These Desserts are Equal Parts Delicious and Ridiculous

From seafood laksa ice-cream to boozy lemon meringue pie, getting a sweet fix has never been so sophisticated.

Pretty lethal

Equal parts genius and madness, the French toast at The Glass Den Cafe in Melbourne is a delightful serve of golden fried bread topped with strawberry ice-cream and seasonal berries and strewn with matcha soil, hazelnuts, toasted marshmallows and citrus meringues. To top it all off, it’s served with a pot of Nutella ganache for drizzling.

Image: Lauren Bamford

Sweet tooth

If you love dessert more than dinner, The Aviary Dessert Kitchen in Adelaide is for you. There’s nothing savoury in sight but you’ll find plenty of reinvented classics, such as Eton mess with Nutella mousse and pavlova-flavoured panna cotta. Sundaes, shareable (in theory) Pecking Plates and the signature Macaron Flower Pot, a macaron served in a pot of gooey Belgian-chocolate mud cake, round out the menu.

Let them drink cake

Is there anything more enjoyable than a slice of lemon meringue pie? Yes, when you can sip it. A concoction of advocaat, vanilla vodka, cream and lemon juice, this heavenly cocktail is the work of Melbourne’s premier vodka bar, Borsch, Vodka & Tears.

Inventive ice-cream

Seafood laksa ice-cream might seem like a step too far – ditto the black truffle and roast potato flavours – but it’s this kind of inspired experimentation that has made Canberra’s Frugii Dessert Laboratory an institution. For the less adventurous, the ice-cream roster has also featured passionfruit pavlova, Christmas pudding and Cherry Ripe.

Ice, ice, baby

Gelato Messina reveals its creative, scientific and culinary processes in the 2.5-hour Gelato Appreciation Class held at its Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane stores. The master gelaticians show you how they make their famous mixes, dish up a feast of inventive desserts and send you home with a tub of happiness.

Little treasures

Its handcrafted confections are so lustrous, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Only Mine in Victoria produces magnificent pieces of jewellery. But as resplendent as the intricate treats are, it’s the flavours inside – including matcha, dried apple and cinnamon and Himalayan salted caramel – that will have you saying the company’s name when somebody reaches for the last one.

Edible Art

Chocolate from the Daintree Rainforest is airbrushed onto the plate, concealing a gently rippled serve of rich wattleseed custard. The reddish-brown surface is then dotted with vanilla curd, bringing to mind the Australian landscape and Indigenous art. Fittingly, it’s served in Brisbane at GOMA Restaurant in the Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art, only metres from the works that inspired it.