5 Surprising Dessert Trends for Fall

Celebrity pastry chef Marina Sousa, owner of Just Cake, is forecasting five surprising fall dessert trends for this year. Marina is a celebrity baker, Food Network Challenge champion and winner of the celebrity cake-off on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

She recently partnered with Nielsen-Massey Vanillas on their Better Your Bake campaign to share step-by-step videos, tips, and recipes for basic baking techniques to help home cooks feel more confident in the kitchen.

Here’s what she predicts we’ll start to see in bakeries across the U.S. this fall:

1. Floral Flavors: Floral flavors like jasmine, honeysuckle and rose water will make an appearance this fall as customers seek brighter flavors to perk themselves up as the days grow shorter. I’m excited to infuse some warmer flavors into my fall baking!
2. Bite-sized Treats: Smaller desserts will likely trend through the fall and into the holidays as consumers look for ways to still enjoy a decadent dessert without packing on the pounds.
3. Global Desserts: This fall, expect to see desserts inspired by cuisine and flavors in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa to grow in popularity as customers look for ways to expand their palate with desserts.
4. Browned Butter: This simple ingredient adds a sweet, slightly nutty taste to desserts and is seeing a growth in popularity as home bakers learn more advanced baking skills. Browned butter is a simple ingredient but it can completely change the flavor of nearly any dessert. It’s one of my favorite tricks for elevating your home baking skills! (Pro tip: if you’ve never tried to brown butter before, check out this Better Your Bake video from Nielsen-Massey Vanillas to learn more!)
5. Out With Pumpkin, In With Maple: September brings the start of pumpkin-flavored-everything, and bakeries are no exception! While the past few years have been all about pumpkin, we’re going to start seeing more maple-infused desserts again this fall. Maple brings warmth and decadence to any dessert and is naturally associated with autumn.

Chef Marina recently partnered with one of the world’s premiere vanillas, Nielsen-Massey Vanilla, as part of Nielsen-Massey’s #BetterYourBake campaign to teach basic baking techniques and give home bakers more confidence in the kitchen. For more trend-forward recipes with fall flavors, as well as baking tips, tricks, and techniques, check out BetterYourBake.com.