The Most Iconic Dessert In Every State

The 50 states of the United States of America may have many differences, but it's safe to say they all love desserts. Pies, cookies, cakes — we love them all. Every state has its own signature dessert that you should try, and some states have even made it official with a "state dessert" designation. The signature dessert can either be inspired by that state's history and heritage or by the agricultural product it's known for. 

Some of these desserts have become classic American desserts found throughout the country or even the world, while some are still obscure and primarily only found within the state. Whichever case it may be, we've rounded up the most famous desserts of each of the 50 states below that we think are still popular to this day. The next time you travel around the country and visit a new state, be sure to try its iconic dessert.

Lane cake is the classic dessert of Alabama and is the official state dessert. It was created by Emma Lane from Clayton, Alabama, in the 1890s. The original Lane cake consisted of four layers of white sponge cake, a filling made with whiskey or brandy and raisins, and sugary frosting. These days, though, the Lane cake you'd find in many places in Alabama also incorporates plenty of the state's official nut, pecans.

Even though baked Alaska was not invented in Alaska, the name has sure made this dessert associated with the state. The dessert was created to celebrate the purchase of Alaska by the U.S. from Russia in 1867. The dessert consists of ice cream and sponge cake covered in meringue. The meringue is then toasted until it's lightly brown. You can get a baked Alaska cone at local creamery Wild Scoops in Anchorage, where the ice cream cone is topped with torched marshmallow fluff. 

Sopapilla or sopaipilla is a type of fried bread that's commonly found in the Southwest, including Arizona. Sopapillas are similar to the Navajo fry bread, except they are usually square and puffier than fry bread. Sopapillas can be made into a savory meal or a dessert. To make the dessert version, the sopapilla is usually tossed in powdered sugar or drizzled with honey.

This Arkansas popular dessert got its name because it "plays possum," as in it has a deceptive look. The pie's thick whipped cream topping hides what is underneath: multiple layers of chocolate custard, pudding, and cream cheese. It's unclear who first created the possum pie, but while similar recipes have appeared before, the first mention of the name possum pie was in a restaurant review in the Arkansas Gazette in 1983. Regardless of the origin, the pie is still very popular within the state. 

Being such a large state, it was hard to narrow down which dessert is considered an iconic California dessert, but the pie made from a berry created in California is a safe bet. The boysenberry was created in the 1920s by Rudolf Boysen at his ranch in Napa Valley and later grown and popularized by Walter Knott of Knott's Berry Farm, which is now a theme park. You don't need theme park tickets to grab a boysenberry pie at Mrs. Knott's Chicken Dinner Restaurant just outside of the park.

The town of Palisade in Colorado is known for its extra juicy and extra sweet peaches because of the microclimate of the area. Ask Coloradans, and they'll say that Palisade peaches are even sweeter than Georgia peaches, and that's why the state's iconic dessert is the Palisade peach pie. Palisade peach season runs from late June to early October, so you'd start finding Palisade peach pies at restaurants and bakeries in Colorado around that time. 

Snickerdoodles are old-school cinnamon sugar cookies. What makes the cookie special, though, is the addition of cream of tartar, which gives it a tangy flavor and contributes to the chewy texture. The name comes from the German word Schneckennulden. The cookies are believed to have been brought by Dutch-German immigrants to New England. While the snickerdoodle is not officially designated Connecticut's state cookie, it's certainly commonly associated with the state thanks to its colonial New England roots. 

No, it's not actually a salad. The pretzel salad actually consists of a crust made of crushed pretzels (with butter and sugar), a middle layer made with cream cheese and Cool Whip, and topped with a layer of Jell-O, which is usually the strawberry flavor. The recipe was first introduced in the Joys of Jell-O cookbook back in the 60s, but it remains a popular dish to bring to gatherings in Delaware. 

Key lime pie's origin is up for debate, but some believe it came from Key West, Florida, in the late 19th century. At any rate, Florida is certainly the state most commonly associated with key limes, and it named key lime pie its official state pie. Key limes are different from regular limes. Key limes are less acidic and more floral than standard limes, which give the dessert its signature flavor.

