Desserts That Are Worth the Calories
At BLACKBARN, everything that comes from the Pastry Shop, be it our breads, breakfast pastries or desserts, the goal is the same: familiar, bursting with flavor, balanced with texture and a supple element of surprise. To pull this off, it requires a creative mind, a focus on details, a pursuit of perfection and a passion for taste. Anwuli embraces all of these qualities. The only draw back is my inability to resist her creations!
— Chef/Owner John Doherty
Meet our lovely pâtissier Chef Anwuli Obidi. With her roots embedded in Nigeria, Chef Anwuli brings a unique approach to our in-house pastries.
I love to create desserts that bring you back to your childhood memories — that warm and sweet fuzzy feeling we all once had when grandmother would bake.
The whole process is a great collaboration with the team. I spend a lot of time researching as well as creating to see what sticks and look at seasons for inspiration. With a focus on seasonal ingredients — whether it be dried fruits in the winter, citrus, apples in the fall, berries in the summer, rhubarbs in the spring. The team loves tasting these desserts!
— Chef Anwuli
The three staples you’ll find on our dessert menu are:
Rum Butterscotch Bread Pudding with vanilla ice cream
Chocolate Soufflé with vanilla ice cream
Apple Cider Doughnuts with caramel sauce
Although Chef Anwuli favors those too — she highly suggests the Bourbon Maple Ice Cream Cake with bacon bits and its chocolate magic shell! As well as the Cinnamon Chocolate Fudge with espresso yogurt, vanilla cream flakes.
Cinnamon Chocolate Fudge
And don’t be shy about asking for Gluten Free options, she makes those too.
When it comes to making the Chocolate Soufflé — Chef Anwuli says:
You coat the ramekin with soft butter and it’s important that the butter doesn’t set, so while it’s still soft you pour in the sugar which will coat the butter. Then, once coated in both butter and sugar, place it in the freezer to cool. Do not use the fridge because the moisture of its air will start to dissolve the sugar. Once your coating is hard, remove it from the freezer and add the chocolate batter.
What our customers have to say:
Despite being pretty full, I’m incapable of turning down bread pudding so when I saw that on the dessert menu I knew I had no choice but to indulge. There are few things more delicious that that butterscotch bread pudding topped with homemade vanilla ice cream – it was the perfect end to the meal. Definitely make sure to save room for their desserts, as I saw a few other temping options such as cinnamon donuts as well. — Kristen H. from Manhattan, NY on Yelp
Rum Butterscotch Bread Pudding topped with vanilla ice cream
We were even surprised with a table visit from head chef John Doherty to see how we liked the food, birthday wishes and complimentary desserts. I think those little touches really impressed us.
BLACKBARN is sophisticated without the attitude. It is about the food and service from the evening we went. We definitely look forward to coming back again. I don’t hand out 5 stars easily but I’ll have to BLACKBARN rightly earned it. — David N. from Brooklyn, NY
The in-house baked goods don’t just happen on our dessert menu. Chef Anwuli makes these great pastries for brunch as well.
The most favorite are these baskets our customers get for the table. Very popular amongst the morning work meetings and yes we deliver them as well!
In-House Pastry Basket
We know that appetizers are nice and entrées are essential, but we adore dessert. That’s why we put so much emphasis on ours and our in-house selection make for some of the best desserts in NYC. But please, be the judge yourself and visit us at BLACKBARN!