5 Takeout Desserts That’ll Make You a Hero This Thanksgiving

A blood orange and lime curd tart from New June Bakery, one of the best Thanksgiving desserts money can buy. Photograph by Neal Santos

The air is crisp; the drinks are hot; our stoops are decorated with lumpy, bumpy gourds. We’re all in it, we’re all feeling it, and we couldn’t be happier about it. We’re breaking bread. Feasting over turkeys and Chinese food. And for dessert? Pie, of course — but also ice-cream cake, and cake rolls, and and and ….

From left to right: Second Daughter’s bundt cake, Kouklet’s bolo de rolo, New June Bakery’s blood orange and lime curd tart, Franklin Fountain’s pumpkin ice-cream cake, and Pie Bird’s mixed berry pie. Photograph by Neal Santos

Second Daughter’s Bundt Cake
In a world that long ago decided to move on from the bundt cake’s elegant, celebratory nature, Second Daughter’s Rhonda Saltzman and Mercedes Brooks have taken it upon themselves to bring it back. And man, with this bourbon-soaked apple butter bundt cake, they brought it back. Pre-order at seconddaughterbakingco.com.

Kouklet’s Bolo de Rolo
This here is a true taste of Brazil: a cake roll with layers so thin (and always changing with the seasons!) that it heaps shame on the Tastykake Swiss Roll name. Pre-order at kouklet.com.

New June Bakery’s Blood Orange and Lime Curd Tart
All year round, New June’s Noelle Wheatley Blizzard sells cookies, cakes, tarts, pies and pastries garnished with edible flowers. But the blood orange and lime curd tart (balanced with amaro and a triple ginger cookie crust) is available only during the holidays. Pre-order at new-june.com.

Franklin Fountain’s Pumpkin Ice-Cream Cake
There ain’t no party like an ice-cream-cake party. And there ain’t no party like an ice-cream-cake party with a pumpkin-shaped pumpkin butter ice-cream cake stuffed with butterscotch and white chocolate, covered in gingerbread, candied ginger and spiced pecans. That’s for certain. Pre-order at shanecandies.com/shop.

Pie Bird’s Mixed Berry Pie
As far as traditional all-American, all-butter-crust pies go, Pie Bird’s mixed berry pie is — without exaggeration — the platonic ideal. Pre-order at piebirdfarm.com.

Published as “Slice of Heaven” in the November 2021 issue of Philadelphia magazine.