There's no denying the importance of peaches in Georgia. Georgia is called the Peach State, and the peach is the state's official fruit. The signature dessert for this state is the Southern staple, the peach cobbler. While you can find peach cobblers all over the state in the summer, head to the Georgia Peach Festival, where the World's Largest Peach Cobbler is made every year. 

A bowl of fluffy shaved ice with colorful fruit syrups sure seems like the perfect dessert to cool off on a warm and sunny day in Hawaii. Perhaps that's what makes Hawaiian shave ice so popular. Shave ice was brought to Hawaii by Japanese immigrants who came to the islands in the mid-1800s, as Japan had its own version of a shaved ice dessert called kakigori.

It's fitting that the iconic dessert of the potato state is called the ice cream potato. Not to worry, though, the dessert is not actually made from potatoes but just made to look like a baked potato. Essentially a sundae, the ice cream is shaped into potato form and dusted with cocoa powder to give it that brown potato skin look. The ice cream is then sliced in half and topped with sundae toppings like chocolate syrup and whipped cream.

If you're wondering why this ubiquitous autumn dessert is associated with Illinois, that's because this state produces the most pumpkins in the country. Around 85% of the pumpkins consumed in the U.S. come from Illinois, and pumpkin pie was designated as the official state pie in 2015. While you can find this pie in any state when Thanksgiving rolls around, Illinois is one of the only states where you can get them made with locally grown pumpkin.

Indiana's unofficial state pie is the simple but delicious sugar cream pie. Also called Hoosier pie, sugar cream pie's filling just needs five ingredients. Reportedly, sugar cream pie was made by the Amish community in Indiana in the 1800s when resources were scarce. The recipe doesn't even need eggs, so sugar cream pie is cheap to make. Wick's Pies in Winchester, Indiana, popularized sugar cream pie in the 1940s, and the company now makes 10,000 pies a day.

Scotcheroos is a no-bake dessert that's popular in Iowa. It's made with Rice Krispies mixed with peanut butter, then topped with a chocolate and butterscotch coating. As the story goes, the recipe supposedly first came printed on Rice Krispies boxes in the 1960s. The dessert is easy to make at home, which is why it became so popular in this Midwest state, but you can also find it at different bakeries around Iowa.

Peppernuts, or pfeffernüsse as the Germans call them, are crisp, anise-flavored cookies that are big in Kansas. In addition to anise oil, the cookies also incorporate spices like cinnamon, cloves, and ginger that make them great for the holidays. They were traditionally baked by Mennonites who had immigrated to Kansas from Russia in the 1870s, but they can now be found at various bakeries around the state.

The Derby pie is a chocolate and walnut pie that was first made by the Kern family in Prospect, Kentucky, in 1954. Because of the name, the pie is naturally associated with the Kentucky Derby. The Kern family later went on to establish Kern's Kitchen pie companym which actually trademarked the name "Derby pie" and the original recipe is a closely guarded secret. You can get the true Kern's Derby pie at certain restaurants in Kentucky that carry it, or find close variations of it (with another name) around the state.

Bananas Foster is a dessert involving bananas, sugar, and cinnamon flambéed using rum. The warm and caramelized bananas are then served with vanilla ice cream. The dessert was created because in the 1950s, New Orleans was a major port of entry for bananas. To this day, you can still order Bananas Foster at the original restaurant where it was created, Brennan's in New Orleans.

If there's a fruit you need to try while visiting Maine, it's the wild Maine blueberries. Wild Maine blueberries are smaller than blueberries you'd find at grocery stores, but they have a more intense flavor. One of the best ways to enjoy this fruit, of course, is in a blueberry pie. Diners and bakeries throughout the coastal state will have blueberry pies on hand. 

