25 Vintage Desserts We Still Love — Eat This Not That

By Ghuman

Introduction

Vintage desserts are a classic way to bring a little nostalgia to your table. From classic cakes and pies to old-fashioned ice cream sundaes, these 25 vintage desserts are sure to bring a smile to your face. Whether you’re looking for a classic recipe to make for a special occasion or just want to take a trip down memory lane, these vintage desserts are sure to satisfy your sweet tooth. From classic cakes and pies to old-fashioned ice cream sundaes, these vintage desserts are sure to bring a smile to your face. So, grab your apron and get ready to bake up some delicious memories!

25 Vintage Desserts We Still Love

From classic cakes to retro pies, these vintage desserts are still as delicious as ever. Whether you’re looking for a nostalgic treat or a unique twist on a classic, these vintage desserts are sure to satisfy your sweet tooth. Here are 25 vintage desserts we still love.

1. Apple Pie

Apple pie is a classic American dessert that has been around for centuries. It’s a simple yet delicious combination of tart apples, sugar, and spices, all encased in a flaky crust. Serve it warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream for a truly classic treat.

2. Chocolate Cake

Chocolate cake is a timeless dessert that never goes out of style. Whether you’re making a classic layer cake or a simple sheet cake, this rich and decadent treat is sure to please. Top it with a creamy chocolate frosting for an extra special touch.

3. Banana Pudding

Banana pudding is a classic Southern dessert that’s made with layers of creamy pudding, sliced bananas, and crunchy vanilla wafers. It’s a simple yet delicious treat that’s sure to be a hit with the whole family.

4. Lemon Meringue Pie

Lemon meringue pie is a classic dessert that’s made with a tart lemon filling and a fluffy meringue topping. It’s a light and refreshing treat that’s perfect for summertime. Serve it with a dollop of freshly whipped cream for an extra special touch.

5. Rice Pudding

Rice pudding is a classic comfort food that’s made with cooked rice, milk, sugar, and spices. It’s a creamy and comforting dessert that’s perfect for chilly winter nights. Serve it warm with a sprinkle of cinnamon for an extra special touch.

6. Angel Food Cake

Angel food cake is a light and airy dessert that’s made with egg whites and sugar. It’s a simple yet delicious treat that’s perfect for summertime. Serve it with a dollop of freshly whipped cream and a sprinkle of powdered sugar for an extra special touch.

7. Cobbler

Cobbler is a classic American dessert that’s made with a sweet fruit filling and a crunchy biscuit topping. It’s a simple yet delicious treat that’s perfect for summertime. Serve it warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream for an extra special touch.

8. Brownies

Brownies are a classic American dessert that’s made with chocolate, butter, and sugar. They’re a rich and decadent treat that’s sure to please. Top them with a creamy chocolate frosting for an extra special touch.

9. Pecan Pie

Pecan pie is a classic Southern dessert that’s made with a sweet and gooey filling and a crunchy pecan topping. It’s a rich and decadent treat that’s sure to be a hit with the whole family. Serve it warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream for an extra special touch.

10. Pound Cake

Pound cake is a classic American dessert that’s made with butter, sugar, and eggs. It’s a simple yet delicious treat that’s perfect for any occasion. Serve it with a dollop of freshly whipped cream and a sprinkle of powdered sugar for an extra special touch.

11. Cheesecake

Cheesecake is a classic American dessert that’s made with a creamy filling and a crunchy graham cracker crust. It’s a rich and decadent treat that’s sure to please. Top it with a layer of fresh fruit for an extra special touch.

12. Fruit Cobbler

Fruit cobbler is a classic American dessert that’s made with a sweet fruit filling and a crunchy biscuit topping. It’s a simple yet delicious treat that’s perfect for summertime. Serve it warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream for an extra special touch.

13. Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate chip cookies are a classic American dessert that’s made with butter, sugar, and chocolate chips. They’re a rich and decadent treat that’s sure to please. Serve them warm with a glass of cold milk for an extra special touch.

14. Baked Alaska

Baked Alaska is a classic American dessert that’s made with a layer of ice cream, a layer of cake, and a meringue topping. It’s a light and refreshing treat that’s perfect for summertime. Serve it with a dollop of freshly whipped cream for an extra special touch.

15. Carrot Cake

Carrot cake is a classic American dessert that’s made with carrots, spices, and a creamy cream cheese frosting. It’s a rich and decadent treat that’s sure to please. Top it with a sprinkle of chopped nuts for an extra special touch.

