The Biggest Desserts You Can Find In The US

You can order a typical cookie. Or, you can revel in the spectacle of a 5-pound cookie that feeds an entire table. Across the U.S., bakers are turning humble sweets into exaggerated desserts. There are pastry platters fit for a royal family, pies with 12-inch slices, and sundaes swelling with 16 ice cream scoops. Eating one of these oversized treats isn't just about satisfying your sweet tooth. You can do that with a single piece of candy. These desserts appeal because they promise unapologetic excess and indulgence.

The biggest desserts that we've found in the U.S. range from restaurant showstoppers to online bakery confections. They're colossal, multi-pound marvels meant to be photographed and eaten laughingly with friends. Whether you're planning a party, celebrating a milestone, or simply admiring what skilled chefs can do with butter and sugar, these larger-than-life sweets turn dessert into an experience you'll never forget.

When you eat Chinese food, biting into a crunchy fortune cookie is one of the most satisfying ways to end the meal. The hard cookie shell usually offers a light sweetness tinged with vanilla, while the fortune tucked inside provides a bit of fun — or more, if you're lucky. One man won the lottery using numbers from a fortune cookie. Tao Asian Bistro taps into the luck and tradition surrounding the famous treat and adds a touch of extravagance. Its giant fortune cookie is distinctive, freshly made, and big enough to feed four people.

The cookie has the classic shape you expect, but it's folded over mounds of creamy white and dark chocolate mousse instead of a fortune. A thick chocolate stripe studded with toasted almonds coats the cookie's edges. More chocolate is painted on the plate. The dessert's color comes from a variety of vibrant, juicy fruits, including the likes of grapes, dragonfruit, kiwis, mangoes, and berries.

Tao doesn't neglect the "fortune" part of its cookie, but don't expect the typical platitudes. These are risque fortunes meant to be giggled at over cocktails. "Naughtiness is a virtue" is one of the milder phrases you might read (via FOX5 Vegas).

According to Disney World aficionados, there are a few must-try experiences that should be part of every guest's Disney journey. You need to ride a classic attraction, such as Pirates of the Caribbean, plus a newer highlight, like Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind. At least one night should be devoted to watching the fireworks. And you have to try the Kitchen Sink at Beaches & Cream Soda Shop.

This iconic dessert is an ice cream sundae that's larger than most children's heads and served in a metal bowl with fake faucet attachments. Designed to serve four people, the Kitchen Sink starts with eight heaping scoops of ice cream. In the traditional version, the flavors are vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, cookies 'n cream, and mint chocolate chip. Toppings add textural interest to the mass of creaminess. You'll find crunchy Snickers pieces, chewy brownies, and plenty of juicy cherries. Ripples of hot fudge, peanut butter, and copious amounts of whipped cream complete the over-the-top concoction.

Beaches & Cream Soda Shop — which is located within Disney's Beach Club Resort near EPCOT — makes sure that the Kitchen Sink is a party outside of your mouth, too. The entire restaurant celebrates every order. Expect cheers and good wishes from your server as you and your party prepare to take on the ultimate sweet challenge.

Nothing says America like a warm slice of apple pie. You can imagine a smiling grandparent placing an apple pie on the table after the family finishes a hearty dinner. At Dollywood, the Tennessee theme park co-owned by Dolly Parton, the aroma of baking cinnamon and apples wafts past your nose almost as soon as you enter. If you follow the scent, you won't be led to Grandma's table. Instead, you'll find Dollywood's viral 25-pound apple pie.

Each pie is handmade with one pound of butter and 40 to 50 apples. "It's a fun thing to try," The Dollywood Company's public relations manager, Ellen Liston, told The New York Post in 2023. "It's delicious. It's a lot of apples, and you know, when you think about apple pie, you think about just all-American, and so, you're eating an all-American food in an all-American place." 

A single slice of Dollywood's iconic pie weighs 3 pounds and could easily feed multiple people. In a Facebook post discussing the Dollywood pie, one commenter said that their family of six couldn't finish a whole slice. Luckily, there are many ways to reheat an apple pie and preserve the flaky crust if you do want to take a slice (or, if you're feeling extra brave, the entire pie) to go from the park's Spotlight Bakery.

There seems to be an unspoken rule in the dessert world: If you want to go big, add ice cream. Over half of the desserts on this list include ice cream, including Gibsons Bar & Steakhouse's macadamia turtle pie. This dessert is infused with Illinois pride, as the first turtle candy was created in 1916 by Chicago candy maker George DeMet. It was a turtle-shaped glob of pecans and caramel coated in thin chocolate. Decades later, the turtle pie was born.

Gibsons' pie is a towering creation that stays true to the classic turtle candy profile. The base of the pie is a thin, nut-based crust. A whopping 3 pounds of ice cream is piled on top, along with toasted macadamia nuts and drizzles of chocolate and caramel. The whole pie is then covered with toasted macadamia nuts. A single slice is about a foot high and can weigh up to 2 pounds.