Maryland named Smith Island cake as its state dessert in 2008, but the cake has been made on Smith Island, Maryland since the 1800s. Smith Island cakes are all about the thin layers. The cake is typically eight layers alternating between yellow cake and frosting (the original one is chocolate fudge frosting). You'll find the cake at local bakeries around Maryland, but you can also have it shipped to you directly from the island, thanks to Smith Island Baking Company.

Boston Cream Pie is a dessert created in 1856 for the opening of the Parker House hotel in Boston (now known as Omni Parker House). The name aside, the Boston Cream Pie is actually a cake filled with pastry cream and topped with a rich chocolate icing, which was an uncommon use of chocolate back then. You can find Boston Cream Pie at various bakeries and restaurants in Boston and beyond, including at its birthplace, Omni Parker House.

Michigan is associated with fudge mainly thanks to Mackinac Island, a popular vacation destination in Lake Huron. In fact, Mackinac Island is called the Fudge Capital of the World and produces 10,000 pounds of fudge every day during the peak tourism season. There are 14 different fudge shops on the small island, and you can watch the fudge being made in most of them. In some old-school shops like Murdick's and JoAnn's Fudge, they're still made the traditional way with copper kettles.

Bundt cake is actually Minnesota's signature dessert despite its popularity around the country. That's because the bundt cake as we know it got its start in Minnesota. The bundt pan was invented by a Minneapolis-based kitchenware company called Nordic Ware when they received a request to remake a particular cake mold with aluminum. This iconic cake is now ubiquitous with numerous recipes and pan designs, but its Minnesotan origin can't be denied. 

A decadent dessert made for chocolate lovers, the Mississippi mud pie is usually made with a base of graham crackers, chocolate pudding filling, and whipped cream. It gets its name because the gooey chocolate pudding reminds people of mud. There are many variations of this classic dessert that can be found around the state, including swapping the base with brownies or Oreo crust. The one consistent component, though, is that gooey chocolate filling.

Gooey butter cake is said to have originated from a bakery in St. Louis, Missouri, in the '30 or '40s. Legend has it that the baker added the wrong ingredient proportions to his coffee cake batter recipe and ended up with an unintentionally (but still delicious) gooey cake, which later became this beloved dessert. You can now find gooey butter cake at various bakeries and shops in St. Louis and around the state.

Huckleberry is not only native to the Americas, but it was also officially Montana's state fruit as of 2023. Naturally, Montana's iconic dessert should involve this fruit. Treats made with huckleberries can be found all over the state, but of course it's hard to beat the classic huckleberry pie. Summer is the picking season for huckleberries, though you can still find the pie year-round.

Tin roof sundae is a sundae made with vanilla and chocolate ice cream topped with chocolate syrup, marshmallow cream, and sprinkled with peanuts. The dessert was invented at a restaurant called The Potter Sundry in the small town of Potter, Nebraska. The sundae was invented in the 1930s, and you can still get it at The Potter Sundry today (the restaurant has been around since 1916).

Not to be confused with Basque cheesecake, Gâteau Basque or Basque cake is a crumbly cake filled with pastry cream or fruits. The cake is popular in Nevada because Nevada, particularly northern Nevada, has a rich Basque heritage. The Basques moved to Nevada during the gold rush, then later settled as shepherds in northern Nevada. You can find Basque restaurants in this part of the state including Reno and Carsonville.

The origin of whoopie pies is still up for debate, but two things that can be agreed upon are that whoopie pies were first recorded around the 1920s-1930s and that whoopie pies originated somewhere in New England. A whoopie pie is made up of two cake-like chocolate cookies with a creamy marshmallow filling in the middle (sometimes frosting or whipped buttercream are also used). Being a New England tradition, you can find whoopie pies at bakeries all over New Hampshire, some of which have been making this treat for decades. 

Salt water taffy is believed to have originated in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in the early 1880s. While no salt water or sea water is used in making the candy, the recipe does call for both water and salt at some point. The candy became a treat associated with beachside vacations in the Northeast. Some of these taffy shops have been around for decades. Visit one to get some taffy and a sense of nostalgia.