16. Trifle

Trifle is a classic British dessert that’s made with layers of cake, custard, and fruit. It’s a light and refreshing treat that’s perfect for summertime. Serve it with a dollop of freshly whipped cream for an extra special touch.

17. Shortbread Cookies

Shortbread cookies are a classic British dessert that’s made with butter, sugar, and flour. They’re a simple yet delicious treat that’s perfect for any occasion. Serve them with a glass of cold milk for an extra special touch.

18. Apple Crisp

Apple crisp is a classic American dessert that’s made with tart apples, sugar, and spices, all topped with a crunchy oat topping. It’s a simple yet delicious treat that’s perfect for fall. Serve it warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream for an extra special touch.

19. Chocolate Mousse

Chocolate mousse is a classic French dessert that’s made with chocolate, cream, and eggs. It’s a rich and decadent treat that’s sure to please. Serve it with a dollop of freshly whipped cream and a sprinkle of cocoa powder for an extra special touch.

20. Tiramisu

Tiramisu is a classic Italian dessert that’s made with layers of ladyfingers, espresso, and mascarpone cheese. It’s a light and refreshing treat that’s perfect for any occasion. Serve it with a sprinkle of cocoa powder for an extra special touch.

21. Crème Brûlée

Crème brûlée is a classic French dessert that’s made with a creamy custard and a crunchy caramelized sugar topping. It’s a rich and decadent treat that’s sure to please. Serve it with a dollop of freshly whipped cream for an extra special touch.

22. Bread Pudding

Bread pudding is a classic British dessert that’s made with stale bread, milk, sugar, and spices. It’s a simple yet delicious treat that’s perfect for chilly winter nights. Serve it warm with a dollop of freshly whipped cream for an extra special touch.

23. Fruit Pie

Fruit pie is a classic American dessert that’s made with a sweet fruit filling and a flaky crust. It’s a simple yet delicious treat that’s perfect for any occasion. Serve it warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream for an extra special touch.

24. Cheesecake Bars

Cheesecake bars are a classic American dessert that’s made with a creamy cheesecake filling and a crunchy graham cracker crust. They’re a rich and decadent treat that’s sure to please. Top them with a layer of fresh fruit for an extra special touch.

25. Ice Cream Sundae

Ice cream sundae is a classic American dessert that’s made with scoops of ice cream, a topping of your choice, and a drizzle of chocolate sauce. It’s a light and refreshing treat that’s perfect for summertime. Serve it with a sprinkle of chopped nuts for an extra special touch.

In uncertain times, there’s comfort in the familiar—it’s no surprise that comfort foods have been popular during the quarantine. But familiarity isn’t all we love about these 25 beloved but all-but-forgotten desserts. They were great when we were growing up, and they’re just as delicious now.

Read on as we make our case for giving these retro classics the comeback that we believe are their “just desserts.” And for more, don’t miss these 15 Old-Fashioned Cooking Tips You Should Never Use, Say Experts.

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Sugar cream pie
Shutterstock

Can we take just a moment here to wax reverential about the single-crusted, whipped-cream-topped, custard-based wonder that is cream pie? The cream pie came into existence as a way of using up surplus eggs and milk products from the family farm (think: buttermilk pie, chess pie, and sugar cream pies) and blossomed into ubiquity as shelf-stable cocoa, coconut, and bananas became more and more widely available.

By the mid-20th century, mile-high cream pies had become one of the defining features of classic diner culture. If cream pies have lost ground in the intervening decades, it can only be because so many other desserts have cropped up to distract us. And that just seems wrong. So, let’s bring them back, starting with our surprisingly healthy recipe for Coconut Cream Pie.

spring fruit and cream tart slices with strawberries, pineapple, kiwi, and blueberries
Waterbury Publications, Inc.

Speaking of cream pies, who else remembers the classic French fruit tart, which was, essentially, a single-crusted custard pie topped with sugar-glazed fresh fruit? Back in the 1980s, this slender, colorful, mildly-flavored sweet was a staple of dessert carts and also managed to pass as a brunch selection at some of the fancier hotels.

Maybe it wasn’t the healthiest brunch choice, but the French fruit tart certainly was—and remains—an attractive, delicious vehicle for fresh berries. Let’s start putting this back on dessert plates today, starting with our recipe for Fruit and Cream Tarts.

