Desserts in Leeds City Centre
Sep 04, 2023
**updated in August 2024**
September 4th is ‘Eat an Extra Dessert Day’, so we're on a pilgrimage to find the best desserts in Leeds City Centre.
As you can tell, we’re very happy to have a national 'Eat an Extra Dessert Day' (this is where we'll pretend we're not already doing this on the weekly), but firstly we must start this blog post with a big shout out and thank you to our lovely Instagram followers who provided us with lots of fantastic dessert suggestions for around the city.
Have you ever considered a food tour around Leeds City Centre? We will take you to six different stops, with food included at each, you'll taste cuisines from various countries around the world, INCLUDING a dessert (considering you're a sweet lover, if you're reading this blog post!)
We have guided and self-guided food tours around Leeds City Centre, perfect for those of you who enjoy eating great food!
Poco
Poco, the first Sicilian street food establishment to say ciao to the people of Leeds. Founded back in 2018 on Kirkstall Road, Poco has recently expanded into Headingley and Leeds City Centre.
You've probably heard of them, or their sister restaurant, Culto in Meanwood, but what we want to know is, have you been and tried any of their wonderful dessert offerings yet?
Our favourite is a Bombolone, filled with Nutella. With their very own Sicilian pastry chefs from Catania, the guys at Poco offer maybe the best cannoli’s out of Italy that we have tried…strong statement! They’re a delicious tube shaped fried sicilian pastry, a mouthful to say and a great mouthful to eat! Cannoli’s are usually filled with a sweet ricotta, however you can usually find a cannoli with a twist here, Kinder Bueno cannoli anyone?
Stuzzi
Stuzzi often gets raved about and rightly so, for its incredible, ever-changing savoury menu. When we think of Stuzzi, we’re transported to flavours of their oozing arancini’s, handmade pasta’s and imported cheeses…but, you can not and must not stop there.
Stuzzi offer a dessert sharing platter, which features smaller versions of the desserts they have on offer on that particular evening. It’s only right that at this point we must include that Leeds Food Tours' owner, Ellen, says she has never shared the sharing platter - can’t blame her!
A shout out again to our Instagram followers here, as we had several responses putting Stuzzi as the best dessert in Leeds, and calling out their doughnuts in particular.
Doh'hut
Dagel anyone? Savoury or sweet? Doh’hut offer both. Doh’hut’s new offering of the Dagel (a donut, bagel hybrid- this one was new to us!) has taken both their Leeds and London stores by storm.
The Dagel is covered in the ‘everything’ seasoning- Tik Tok lovers will know this one, filled with cream cheese and chive. If that’s not your thing, they have old school classics, like jam, sugar and vanilla creme patisserie, or try out one of their weekly specials; mocha, creme brulee, cereal milk, blood orange- the list goes on!
Let one of their weekly specials surprise your tastebuds- and the best part about a weekly special is you can return the next week without any guilt, as you obviously need to try them all! Doh’hut also serve North Star Coffee, which has our seal of approval.
Friends of Ham
We’ve said this once, and we will say it again - we can’t stop raving about it - Friends of Ham’s burnt basque cheesecake! It’s absolutely divine, and if you like cheesecake of any realm we urge you to go and try this for yourself.
We’d imagine it to be comparable to the likes of what you’d get in San Sebastian (unfortunately can’t confirm this as we’ve never been).
Creamy, soft, ‘burnt’ and ever-so slightly bitter in the right places, this caramel-y pudding speaks for itself.
Rather annoyingly, we’ve never snapped a pic of the - what may come across as - mysterious cheesecake, so we’re including a pic of Friends of Ham’s Tiramisu, which is nearly just as good.
We’d imagine it to be comparable to the likes of what you’d get in San Sebastian (unfortunately can’t confirm this as we’ve never been).
Creamy, soft, ‘burnt’ and ever-so slightly bitter in the right places, this caramel-y pudding speaks for itself.
