Picking the right dessert at Baton Rouge restaurants is a piece of cake
Everyone’s got their favorite dessert. Some of us crave pies and the promise of forkfuls of flaky pastry. Others go for that seminal regional favorite bread pudding and its tender soaked bread and boozy finish. Cheesecake and crème brûlée disciples remain faithful to classics that refuse dismissal from dessert menus. And then there are the cake devotees, who believe dessert means spongy layers and creamy frosting. A perfect slice ceremoniously plated invites enthusiastic sharing—or stingy hoarding.
“Cakes inspire a joy that other desserts can’t seem to match,” says Louisiana Culinary Institute pastry chef instructor Christina Nicosia. “They have been part of celebrations since recorded times.”
Nicosia tells her students that cakes were offered to Artemis in Ancient Greece and helped families solidify alliances in Imperial Rome. Since the Middle Ages, they’ve marked children’s birthdays and they remain a fundamental part of life’s milestones.
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“The layers evoke our memories of family and friends,” Nicosia says. “It must be the indulgence of moist sponge and creamy filling, covered in yummy buttercream.”
Capital Region cake fans source their favorites through the area’s popular bakeries and its growing community of home-based artisan bakers. But they also seek out generous wedges from restaurant dessert menus, where signature cakes occupy an inflexible part of the sweets lineup. In some cases, it’s a restaurant’s calling card.
When planning the 2017 opening of barbecue and seafood eatery BRQ, co-owner Charlie Ruffolo says a lot of thought went into creating a signature dessert. The team decided on carrot cake.
“We wanted to create something special and memorable,” Ruffolo says. “We discussed several menu options, and the carrot cake took on its own unique flavor and experience.”
Nine years later, the restaurant still bakes and serves mammoth slices of its housemade carrot cake. A finished whole cake, weighing in at 50 pounds, is cut into eight servings, Ruffolo says. At more than six pounds each, a slice feels like an event rather than just dessert.
At The Colonel’s Club, the trim dessert menu features Nannette’s Double Chocolate Cake, an exclusive to the restaurant. Made by veteran cottage baker Nannette Mayhall, the rich delicacy is The Colonel’s Club’s top-selling dessert, says general manager Bradley Easley.
“When we initially created our menu, we didn’t have anything chocolate,” Easley says. “I’ve worked with Nannette for many years. She’s a staple in the Baton Rouge community and neighbor of The Colonel’s Club. We’re proud to be the only restaurant in town featuring her double chocolate cake.”
Mayhall’s intense chocolate layers may only be found at The Colonel’s Club, but Perkins Road Overpass District neighbor DiGiulio Bros. Italian Café is ground zero for her red velvet cake. A favorite across the South, Mayhall’s red velvet features three almond cake layers dyed red and punctuated with thick cream cheese frosting. Mayhall pipes decorative ropes on the cake’s sides and adds swoops of icing on top, finishing it with white chocolate shavings and red cake crumbs. She says she’s been making red velvet cake for DiGiulio’s for more than 25 years.
At Umami Japanese Bistro, the matcha crêpe cake delivers a palate-cleansing finish through impossibly thin layers of pastry and creamy filling. Owner Jimmy Nguyen sources the popular item through local micro-bakery Sweet Peony. It features alternating layers of homemade crêpes gently stacked with green tea pastry cream, topped with a dusting of matcha. Some form of the cake has been on the menu since Umami opened under previous ownership in 2016. The early version was inspired by Lady M Cake Boutique, a luxury bakery in New York famous for its fusion of French and Japanese techniques and mille crêpe cakes.
“I like having a local baker make them for us,” Nguyen says. “It’s one of our top sellers.”
Sink your teeth into these local dessert menu delicacies:
Mocha Chocolate Cake
Pastry chef Jasmine Felton infuses this cake with hazelnut chocolate drizzle and tops it with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Flourless Chocolate Sin Cake
Celebrate this staple’s 50th anniversary in Baton Rouge with a fudgy cake spiked with espresso and gilded with raspberry sauce.
Olive Oil Cake
The surprisingly light classic Italian dessert, which uses olive oil instead of butter as its principal fat, is infused with Limoncello and topped with candied pistachios.
Strawberry Shortcake
The homespun Southern dessert is leveled up with bundt butter cake topped with Champagne strawberry jam and honey sour cream.
Mestizo Louisiana Mexican Cuisine
Tres Leches Cake
Its name stems from the “three milks” used in the batter, icing and pour-over cream. Reliably sweet and unquestionably comforting.
This article was originally published in the February 2026 issue of 225 Magazine.
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