Low-calorie banana pudding
Mitch Mandel and Thomas MacDonald

In the South, banana pudding is neither banana nor pudding. It’s vanilla custard layered with banana slices and vanilla wafers. The wafers become delightfully soggy, like the Ritz crackers in old fashioned “mock apple pie” or the chocolate wafers in “icebox cake.”

It’s hard to find this old-fashioned, Southern granny-approved treat outside the American South, but we have a wonderful Banana Pudding Recipe.

Don’t miss these 50 Best Vintage Recipes from the South.

apple cranberry crisp in while bowls with spoons and red gingham napkin on wooden background
Jason Donnelly

Warm, cinnamon-scented comfort food made of stewed apples and topped with a sweet, crumbly, granola-like crust… is there anything better? Apple crisp caught on during the 20th century as an alternative to apple pie and became hugely popular in the 1980s when Americans learned President Reagan was a fan of its Southern cousin, Apple Brown Betty. Its popularity as a vehicle for vanilla ice cream was later eclipsed by bread pudding and all its iterations. But apples are much more nutritious than bread, especially if you don’t peel them, so this one gets our vote for a well-deserved comeback.

Get our recipe for an Apple Cranberry Crisp. 

Healthy blueberry-peach cobbler
Mitch Mandel and Thomas MacDonald

Like apple crisp, fruit cobblers have found themselves unfairly upstaged by the constant parade of newer and richer takes on dessert (hello, Cronut, we’re talking about you). But just because fruit cobblers aren’t so easy to find these days, that doesn’t mean you can’t make this tasty, biscuit-topped-fruit dessert at home, especially if you happen to have a wonderful recipe handy.

Get our recipe for Blueberry Peach Cobbler. 

How many of these 33 nostalgic childhood snacks do you remember?

two apple turnovers on paper
Shutterstock

Even if you’d never consider eating an apple turnover out of your hand, it’s still, at heart, a “hand pie.” Hand-sized and portable, hand pies have been around since ancient times, although it appears no one thought to use apples and puff pastry until sometime during the 19th century. What makes us wish it were more readily available these days is that it’s inherently portion-controllable. Luckily, we’ve got a great Apple Turnover Recipe.

sticky toffee date cake
Jason Donnelly

Sticky toffee pudding, a sweet, sticky, steamed dessert combining toffee and dates, first came into vogue during the 1970s in the U.K. Unfortunately, it seems to have lost quite a bit of “steam” since then. But why not bring it back, especially if it’s in the form of a fiber-rich cake studded with sweet pears and dates? This treat is best enjoyed it with a nice cup of joe.

Get our recipe for Sticky Toffee Date Cake. 

And why is it that no one makes these 15 retro summer foods anymore?

Molten chocolate cake
Mitch Mandel and Thomas MacDonald

Molten chocolate cake, sometimes known as “lava cake,” is a chocolate cake with a thick, warm, lava-like chocolate center that “erupts” when the cake is cracked with a fork. It was first introduced to Americans in the 1980s at top-tier French restaurants in New York City. Most of those restaurants are long gone, and you don’t see lava cake around much anymore either. But we miss it. That’s why we learned to make it ourselves.

Get our recipe for Molten Chocolate Cake. 

Vegetarian french toast with vanilla bourbon caramelized bananas
Mitch Mandel and Thomas MacDonald

Bananas Foster, in which bananas are sautéed in a combination of sugar, butter, and rum and then set aflame—briefly, to burn off only the alcohol content—was invented in the 1950s at Brennan’s restaurant in New Orleans. It quickly caught “fire” throughout the rest of the country, but over the intervening decades, enthusiasm for the theatrical dessert waned. Although you can still find Bananas Foster at Brennan’s, it’s rarely seen on menus elsewhere. But if you’re missing the flavor of warm, sweet caramelized bananas, we have a recipe that delivers precisely that.

Get our recipe for Banana Walnut Bourbon French Toast. 

slices of coca cola cake with milk ready to serve
Kiersten Hickman/Eat This, Not That!

Coca-Cola Cake, which, as the name implies, is made using actual Coca-Cola, is a sweet, moist chocolate cake topped with sweet, gooey chocolate glaze. It first appeared as a printed recipe in the 1950s and enjoyed a comeback when Cracker Barrel added it to the menu in 1997. It’s been keeping a fairly low profile these days, and we’re not sure why, but we’d love to see that change.