New Mexico was actually the first state to name an official state cookie back in 1989, and that cookie was the biscochito. Biscochito is a cookie made with anise, cinnamon, and a bit of brandy. The cookie was originally brought to New Mexico by Spaniards and has become a tradition for baptisms, weddings, Christmas feasts, and other big celebrations. Biscochitos can be found at many bakeries around the state, including at Albuquerque's Golden Crown Panaderia. 

Given that New York cheesecake is a style of cheesecake that's popular around the world, this cheesecake is the obvious choice for New York's iconic dessert. New York cheesecake is creamier and richer than a classic cheesecake thanks to some extra cream cheese and egg yolks. The twist was the work of Arnold Reuben from Reuben's Restaurant and Delicatessen back in the 1920s, and New York never looked back. You can find it at many restaurants in the Big Apple.

Not only is sweet potato associated with Southern cuisine, but North Carolina is actually the country's number one sweet potato producer. Naturally, the sweet potato pie is North Carolina's signature dessert. The filling is creamy and spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg, similar to pumpkin pie. On many Thanksgiving tables in North Carolina, the sweet potato pie reigns supreme.

Krumkake is a delicate, wafer-like cookie that is rolled into the shape of a cone and made in a special iron. The cookie has a Norwegian origin and Norwegian immigrants began settling in North Dakota in the 1870s. Around 30% of North Dakota's population is of Norwegian ancestry, so it makes sense that krumkakes are popular in this state. The krumkake can be filled with cream of fruit, but it's great to eat plain, too. 

Buckeyes are peanut butter balls covered in chocolate that are Ohio's official state candy. The buckeye got its name because it looks like the nut of the American Buckeye, a tree native to Ohio (which is also the official state tree). The Buckeye Candy Company opened in 1919 to produce these candies, which became popular during Ohio State football games since the team is called the Buckeyes. Buckeyes remain popular in Ohio to this day, with six million pounds consumed each year.

Pecan is one of the major crops of Oklahoma, and native pecan trees can be found all over the state, so we chose pecan pie as Oklahoma's iconic dessert. One of the most famous pie businesses in Oklahoma is Field's Pies. Field's Pies started as a restaurant in a small town in Oklahoma back in 1925. People loved the pecan pie so much that it grew to a pie factory that makes 20,000 pies a day.

Marionberry is a type of blackberry that is a crossbreed between Chehalem and Olallie blackberries, and it was bred at Oregon State University. Oregonians loved marionberries so much that now more than half of the blackberries grown in Oregon are marionberries. Naturally, marionberry is used in a lot of desserts in Oregon, including for marionberry pies. You're bound to find a bakery making marionberry pies in pretty much every town in Oregon. 

The shoofly pie is a pie that's associated with Pennsylvania Dutch cooking and is still popular today, especially among the Amish and Mennonite community in the state. The key ingredient in shoofly pie is molasses. Traditionally, the shoofly pie has a buttery crust and a molasses-based filling. The dessert has a long history dating back to the 1800s when molasses was common and affordable, but you can still find variations of it at various bakeries in Pennsylvania. 

Despite the name, Awful Awfuls are actually pretty tasty. Awful Awful is a milkshake-adjacent drink that doesn't use ice cream, but instead combines flavored syrups with milk. The name came from a customer exclaiming that the drink was "awful big and awful good." The drink was originally created by Bond's Ice Cream in New Jersey, and a deal was made allowing Newport Creamery in Rhode Island to sell the drink. Bond's closed in the 1970s, so Newport Creamery purchased the drink's trademark and is now the only place that can sell Awful Awful. 

Huguenot torte is a dessert most people outside of South Carolina have not heard of. The dessert is thought to be an adaptation of Ozark pudding, but it's become a classic in Charleston, South Carolina. Despite the name, the dessert is not a torte and has nothing to do with the Huguenots (it was named after Huguenot Tavern in Charleston). The dessert is made with tart apples and pecans with a sweet batter. Some liken it to a blondie and all agree it's delicious. You can get it at restaurants around Charleston, like Fleet Landing or Middleton Place Restaurant.

