Now that cafes have reopened, it’s time to discuss desserts – and Manchester is home to some of the most delicious treats!
In the following list, we take a closer look at some of our favourite dessert location across the city and beyond – giving you a few potential options to indulge over the course of the weekend.
Grab a spoon….
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Shakedown
Withington
https://www.instagram.com/p/CC_pgc4F7–/
Shakedown make some ridiculously good milkshakes – even have one tailor-made for Mancunians; the Manchester Bee Shake with Honeycomb Pieces, Honey Comb Syrup & Whipped Cream.
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There’s also an Oreo-infused shake packed with cookies and cream, and a tantalising menu chocked full of waffle creations from a classic flavour of fresh strawberries and chocolate sauce.
The pick of the bunch is perhaps the Road Block: Which is stuffed with Oreos, Crispy M&Ms, White Kinder Bueno, White Chocolate Drizzle and Nutella Drizzle.
Black Milk is on a mission to create the most extravagant waffles possible. And they’re doing a damn good job, too.
The waffles and pancake stacks here are out of this world, but Black Milk also has a great range of cookie dough, sickly sweet freakshakes (some are even topped with a slice of cake) and slabs of chocolatey goodness!
The brand also got exposure on Sky News recently; with owners talking about how they will be adjusting their creations for the Eat Out to Help Out scheme running throughout August.
Oxford Road, MCR Arndale & Piccadilly Train Station
Archie’s has three locations in Manchester – popular among locals and VIPs alike for decadent shakes and waffle stacks.
One of the brand’s most popular fully loaded waffles is the Cookie Monster – which is topped with crushed Oreo cookies and then drizzled in chocolate sauce.
There’s also The Snowflake – a large waffle topped with crunchy Malteasers and finished off with lashings of white chocolate.
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Maybe skip lunch if you plan on dining at Archie’s to ensure you have enough room to eat it all up…
Ginger’s is the perfect place to go for a Mancunian-made ice cream.
An award winning real dairy ice cream business, this Affleck’s emporium offers a range of exciting flavours which even include vegan options.
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The flavours change quite regularly so there will always be something new to try on every visit; they recently served a vegan chocolate brownie flavour which went down very well!
When getting lost in Affleck’s, Ginger’s is the perfect pit stop to enjoy a scrumptious dessert and soak up the atmosphere.
Dessert Republic is a family business with a dedication to serving delicious and heavenly desserts to satisfy all cravings.
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The brand is particularly adept at Nutella recipes; whether that be on top of hot cookie dough, one of their freakshakes or fluffy loaded waffles.
Cornflake Cakes with custard are also on the menu – offering a lovely little trip down memory lane to when you were a kid.
DR use Swiss ice cream Movenpick to create their desserts and famous milkshakes – with many customers saying the flavours remind them of being on holiday (a feeling many of us are craving at the moment).
Just a short tram ride away from the city centre is Slattery, the home of desserts and all things chocolate!
The Whitefield shop is full of surprises – including the Strawberry and Marshmallow Kebabs served with two chocolate pots filled with white and milk liquid Belgian chocolate – perfect for ‘dunking’ in!
Or you could really test yourself and try their Chocolate Challenge. This involves a large portion of their American-style chocolate fudge cake, served warm, with a portion of homemade chocolate ice cream, a portion of fresh cream and two chocolate pots filled with liquid chocolate sauce. Add a glass of any of delicious hot chocolate and the challenge begins!
If you manage to eat all this (without the help of your friends) you will be rewarded with a Slattery chocolate medal and a 100g box of handmade chocolates.
Frurt specialise in Frozen Yogurt (Froyo), with dairy and non-dairy options available.
The dessert spot has several locations scattered around Manchester, with more than 50 toppings (many of which are vegetarian, with some vegan) up for grabs.
You create your masterpiece by picking and choosing from fresh fruit, dry fruit, sweets, Chocolate and premium sauces such as pistachio, ruby and Bueno including warm sauces like biscoff and Nutella.
Fress are best-known for doing a banging bottomless brunch – but you should also know about their desserts.
From brownies to cookie dough and even a topped croissant, Fress have a fab range of new and exciting sweet treats ready to try.
Customer favourites include their Afternoon Tea selection which hosts a whole tier of Fess’s homemade goodies, from their Biscoff cheesecake to a stack of blueberry pancakes.
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When chatting to Fress, they teased to their newest item launching very soon which will be a new Dream Burger: A fully-loaded Nutella bun, Oreo , strawberries, ice cream, dream cheese frosting with edible gold leaf.
Don’t fancy pigging out on a dessert in public? The Midnight Delivery is the dessert parlour for you.
This place makes all their tasty treats in Salford and delivers them straight to your doorstep through their app.
Their menu is vast and you can have anything from topped birthday cake flavour cookie dough with chocolate ice cream to a Galaxy caramel & Nutella cookie tower sandwich!
