4 Pastry Trends That We're Ready to 86 In 2016

February 8, 2016

Last week, we shared a few of the pastry trends that we’re expecting to be big in 2016. This week, let’s review a few of the pastry trends that we’re ready to see go away. Burn this list after reading, and let us never speak of these 4 trends again.


1.  Red Velvet Everything

Anything that serves as a vehicle for cream cheese frosting is ok in our book, and we enjoy red velvet cake as much as the next guy. But, you can’t just add a ton of red food coloring and a sprinkle of cocoa powder to everything and call it “red velvet.” So, let’s cool it with the red velvet cookies, red velvet hot chocolate, and red velvet bonbons. And blue velvet is not a thing.   

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Red Velvet Whoopie Pie. It’s like a cake, except not quite as satisfying! 

2.  Jars
They don’t stack neatly, they’re not much cheaper than real glassware or ramekins, and they make any dessert look instantly “Pinterest-y.” If you’ve ever cracked the lip of a mason jar with a blow torch, then you already know that crème brûlée in a jar is not a great idea. We’re not doing ourselves any favors with these things, so maybe it’s time we stop trying to force the issue and let jars go back to holding our pickles and jams. 

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Blood Orange Olive Oil Cake Verrines. The jar really gives it that wow factor. As in, “Wow! Why did we think that was a good idea?”

3.  Everything On A Stick
Ok, we’ve definitely been guilty of this one more than a few times (exhibit A: doesn’t the stick make these Mango-Passion Fruit Toaster Pastries  harder to eat?) but now we’re totally over the “pop” trend. Make pops for a banquet and you’re going to end up with sticks littered all over the linens. Skip the sticks and your treats will disappear without a trace!

500X500_Mocha-Macaron-Pops

Is there any reason to put these Mocha Macaron Pops on a stick, other than the ability to stand them up in a French press coffee maker filled with coffee beans?


4.  Smoked Desserts
We won’t go so far as to suggest that savory elements should disappear from dessert completely, but we’d like to kindly ask that you refrain from smoking on your dessert menus. A pear is not a piece of pork, and ice cream is not a chunk of cheddar. It was fun for a while, and maybe we thought we looked cool when we first started, but we’re ready to quit smoking.

500X500_smoked-salted-caramel-tart-pop

AUI's recipe rock bottom: Smoked Salted Caramel Tart Pops. No, we're not proud. And no, we're not posting the recipe.

Trends are constantly coming and going, and everybody is entitled to like what they like! If you see something that you disagree with on our list, or if you think we missed something major, we hope that you'll share your own pastry pet peeves with us on our Facebook page or email us at PastryTeam@auifinefoods.com.


About The Author
Carolyn Crow is an experienced pastry chef and chocolatier who has traded in emulsifying ganaches for organizing events and tradeshows as AUI’s Event Manager. Even with a Culinary Institute of America Pastry Arts degree and a University of Maryland English Literature degree, Carolyn still believes the best dessert is a brownie sundae and the best book is anything with Harry Potter in it.