Kuchen is a traditional German dessert that has become a staple in South Dakota ever since German immigrants brought it to the state in the 1880s. While the word kuchen means cake in German, the one South Dakotans love is technically a pie instead of a cake. Kuchen is made from sweet dough filled with either custard or some sort of fruit filling. It was designated as South Dakota's official state dessert in 2000. 

You can find Moon Pies at stores around the country, but did you know this popular sweet snack is produced in Chattanooga, Tennessee? The original Moon Pie consists of marshmallow sandwiched between two graham crackers, then dipped in chocolate. Of course, the Moon Pie is round as it's shaped like the moon. The snack was first made in 1917 and quickly became popular — first with coal miners, and eventually throughout the United States — because it was cheap and tasty. 

Like everything else in Texas, one of the things that makes Texas sheet cake different from normal sheet cake is that it's bigger. Texas sheet cake is made in a jelly roll pan, resulting in a cake that's thin but still moist. The cake is then covered with rich chocolate frosting and sprinkled with some sort of nuts. It's unclear if the dessert originated in Texas, but it's certainly a staple in the state now.

While technically a drink, Utah's dirty soda certainly is sweet enough to be a dessert. A dirty soda is essentially soda that has been mixed with other ingredients, which can range from flavored syrups to half and half. The style of drink was invented and popularized by the dirty soda chain Swig, and it has become quite the trend lately. The original dirty soda is Diet Coke with coconut creamer and lime juice. It sounds strange, but it's surprisingly tasty.

The maple creemee is perhaps Vermont's most popular summer treat. Vermont is the top maple-producing state in the United States, and has a large dairy industry. This eye-catching dessert combines the two perfectly.

The creemee is somewhere in between a soft-serve and traditional ice cream. It is generally simple to make, and most recipes add real maple syrup to the ice cream base. You can find creemee stands all over the state during the warmer seasons. 

No, it's not peanut butter — it's peanut. The peanut pie's filling is made with roasted and salted peanuts, eggs, sugar, flour, corn syrup, and butter. Instead of a smooth peanut butter pie, the peanut pie is closer to pecan pie. In fact, it's sometimes called the "poor man's pecan pie," but its fans say it's even better than pecan pie. It's crunchy, sweet, and salty. You can get a wonderful version of this dessert at Virginia Diner or get it shipped to you. 

There's nothing as American as apple pie, as they say, but Washington is certainly known for its apples. Washington grows the most apples compared to other states in the country thanks to its rich soil and the abundance of water from the Columbia River. You can find apple pies everywhere, but one of the most well-known shops is A La Mode Pies in Seattle, where the French apple pies are made with locally grown Granny Smith apples. 

This West Virginia dessert is one of those desserts that thankfully doesn't actually contain what's in the name. Hot dog pastry is the creation of Spring Hill Pastry Shop in South Charleston, West Virginia. This sweet treat is actually donut dough that's shaped like a hot dog bun, split open and filled with icing. The pastry is so popular it has stayed on the shop's menu since its opening in 1948, and a few local shops have tried to serve their own variations.

An oval-shaped flaky pastry that can be filled with various things from fruit or nuts, the kringle is Wisconsin's state pastry. Kringle is traditionally a Danish pastry, and it was brought to Racine, Wisconsin, by Danish immigrants back in the 1800s. The pastry became so popular around Wisconsin that it was named the official state pastry in 2013. These days, you can find bakeries that make kringles around the state, not just in Racine.

No one's quite sure who made the first cowboy cookies, but it was unquestionably former First Lady Laura Bush's recipe that made these cookies popular in modern times. Cowboy cookies are oatmeal cookies with chocolate chips, roasted pecans, and coconut flakes. Some variations also include dried fruits. Although these cookies didn't originate from Wyoming, they're very popular in the Cowboy State, presumably because they're hearty.