Rather annoyingly, we’ve never snapped a pic of the - what may come across as - mysterious cheesecake, so we’re including a pic of Friends of Ham’s Tiramisu, which is nearly just as good.
House of Fu
With influences from LA and Tokyo, House of Fu is highly recommended by ramen lovers throughout Leeds (and soon to be Manchester!). Their Japanese menu is influenced by the owners time that he spent in Japan working at some of the countries top restaurants, working with world renowned chefs.
What caught our eye was the Yuzu and Matcha Ice Cream Sandwich.
Yuzu is a sour flavour, a cross between grapefruit, tangy lemon and sweet orange paired with a matcha sponge- the perfect balance!
This is another one that came up several times on Instagram when we asked your opinion on the best desserts in Leeds.
Get Baked
Let us preface this passage with the fact that Bruce is no more. Now if you’re questioning who Bruce is, Get Baked up in Headingley have been having the time of their life over the past couple of years with their infamous and very much viral Bruce cake, which continuously sells out within seconds of website release, crazy, right!?
Anyway, Bruce has gone and apparently Bertha is taking his place - according to them she’s the same but different to our Brucey, so I guess we better keep our eyes peeled! Other than that they sell cookies, brownies, Mississippi Mud, Banoffee, Lemon Meringue and many more pies.
Get Baked are honestly smashing the game, and their recent collab is with Fortnums in London, where they’ll be doing a takeover - the craze for Bruce/Bertha is so high that there are already disclaimers of strictly one per ticket.
There’s something for everyone which makes this a great spot, although they’re takeaway only- so this is one to be enjoyed at home.
Anyway, Bruce has gone and apparently Bertha is taking his place - according to them she’s the same but different to our Brucey, so I guess we better keep our eyes peeled! Other than that they sell cookies, brownies, Mississippi Mud, Banoffee, Lemon Meringue and many more pies.
Get Baked are honestly smashing the game, and their recent collab is with Fortnums in London, where they’ll be doing a takeover - the craze for Bruce/Bertha is so high that there are already disclaimers of strictly one per ticket.
There’s something for everyone which makes this a great spot, although they’re takeaway only- so this is one to be enjoyed at home.
OWT
We will put this up for debate to you: French Toast a la OWT, is it a dessert or brunch item? We think it can fall into both. Their current menu boasts a cinnamon bread and butter, house coulis, berries and whipped cream, sounds dreamy!
We also need to give a special mention in this blog to the Sticky Toffee Pudding at The Cut & Craft- another one that we have tried recently and blew us away, the Milky Way Milkshake at Batch, the Tiramisu at Salvo’s, Heavenly Desserts for a great selection for all and also The Swine That Dines/Here Comes the Bun’s ice cream sandwich!
Whitelocks Ale House
Sticky Toffee Pudding, salted caramel fudge ice cream and toffee sauce - a vision. Whitelocks know how to do it with their desserts which reflects in their small, but very mighty offering.
There’s nothing quite like finishing a pub meal off with a hot pudding of some sort, and their stick toffee certainly hits the mark.
There’s nothing quite like finishing a pub meal off with a hot pudding of some sort, and their stick toffee certainly hits the mark.
Whether you’re enjoying a Burnt Basque Cheesecake at Friends of Ham or an intimate evening with Bruce, we hope you enjoy this years ‘National Extra Dessert
Day’ by celebrating in style with one of the best desserts in Leeds City Centre.
Why Not Book a Food Tour?
If you've enjoyed this blog post and love finding different places to eat in Leeds, you would love a food tour.
Leeds Food Tours runs guided and self-guided tours around the city, visiting up to six venues with food included every stop.
Guided tours run on Saturdays (as well as one-off specials on other days), whilst self-guided tours can be done any day of the week at your own pace - simply follow the map and hand over tokens at each stop for your food.
Private tours are also available for corporate groups, hen/stag dos, birthdays and more.
Whichever you choose, you're guaranteed to eat loads of food, hear the stories behind the venues, and learn lots of fun facts!
