Best Desserts in Austin: Bakeries, Ice Cream and Cookies
Austin, Texas — updated August 22, 2026
Austin's dessert scene runs from a Bluebonnet Lane bakery to an ice cream window at a South Austin brewery. Here are the independent spots worth the drive, ranked by how settled their reputations are.
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Austin's sweets are scattered rather than clustered: a neighborhood bakery off South Lamar, a French-leaning cafe in Rosedale, an ice cream counter parked inside a brewery yard on the far south side. That means picking dessert here is usually a driving decision, so it helps to know which places have a track record and which are still building one. The list below runs from the most proven to the most promising.
1. ThoroughBread Bakery
The strongest rating-to-volume combination on this list: 4.7 across 287 reviews, which is enough feedback to call the score settled rather than lucky. It sits at 1709 Bluebonnet Ln in 78704, a short detour off South Lamar and easy to pair with anything else you are doing in Zilker or Barton Hills. Bakeries tend to sell through their best items early, so treat this as a morning stop rather than an after-dinner one. Parking on Bluebonnet is residential and tight at peak hours.
2. épicerie
The most-reviewed place here by a wide margin: more than 1,000 reviews at 4.4, a rating that has held up under real volume. The Rosedale shop at 2307 Hancock Dr works as a cafe and a grocery, so dessert can be a sit-down course or something boxed to take home. Note the schedule before you go: closed Tuesdays, open 10am to 9pm Monday and Wednesday through Friday, 9am to 9pm Saturday, and 9am to 3pm Sunday, which makes Sunday afternoon the easiest time to miss it. Mad Dog pancakes run Thursdays only, 10am to 3pm.
3. Bésame Ice Cream at Meanwhile Brewing
Ice cream inside a brewery, which solves the problem of a group that cannot agree on dessert. It holds a 4.7 from 148 reviews, a smaller sample than the bakeries above but consistent enough to trust. The address is 3901 Promontory Point Dr, in the Montopolis-adjacent stretch of southeast Austin, so plan the trip rather than dropping in. Because it operates within the brewery, its hours follow the venue's, and weekend evenings on the lawn are when the line is longest. Go early in the evening if you want to sit.
4. Kellie's Baking Co.
A 4.6 rating, but from 86 reviews, so read it as promising rather than proven. The shop is on Burnet Rd at 5245, in the same north-central corridor as several of the city's other independent food businesses, and it keeps a website at kelliesbakingco.com for current hours and ordering. Small bakeries like this often work on limited daily batches, so calling ahead is more useful than showing up hopeful. Worth a stop if you are already running errands along Burnet rather than a cross-town trip.
5. Hayley Cakes and Cookies
The best-known name here for decorated cakes and cookies, with 558 reviews behind a 4.2 rating. That is a lot of feedback and a lower score than the others on this list, which usually points to inconsistency rather than a bad product: plenty of people are happy, a meaningful minority are not. The shop is at 1700 S Lamar Blvd, in the middle of one of Austin's busiest retail stretches. It suits custom and occasion orders more than a walk-in sugar fix, so give yourself lead time and be specific about what you want.
6. Lotus Creamery @ Texas Farmers Market
A perfect 5.0, but from only 19 reviews, so the evidence is thin and the rating could move in either direction as more people weigh in. It operates out of the Texas Farmers Market at 2006 Philomena St in Mueller, which means market days and market hours rather than a storefront you can visit on a whim. Check the market's schedule before making the drive. Worth trying if you are already at Mueller on a market morning, and the low review count is the only real caveat.
What we left off
Two entries from the previous version were cut for being chains rather than Austin businesses. The Baked Bear at 211 Walter Seaholm Dr is a franchise with locations across the country, and Tiff's Treats, listed at 1806 Nueces St, is a multi-state cookie delivery chain that started in Texas but now operates well beyond it. Both are easy to find on your own; this list is for places you cannot get anywhere else.