Get our recipe for Traditional Coca-Cola Cake. 

keto chocolate chip blondies
Beth Lipton / Eat This, Not That!

In 1896, the world was introduced to “brownies,” except they weren’t brown in color because they had no chocolate in them. Rather, they were golden and tasted of molasses. The name “brownie” referred to a mythical elfin creature; “brownies” were “Brownie’s Food.” Those first “brownies” were what we think of today as “blondies.” Chocolate brownies, which are what we think of when we think of “brownies,” were invented nearly a full decade later. Despite blondies having come first, they’ve grown less popular as the world has become increasingly enamored with chocolate. We understand the love for chocolate, but at the same time, we think it would be great if blondies could make a comeback.

Get our recipe for Chocolate Chip Blondies. 

baked snickerdoodle cookies on a cooling rack
Kiersten Hickman/Eat This, Not That!

Snickerdoodles are sugar cookies coated in sugar and cinnamon. Invented in 1891, they were an immediate sensation. Like blondies, snickerdoodles now suffer from the popularity-undermining affliction known as “not being made of chocolate.” And, like blondies, snickerdoodles deserve better.

Get our recipe for Snickerdoodle Cookies. 

Healthy oatmeal–chocolate chip cookies
Mitch Mandel and Thomas MacDonald

Oatmeal cookies have been around far longer than chocolate chip cookies. But while they’ve had their moments in the spotlight, oatmeal cookies have always been the “Jan” to chocolate chip cookies’ “Marcia.” And fans of television’s early ’70s hit The Brady Bunch know that it’s always “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia.” The thing is, we’re also fans of Jan, which is to say, we believe oatmeal cookies have gotten a raw deal. Let’s give them a little love, even if it means adding some chocolate chips to the batter.

Get our recipe for Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies. 

gingerbread cookies
Kiersten Hickman/Eat This. Not That!

Gingerbread cookies have been around since the mid-17th century, which is to say they were making mouths happy long before all those “more popular” cookies were even born. Of course, we all know what happened. As those other cookies came into being, their popularity skyrocketed, while gingerbread cookies increasingly became “yesterday’s news.” But we believe gingerbread cookies deserve better, especially when they’re homemade and iced.

Get our recipe for Gingerbread Cookies. 

whole 30 lemon cake in pan
Posie Brien/Eat This, Not That!

Light, airy, and bursting with lemon flavor, lemon chiffon cake was invented in the mid-1920s, but its recipe was kept a secret until 1947 when Betty Crocker shared it with the world. Sadly, that was lemon chiffon cake’s big moment, and it has not seen anything even close to that level of popularity since. We think that might change, however, once word gets around you can make it in an Instant Pot.

Get our recipe for Instant Pot Lemon Cake, and don’t miss these 20 Instant Pot hacks every cook should know.

Low-calorie grilled banana split
Mitch Mandel and Thomas MacDonald

Putting ice cream into a banana boat and topping it with chocolate sauce, whipped cream, and cherry wasn’t just a good idea when the banana split was invented in 1907. It was a genius idea then, and it continues to be now, even if the good ole banana split has been, over time, overshadowed by bigger, more elaborate ice cream desserts.

Get our recipe for a Grilled Banana Split. 

finished milkshakes with straws
Kiersten Hickman/Eat This, Not That!

Speaking of ice cream concoctions, let’s not forget the old-fashioned milkshakes they used to make to order in malt shops from days gone by. You’d sit at the counter, order your shake, and watch as the “soda jerk” (as he was called without derision) grabbed a metal shaker, plopped in some vanilla ice cream, squirted in some flavored syrup, and then whipped up your milkshake using an old-fashioned milkshake machine. These days, milkshakes tend to be churned out like soft-serve from pre-made mixes at fast food joints. But who’s to say you can’t make them the good old-fashioned way yourself?

Get our recipe for Old-Fashioned Milkshakes. 