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There’s also fresh batches of brownies and share-size boxes of pick and mix perfect for any movie night.
Another spot to grab some great vegan pudding is one of the most popular Vegan diners in Manchester: V-REV.
At the moment they are working on a reduced menu – but there’s a couple of items definitely worth digging into
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These include the New York baked cheesecake with salted caramel pretzel pieces, Biscoff sauces, chocolate sauce and Biscoff crumb served with chocolate peanut butter cookie ice cream, and their thick vanilla and cookie-flavoured milkshakes.
A Tafford Centre pit stop isn’t the same without some warm topped cookie dough!
My Cookie Dough has reopened at the shopping centre – returning with a large list of flavours to try from Red Velvet to Fudge & Honeycomb (which you can customise by adding your own choice of toppings and ice cream).
My Cookie Dough also launched a Build Your Own kit which you can have delivered straight to your doorstep containing all the ingredients you need to make enjoy your My Cookie Dough experience at home.
These kits are fully customisable so you can choose exactly what goes into your box and have the freedom to create your own exciting combinations.
They are available to purchase through their website.
Hungry yet?
We bet you are.
Get out and explore Manchester’s vast dessert scene and see what treats you can find.
Eats
The 13 best bakeries in Greater Manchester, for bread, pastries, cakes and more
Daisy Jackson
Greater Manchester has one of the best food scenes on the planet, and when it comes to bakeries, our corner of the UK really shines.
From traditional British bakeries selling old-school northern favourites, to artisans who have put Manchester on the global map, we’re not short of options here.
There are tiny little award-winners, family-run favourites, viral sensations, and plenty more besides.
We came up with a list of 10… then kept remembering more places, so you can have a baker’s dozen of 13 great bakeries instead. Here we go!
Pollen, Ancoats and Kampus
PollenPollen at Kampus
Pollen is perhaps the name on this list that just about everyone in the nation will have heard of.
The brilliant, artisan bakery started life in a railway arch behind Manchester Piccadilly and quickly had queues down the street for its towering, flaky cruffins.
Since then, it’s opened its own waterside cafe and bakery in Ancoats, as well as a gorgeous modern space in the leafy Kampus, and is widely accepted to be one of the best bakeries in the North – if not the entire country.
Order a cruffin, and take a loaf of sourdough home with you for later.
Long Boi’s Bakehouse, Levenshulme
Long Boi’s Bakehouse in Levenshulme has been named one of Britain’s Best Bakeries in the Good Food Guide
Long Boi’s Bakehouse is a neighbourhood, women-owned bakery, which was recently named in the Good Food Guide’s list of Britain’s Best Bakeries (alongside Pollen for Greater Manchester).
The colourful bakery operates from a former off-license in a residential corner of Levenshulme, first finding fame with its homemade Pop Tarts, but it’s done A LOT of amazing baking since then.
Fans will travel great distances for their savoury pain au pickle (pictured above), as well as fluffy Lamington cakes and other sweet pastries.
Half Dozen Other, Red Bank and Oxford Road
Halloween specials at Half Dozen OtherPistachio cookie at Half Dozen Other, Manchester
From its all-pink warehouse in Red Bank, Half Dozen Other is one of the Manchester bakeries that everyone is talking about.
You’ve got a few options to visit, either popping in to pick up a treat from the main bakery, or visiting their cafe on Oxford Road (or indeed, grabbing a croissant from Pot Kettle Black).
Head baker Mark is a fountain of baking knowledge and inspiration, somehow coming up with brand-new creations every single week.
From Halloween specials in the shape of brains and fingers, to ever-changing flavour variations on pain suisse and pain au chocolat, there’s a reason people have made this a staple in their weekend plans.
La Chouquette, Didsbury
Bread at La Chouquette
La Chouquette is widely accepted to be one of Greater Manchester’s top bakeries, famed for its traditional French pastries, desserts and cakes.
The queues out the door every weekend speak for themselves – these are almond croissants worth travelling for.
Founded by Mairead Deignan and Florent Verove, La Chouquette has grown in size and gone on to open a second site, Piqniq, serving sandwiches on proper baguettes.
Hive Bakehouse, Westhoughton
Pistachio cruffins, fresh focaccia, and sticky toffee Danishes – have we caught your attention yet?
What started as a lockdown hobby in the owner’s garden has flourished into a beautiful cafe set inside an old stables, and we definitely recommend giving Hive Bakehouse a visit.
Whether you want to visit their cafe to try their delicious bakes, or you’re a business looking for bread suppliers, Hive Bakehouse has got it all – and by visiting them, you’re also supporting a lovely family-run business, too.
The Flat Baker, Ancoats
Viral Manchester bakery The Flat Baker
If you haven’t seen The Flat Baker on social media, you must not be on social media at all, because this place is an online sensation.
And the bakes really live up to the hype, too. Owned by Debs and Matt, who started the business out of their flat in lockdown, they’ve gone from a tiny hatch in Ancoats to their own sunny cafe just next door.
