The 5 Best Wegmans Desserts, Ranked: Taste Test & Review
As an East Coaster, I grew up visiting Wegmans with my mom for our weekly grocery trips. One of my fondest memories is when I’d be allowed to pick out a “special” dessert from their bakery section.
The Wegmans dessert selection is unlike any other grocery store. You’ll find dozens of freshly made gourmet desserts, from cakes and cookies to pies and cannolis. It wasn’t easy to narrow down this list, but here are the five best desserts you can get from the Wegmans bakery. These are some of the tastiest, most high-quality sweets you can find at any grocery store, so you’re in for a real treat!
5. Cannolis
First up on my list is their cannoli. Most grocery stores sell some versions of cannolis, but none are as fresh, creamy, or authentic as Wegmans’. Wegmans offers a couple of different varieties of cannolis in their bakery section, but they all have a few factors in common.
For starters, each cannoli has a crispy pastry shell that’s perfectly golden brown. Each hollow pastry tube is filled with a fresh, sweet ricotta filling. They’re filled to the brim with the creamy ricotta mixture, meaning every bite will have the perfect pastry-to-cream ratio.
Somehow, Wegmans makes their pastry strong and crispy enough to avoid getting soggy despite the generous amount of cream inside.
As I said, there are a few kinds of cannolis available at Wegmans. My personal favorite is the four-pack of mini cannolis, which are drizzled with chocolate. They’re the perfect size for a two-bite dessert, and the chocolate adds a little oomph.
Other options include large cannolis, chocolate-covered cannolis, and cannoli “chips” and dip (with or without chocolate chips).
4. Mixed Fruit Tart
I’m not usually a huge advocate for having a bunch of fruit on top of my dessert. I prefer to eat my healthy foods separately and enjoy my dessert in all its sugary, buttery glory. That, however, is not the case when it comes to Wegmans’ Mixed Fruit Tart.
Let’s start at the bottom: there’s a shortcrust shell that’s quite different from most pastry shells. Instead of a crunchy, harder shell, this one is tender and almost sugar cookie-like.
Inside the shell, there’s a layer of vanilla diplomat cream, which is like a super silky, rich, and high-quality vanilla pudding. On top of the diplomat cream is a selection of fresh fruits, which will vary depending on what’s in season and available at the store that day.
In my case, I find the most common fruit toppings to be strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and kiwis. According to the Wegmans website, you could also find nectarines, pineapple, peaches, cherries, mangos, plums, figs, grapes, or blackberries on your tart.
The mini and small-sized fruit tarts are perfect for one person, but the large and rectangular tarts make great host gifts for parties or birthday cakes.
3. Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies
Wegmans’ Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies are the most homemade-tasting, non-homemade cookies I’ve ever had.
The base of each cookie is soft, chewy, and packed with chocolate chips. They have that buttery, brown sugary flavor that only seems to come from fresh homemade cookies. The chocolate chips are semi-sweet, so they add some nice depth of flavor without being overly sweet.
The texture of these cookies is what really sets them apart from other Wegmans desserts. They’re so soft that they crumble and melt in your mouth, but they also have a bit of a chew to them.
These cookies are great as-is, but I like to pop mine in the microwave for about 10 seconds. This allows them to get warm and soft like they’ve been freshly pulled from the oven. They come in a pack of two, five, and fifteen.
2. Chocolate Mousse
While we’re on the subject of chocolatey desserts, let me introduce you to the ultimate chocolate dessert available at Wegmans: the Chocolate Mousse. This is probably the richest, most chocolate-packed dessert I’ve tried from any grocery store bakery.
It’s made with a silky, rich chocolate mousse and is finished off with chocolate semi-sweet chocolate curls. The mousse here is fluffy and light, which contrasts nicely with the crunchy chocolate pieces on time.
This Wegmans dessert is naturally gluten-free, so it’s a great option for those who follow a gluten-free lifestyle but still want to enjoy a rich and ridiculously chocolatey treat.
1. Ultimate Cheesecake
The best Wegmans dessert, without a doubt, is their Ultimate Cheesecake. Cheesecake is my favorite dessert of all time, and I’d choose Wegmans store-brand over most gourmet bakeries any day.
This is a New York-style cheesecake. What is the difference between this and a regular cheesecake, you ask? Well, NY-style cheesecake has a bit more cream cheese, eggs, and egg yolks than regular cheesecake, which lend themselves to an extra creamy, dense, and rich texture.
Wegmans’ cheesecake is a bit different from other NY cheesecakes, though, thanks to the addition of Greek yogurt to the mix. This brings a little extra tang to contrast all that sweet creaminess.
The crust is made with graham crackers and butter and has a toasty flavor and crumbly, chewy texture. It’s the perfect companion to the luscious cream cheese section of the cake.
Since this is one of the most popular desserts at Wegmans, it’s no surprise that they sell multiple varieties. Flavors include creme brulée, chocolate, marble, and ganache-topped. You can also pick up a single slice, double slice, or a small or large full cake.