Baked alaska
Shutterstock

One of America’s most iconic desserts, Baked Alaska is ice cream surrounded by cake surrounded by meringue that’s either browned quickly in the oven or given the flambé treatment tableside. Baked Alaska attained its peak popularity in the mid-20th century, but because it’s essentially ice cream cake enveloped in meringue (which consists of sweetened whipped egg whites) and offers an occasion to create quite a spectacle (if you decide to go the flambé route), we can’t figure out why it’s not more widely available these days. For now, you can find a recipe for a brownie-based Baked Alaska from Sally’s Baking Addiction.

crepes suzette
Shutterstock

Crêpes Suzette is another fun, fancy, flambé dessert from days gone by. Perfect in its simplicity, it’s a crepe doused in butter and orange-flavored liqueur and then set dramatically aflame (to burn off most of the alcohol in the liqueur while imparting a deep orange flavor into the dessert itself).

It’s difficult to find a classic recipe for this beloved blast from the past, but this one from Half-Baked Harvest is pretty close, although it’s served drizzled with yogurt rather than set aflame, and instead of orange, it uses Meyer lemon. If it’s the deep orange flavor you seek, you might want to give our Cinnamon Orange Lava Cakes recipe a whirl.

pineapple upside down cake with slice
Lesya Dolyuk/Shutterstock

Although Hawaii didn’t become a state until 1959, by 1906, James Dole had built his first pineapple cannery, and by the 1920s, canned pineapple bad become so ubiquitous in the U.S. that pineapple upside-down cake (so named because when it’s baking, the pineapple is at the bottom of the cake) became a trend.

Get the recipe from Averie Cooks.

chocolate fondue with sliced strawberries and bananas
Shutterstock

Fondue dates back to 17th century Switzerland, but traditionally, it was made with cheese. But chocolate fondue was invented in the early 1960s right here in the U.S., immediately becoming a huge trend among the hip, giving rise to “fondue parties” and restaurants devoted entirely to fondue. Today, chocolate fondue is rarely seen, which is unfortunate because it’s fun to play with your food, and it’s a delicious delivery system for fresh fruit. If you’d like to throw a fondue party, you can find an easy recipe for chocolate fondue at Chelsea’s Messy Apron, or if you prefer to serve your fruit pre-dipped, then we highly recommend our recipe for Dark Chocolate Dipped Bananas.

black forest cake
Shutterstock

Black Forest Cake, which dates back to 16th century Germany, is chocolate cake brushed with cherry Schnapps and layered with cherries (or, more often, cherry pie filling) and whipped cream. By the middle of the 20th century, it was Germany’s best-known cake and had also become well-known in the U.S., particularly in cities popular among German emigrés. These days, black forest cake has all but disappeared from the mainstream, although we did find this recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction, and fans of the arguably perfect combination of chocolate and cherry can get their fix with our recipe for Molten Lava Chocolate Cherry Cake.

German chocolate cake
Shutterstock

Chocolate aficionados might take issue with the name “German Chocolate Cake” because this very sweet and mild layer cake gets at least as much, if not more, flavor from pecans and coconut. Still others might take issue with the fact that “German” doesn’t refer to the country but to the last name of the guy who invented the particular baking chocolate with which this cake was first made. Nevertheless, German Chocolate Cake was an American favorite during the mid-20th century. It’s rarely seen these days, haven taken a backseat to far more chocolatey chocolate desserts. But it’s as delicious as it ever was, and we found a great recipe for it from Sally’s Baking Addiction.

Got questions about chocolate? We’ve got answers, lots and lots of answers.

italian zabaione dessert with blueberries
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Fresh Berries with Zabaione (also spelled “Zabaglione”) is a traditional Italian dessert consisting of fresh berries, drizzled generously with a custard-y sauce composed of just three ingredients: egg yolks, sugar, and marsala wine (although some variations use port wine or moscato d’asti). Although zabaione dates back to 15th century Italy, it was causing quite a stir back in the late 1970s through the early 1980s, when it was as much a default dessert order for some as tiramisu seems to have become. Some even say that tiramisu derived from zabaione.

Although it’s hard to find today, you can make it yourself with this recipe from Tania’s Kitchen. Or, if you prefer a healthier version of an Italian-inspired strawberry delivery system, then you’ll want to try our recipe for Strawberries with Mascarpone Cream.

fruitcake on cutting board

We can’t say fruitcake has ever been “forgotten,” exactly. Fruitcake has always been around, and folks are very conscious of that around Christmastime. The problem is that many regard the prospect of eating fruitcake with a least some measure of trepidation. And that’s putting it mildly. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Fruitcake, when it’s homemade with fresh ingredients, can be quite the revelation. Don’t believe us? You could try making it yourself…

Get the recipe from A Beautiful Plate

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