There’s a counter packed with their phenomenal Brazilian and French bakes, including traditional brigadeiros, their famed pistachio range, and delicate savoury pastries. There’s not a bad order to be had, truthfully.
Companio, Ancoats and Northern Quarter
There’s something about Companio that feels more honest-to-goodness than most of the other bakeries in Greater Manchester – maybe it’s the way you can see the bakers pummelling dough just behind the counter.
Now with two sites in the city centre, there’s even more chance to pick up giant sourdough loaves, freshly-made Danishes, or maritozzi bursting at the seams with cream.
There’s something VERY satisfying about sitting eating a freshly-baked pastry while you watch a baker roll out the next batch right in front of you.
Polish bakehouse Sticky Fingers now has a new (second) home, which means even more chance of grabbing one of their insane bakes.
Run by partners Adrian and Klaudyna, the new Underbank cafe is serving up all of their usual best-sellers, alongside proper good coffee to pair with it.
The new spot is stacked with all their cult classics – think blackcurrant Bakewell brioche, rich banoffee danishes, and cherry-topped pastries. It’s no wonder they sell out the minute stuff hits the trays.
This family-run bakery was set up by teacher-turned-baker Matt Townley, whose bread delivery business went pretty busy during lockdown (look, not all of us got into baking our own sourdough).
They’ve always got loads of specials worth popping in for, whether it’s a tear-and-share brioche heart for Valentine’s Day, or a supersized Easter hot cross bun loaf.
It’s a real class act, and you can see the talented team of bakers at work inside the cafe too.
Lottie’s Bakehouse, Chinatown
There’s a fabulous Chinese bakery right in the heart of Chinatown, serving up traditional Chinese treats and Japanese fusion baked goods.
There’s everything from pandon coconut buns and maple syrup toast, to seaweed rolls, pineapple buns, coffee rotis, and LOADS more.
You can even customise your own cakes, as well as enjoy matcha, coffee, and traditional Chinese drinks on the side too. Don’t miss their bow-shaped croissants.
Loafi, Ramsbottom
A cross-section of the custard tartInside Loafi in Ramsbottom
Forget your fancy-pants artisan bakes or viennoiseries – this bakery up in Ramsbottom is all about old-fashioned and traditional northern bakes. And it’s absolutely brilliant.
Whether it’s a sticky-bottomed Eccles cake, a corned beef sandwich on a soft milk roll, or a primary school reminiscent cornflake tart, Loafi is really celebrating the North West in all its eras.
And then the star of the show – their custard tart. These fly off the counter within minutes of landing, but we’ll go to great lengths to get our hands on that Manchester Tart again in this lifetime.
Hidden on an industrial estate in Salford, Mayya is dishing out some of the best baked goods around – and yes, that includes cinnamon rolls so good they might ruin all others for you.
What started as a homegrown hobby has flourished into a cosy spot for proper Turkish comfort food, from freshly made gözleme (or gozzies for short) to bigger dishes if you fancy sitting in.
Grab yourself a fresh juice or one of their silky coffees to sip on and you’ve got the ultimate little treat.
As with all good neighbourhood venues, All Things Nice wears a few different hats.
By day, it’s a cafe and bakery where you can tuck in to fresh pasties, homemade bagels, and brunch dishes perched atop their in-house loaves; by night, it’s all about homemade sourdough pizzas, great wine, and premium meats from local butchers.
Their bakes and cakes are absolutely beautiful – they really do hit the nail on the head with everything they pop on the menu.
Inside Plere, Chorlton’s sunniest new bar with great wines and tinned fish
Daisy Jackson
Chorlton’s sunniest street has a new addition, with the arrival of wine bar and small plates restaurant Plere.
The new opening comes from couple Lee and Fiona, who’ve taken up a unit on Beech Road that’s been vacant for a few years and turned into a beautiful, light-flooded neighbourhood venue.
Plere takes its name from the Latin term ‘to fulfill’, and that’s exactly what this new spot has been doing ever since its arrival last month.
Plere’s menu is made up of easy small plates, including charcuterie and cheese plates, Portuguese tinned fish, and hummus, all served with quality bread from Holy Grain.
There’s a decent selection of craft beer too, including their own lager on draught in collaboration with Cloudwater, and tonnes of different wines available by the glass.
Inside Plere in ChorltonThe sunny terrace at Plere
There pavement terrace is a proper little sun-trap too, so it’s perfect for enjoying a pint or two in the Manchester sun.
With DJs spinning vinyls until late across the weekend and a solid team on the bar, this is a new opening you should get behind.
On launch weekend, Lee and Fiona wrote: “We are completely overwhelmed by all the lovely comments and amazing responses from you all on our opening weekend.
“Thank you so much for making us feel so welcome, we look forward to seeing you soon.”
Jess Walmsley -
7th August 2020 