Sometimes, you want a dessert that's light and airy, such as a small macaron or a bite of bouncy Japanese cheesecake. There are moments, however, that demand a more decadent touch. When you're craving something rich, fudgy, and indulgent, you need a dessert like the 24-layer chocolate cake at Strip House. Each massive slice displays alternating layers of cake and whipped chocolate mousse. Satiny French ganache serves as the cake's frosting.

Foodies absolutely love the steakhouse chain's chocolate cake. The Food Network even rated it one of the best chocolate desserts in America in 2015, with chef Michael Psilakis describing it as a "crescendo of chocolate" (via Food Network). If you're not a chocolate enthusiast, be prepared to take some of the dessert home for later. Reddit users have reported that the 24-layer cake contains so much chocolate that it's tough to finish more than ⅔ of a slice, with one claiming that they couldn't finish a slice between three people.

Why try one ice cream flavor when you can have 16? Milkjam Creamery's All of Them dessert is an ice cream feast that's pretty enough for an Instagram photoshoot. The All of Them sundae lets you try 16 niche ice cream flavors that would prove tough to find anywhere else. Most flavors change monthly, so you can order the sundae repeatedly and never get bored.

Plain chocolate and vanilla have no place on the Milkjam Creamery menu. Instead, you'll find options like the eponymous milkjam, made with three caramelized milks, and black, which is made with extremely dark cocoa. More daring palettes can try flavors like pumpkin dulce crunch and enjoy the merging of pumpkin, dulce de leche, and pepitas, or one of its seasonal offerings, which include Sleigh Queen (coffee ice cream with cream puff flakes and caramel) and Ugly Sweater (chai ice cream with toffee) during the holidays.

It might seem like the flavors are too unusual to go together in a sundae — especially when topped with all of the sauces currently on offer, plus crushed waffle cones. However, those who have tried All of Them claim that they complement each other surprisingly well.

Holiday dessert tables are often heaped with pies and cakes. The Piecaken condenses the spread into a delicious mega dessert. There's a gooey and crunchy pecan pie base, a custardy pumpkin pie middle, and a spongy spice cake on top. The creation is finished with cinnamon buttercream and a dollop of apple pie filling.

Famed pastry chef Zac Young created the Piecaken in 2015 while working at New York City's David Burke Fabrick. The restaurant has now closed, but the Piecaken is so popular that there are multiple versions available. You can get a Christmas Piecaken made with cherry swirl cheesecake and red velvet cake, or a St. PatCaken featuring whiskey pecan pie, Baileys cheesecake, Guinness green velvet cake, and a salted caramel frosting.

These holiday pies can be shipped to your front door via Goldbelly. In the past, Piecaken Bakeshop has also collaborated with Carlo's Bakery to allow customers to directly pick up their pie-cake hybrids from select locations.

The 5-pound cookie from the T-Rex Cookie Company is an understated showstopper. There are no swirls of frosting or colorful sprinkles, no special food dyes. This is a simple cookie amplified to majestic proportions. Available in varieties such as chocolate chip, sea salt caramel chocolate chip, and caramel cookies and cream, each cookie measures 16 inches in width and can feed up to 30 people. A review on Goldbelly said, "By far, the largest cookie I have ever seen. It is as enjoyable as it is unique." Another added, "You really don't sacrifice flavor for the novelty of how fun and large this is."

That didn't happen by accident. T-Rex Cookie Company founder Tina Rexing spent the better part of two decades perfecting her recipes at the Minnesota State Fair. By the time she was ready for business, she knew how to please a crowd. People love the flavor of her cookies as much as they adore the jumbo size. Cookie fans in Minnesota can grab T-Rex cookies at its physical locations in Eagan or at Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport. Everyone else can order cookies on Goldbelly.

Ooey, gooey, and big enough to conquer entire families is a good way to describe Carmine's Titanic. Someone reviewing Carmine's on Yelp admitted that the sundae is "absolutely incredible," but added, "you should have a large group because even [seven] of us barely made a dent in this." To join the clean plate club, you'll need to power through a hefty combination of chocolate torte, chocolate and vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, bananas, strawberries, candied pineapple, hazelnuts, and cookies, all drizzled with hot fudge.

Surprisingly, the ice cream isn't the sole star of this sundae. It shares top billing with the inches of whipped cream heaped on top of each scoop. The ice-cream-to-whipped-cream ratio looks like it's practically 2:1. Reviewers have highlighted the fact that you'll need to dig through a lot of whipped cream to reach the ice cream layer. The cream is stuffed with toppings, so most mouthfuls will have a bit of a crunch or chew.

