Whether your sweet tooth is acting up or you want to celebrate an important occasion, Tampa is home to enough dessert experiences to give anyone a stomachache. From DIY, hands-on dessert creation to adult cocktails like you’ve never seen before, check out The Cake Drip, Harry Waugh Dessert Room, and Beans and Barlour for Tampa area dessert spots every local should try at least once.
The Cake Drip
The Cake Drip is a DIY dessert bar in Hyde Park Village that makes dessert into a unique and customizable experience. Take enough trendy selfies to power your IG feed for weeks and satiate your sweet tooth with a custom creation. Owner Faronda Davis launched a kids cooking school in 2008 before deciding to bring this fairytale dessert boutique to life.
The experiences at The Cake Drip include a DIY Cake Decorating experience and a DIY Chocolate Tasting Flight.
The DIY Cake Decorating experience lets you design a cake in the studio using fondant, frostings, decorations, and candies available to bring your vision to life. This experience costs $75 to $85 per cake with an additional studio fee of $15 per person. Keep in mind you can only have two people per cake. While this is a bit pricey, you are paying for the experience, the ambiance, and the access to tools available at the studio. To-go cake kits can also be purchased.
The DIY Chocolate Tasting Flight comes with complimentary champagne. You pick a chocolate base and ingredients to create your very own chocolate bar. This experience costs $55 per person or $86 per couple at the time of writing.
Please note that according to The Cake Drip website, the In-Studio Experience will be 18+ only beginning on June 1, 2021. The self-serve kiosk will remain available to all ages during regular business hours. Reservations are required for the DIY cake experience and recommended for the Chocolate Tasting Flights experience.
If you aren’t in the mood to DIY your way to dessert, opt for their Cakedrip Cup, Munchie-kins, or Macaroons. Grab & Go Treat Boxes are also available and filled with goodies like cake pieces, fruit, and marshmallows.
Address: 1625 W Snow Circle, Tampa, FL 33606
Harry Waugh Dessert Room
The Harry Waugh Dessert Room puts guests in a separate private booth for dessert. There you’ll enjoy after-dinner beverages and rich desserts made from top-quality ingredients when you book a reservation for this dining experience. The dessert room is part of Bern’s Steak House. But for those who couldn’t care less about steak, the Harry Waugh Dessert Room is where the magic (and major calorie intake) happens.
The dessert room came to be after Bern’s founder, Bern Laxer returned from a trip to Europe where he dined at friend Harry Waugh’s London home. The experience of moving to a new location to relax and enjoy drinks and desserts eventually resulted in what is now the Harry Waugh Dessert Room, complete with 48 private booths.
Pick from desserts such as the King Midas, Baked Alaska, and Tableside Bananas Foster. The expansive dessert menu includes a generous selection of cakes, ice creams, and sorbets.
Enjoy a specialty drink like the Six-Rum Alexander, a mix of rums, liqueurs, and vanilla cream. The Harry Waugh Dessert Room is no stranger to dessert cocktails that combine bourbons, vodkas, and rums with sweet liqueurs.
Address: 1208 S Howard Ave. Tampa, FL 33606
Beans and Barlour
Beans and Barlour is the one and only craft coffee and dessert bar in St. Pete. Get boozy with these spiked cakes and ice creams. Around since 2018, Beans and Barlour serves coffee, cocktails, and desserts (most infused with alcohol).
Sip on cocktails like their Hibiscus Margarita and Wake Me Up For Brunch while waiting on your boozy milkshake to arrive. Beans and Barlour is constantly serving up desserts that not only taste amazing but scream, “Post me on Instagram!”
Beans and Barlour is currently moving from their original location to a new spot in Tampa. Keep an eye on their social media for further updates.