Walk into Wakuda on the Las Vegas Strip, and you might see something striking: a fluffy, sugary cloud hovering over a mountain of red ice. The ice is actually kakigōri, a traditional Japanese dessert created around the 11th century. Wakuda's take on the classic features Kanazawa shaved ice mixed with a seasonal sorbet and puréed fruits, topped with a sweet milk syrup. The bulging kakigōri is eye-catching on its own, but it becomes a full-blown spectacle with the addition of the cotton candy cloud overhead.

Wakuda is the sole U.S. restaurant from renowned Japanese chef Tetsuya Wakuda. Elaborate visuals are part of the aesthetic, both in the food and the restaurant itself. Neon lights glow upon works from artists like Jun Inoue and Shohei Otomo. The pièce de résistance is a pair of hulking marble sumo wrestlers sculpted by Otomo. Eating an enormous dessert in a food hall or cafeteria can make you feel like you need a slap on a bib, but in this glamorous environment, it feels almost refined to chow down on one (or two) kakigōris.

Waffles may be a morning staple, but the Wow Waffle Tower from Elm Street Diner — which boasts two locations in Connecticut — doesn't sound like something you would typically want to order for breakfast. Instead, its masses of ice cream, candy, and cake covering two Belgian waffles push it firmly into the decadent dessert category.

All of Elm Street Diner's waffle towers begin with an artistic drizzle on the plate. For the chocolate peanut butter version, the chef uses chocolate syrup. The rest of the tower is constructed with enough treats to fill a bakery case. There are two plump Belgian waffles per tower, stacked with everything from donuts to Oreos. Whipped cream, peanut butter, and chocolate syrup drip down the tower's sides, with a sparkler serving as the finishing touch. The exact combination used for the Wow Waffle Tower changes on a regular basis, so be sure to check Elm Street Diner's social media before visiting the restaurant.

Watching Creamberry employees roll cotton candy burritos is oddly soothing. Instead of a tortilla, these burritos use pillow-sized fluffs of cotton candy as their wrapper. The filling is three scoops of ice cream and plenty of toppings. Just like you might add salsa and shredded cheese at a burrito bar, here you can add sprinkles and cookie crumbs. There are dozens of toppings to choose from, but they need to be dry. Wet toppings, such as banana, aren't allowed inside the burrito because they may cause the cotton candy to melt faster.

Creamberry hosted a burrito-making class for kids, and it was hilarious. A YouTube video shows them laughing as they try to shape the giant cotton candy pieces. A few kids struggled to wrangle the cotton candy's fluffiness and ended up with something that looked more like a puff pastry than a cotton candy burrito. Their attempts make the viral dessert look even larger because of the contrast between the huge sheet of cotton candy and the kids' small hands and faces.

How long do you think it would take to guzzle a 6-pound milkshake? If you can complete the intense food challenge in an hour, Chick & Ruth's will give you a free t-shirt and add your picture to its Wall of Fame. The Colossal Milkshake challenge turns indulgence into a competition. The goal is to stuff yourself until you achieve milkshake glory. Adam Richman's attempt to conquer the shake turned into a funny "Man v. Food" mishap as he was temporarily impeded by a brain freeze. "Right now it's too cold to go on," Richman admitted (via YouTube).

Except for its size, the Colossal Milkshake served at the Maryland eatery is quite simple. It's a ½-gallon of milk, a ½-gallon of ice cream, and 12 ounces of sweet syrup blended and poured into a 2-foot-tall glass. The available flavor range extends beyond the expected Neapolitan trio and includes more adventurous options such as Moose Tracks and vanilla peanut butter.

If you dreamed about a luxurious dessert, it might look something like the Sexy Ever After platter at Sexy Fish. It's a sprawling spread of artisanal pastries, with enough variation in color and shape to please the eye. The platter changes frequently, with the chef creating special editions for major holidays. The Spooky Ever After dessert platter, available during Halloween week, tantalizes with a caramel-filled chocolate skull, pumpkin-spiced donuts, cake, and gourmet ice cream.

The Sexy Fishmas platter features a dessert snow globe you can really crack. The spring cherry blossom version wins adoration for its flower decorations and brightly colored fruits. There are obvious differences between the platters, yet they share central traits. They're visually arresting and can immerse you in an aura of luxury, as is the case with the Sexy Fish dining experience in general.

The Texas-sized donut from Round Rock Donuts is legendary. It's over a foot wide, weighs at least 2 pounds, and has an appealing orange-yellow tint due to the multiple fresh egg yolks in the dough. In 2022, Yelp ranked Round Rock Donuts as the best donut shop in the U.S., partly because of its Texas-sized donut. The donut's popularity first surged when Alan Richman featured it on "Man v. Food."

Host Adam Richman shared a peek into the baking process, too. It turns out "Texas-sized" isn't a real measurement for donut cutters, so Round Rock bakers use buckets to cut the donut shape out of the dough. The amount of dough they end up with could be used to make roughly 12 regular-sized donuts. Does upping the size affect the flavor? Not according to reviews, with customers raving that it tastes as impressive as it looks.