Looking for sugar plums? Where to find candy, cookies, cakes, ice cream in Lexington
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Lexington bakeries and confectioners offer diverse sweets for holidays and events.
- Shops span artisanal chocolatiers, classic doughnut houses and national scoop brands.
- Bakeries accept custom orders, sell seasonal treats and ship select products.
Nothing makes a day special like an indulgent sweet treat, whether it’s hand-crafted chocolates, painstakingly decorated cakes or hot, fresh doughnuts. Lexington’s bakeries, cafes and shops offer generations of baking talent and unheard of flavors.
Hit up Chocolate Holler or Crank and Boom Ice Cream for Instagram-worthy ice cream and shakes. Try long-standing classic doughnut shops like Donut Days for a dose of history. Broaden your palate with a Mexican treat from Panaderia Aquascalientes, a French macaron from La Petit Delicat or Turkish delight and Dubai chocolate from Al Taj Bakery.
Hungry yet? Here’s a collection of places to visit for holidays, anniversaries, birthdays or any special occasion.
Al Taj Bakery
4097 Nichols Park Dr.; al-tajbakery.com; 859-687-0474
This Middle Eastern bakery and restaurant makes a variety of savory flatbreads like cheese and olive, meat pie, cheese and zaatar and cheese, tomato and mint. There’s also walnut baklava, pistachio baklava, date cookies, Turkish Delight, Dubai chocolate and other sweet treats.
Backroads Bakery
109 W. 6th St.; 502-694-2210; backroadsbakerylex.com
A specialty cheesecake bakery serving unique cheesecakes for every occasion. You can get full cakes, cheesecake by the slice, or even little freeze-dried cheesecake bites. Specialty flavors include blueberry streusel, strawberry, apple crumb, cherry, lemon curd, raspberry white chocolate, Snickers, triple chocolate, Snickerdoodle and cappuccino, among others. The owner’s favorite is a lemon saffron cheesecake.
Caramanda’s Bake Shop
2220 Nicholasville Rd.; /caramandas.com/collections; 859-278-7172
This locally owned bakery opened in 2007 and specializes in cakes, custom cakes, cookies and cupcakes. They also make special occasion desserts like King Cake for Mardi Gras, St. Patrick’s Day leprechaun cookies, and Valentine’s Day cakes. Cupcakes come in more than a dozen flavors, including chocolate swirl, carrot cake, Dreamsicle, red velvet and chocolate salted caramel.
Chocolate Holler
101 W. Loudon Ave. #162 in Greyline Station; chocolateholler.com
This popular chocolate shop and cafe has a new home inside Greyline Station with plenty of seating. Chocolate Holler makes hot and iced chocolates in several flavors, as well as gourmet sipping chocolates, hot chocolate flights, milkshakes, coffees, pastries and a few savory sandwiches.
Crank and Boom Ice Cream
1210 Manchester St. and 3101 Clays Mill Road; crankandboom.com
This premium ice cream shop has grown over the years to include two area locations, national recognition and even national shipping through Goldbelly. Signature flavors include “Bourbon & Honey,” made with Buffalo Trace Bourbon and Hosey’s Honey, “Kentucky Blackberry and Buttermilk,” made with Windstone Farm blackberry jam and JD Country Milk buttermilk; blueberry lime cheesecake, dark chocolate truffle, vanilla bean, coffee stout, fresh strawberry and more. The shop also offers flavors of the month, a sampler flight of four flavors, sundaes and ice cream cocktails.
Dahlhus Fudge
219 Woodland Ave; dahlhusfudge.com; 859-407-1244
This small-batch artisan fudge maker has a menu of fudge flavors that rotates monthly. Signature flavors include a white chocolate fudge called “Richie Rich,” a peanut butter fudge called “Snoopy,” and a semi-sweet creamy chocolate called “Rico Suave.” Other flavors include strawberry chocolate, birthday cake and sprinkles, cookies and cream, and white chocolate and mint.
Donut Days Bakery
185 Southland Dr.; 859-277-9414
Donut Days is a classic bakery that celebrated an astounding 50 years of operation in 2022, and it’s still kicking. The bakery has a wide variety of iced cookies, cupcakes and decorated cakes, pastries, buns, rolls, and of course, doughnuts. The bakery is especially good at large orders: if you need a couple dozen, or a couple hundred, of something for a party, they can meet your needs.
Donut World
1395 W. Main St.
This new-ish doughnut shop has a great selection of doughnuts, croissant bagels, smoothies, breakfast sandwiches and coffees available. There’s at least 22 different kinds of doughnuts available — the most popular is the white glazed and white cream-filled doughnuts.
European Delights Gourmet Bakery
221 E. Brannon Rd. in Nicholasville; 859-271-7000; europeandelightsbakery.com
This bakery is exactly what it sounds like: Meticulously crafted European breakfast pastries, cookies, cakes and desserts, made fresh every morning. Cinnamon rolls, croissants, Danishes, puff pastries, scones, muffins and cannolis are available, as well as cream puffs, eclairs, seven-layer bars and more cookies and cakes.
El Lounge Ice Cream Shop
1439 Alexandra Dr.; 859-402-0101
This Mexican ice cream shop offers classic Mexican sweets and snacks, like artisan ice creams and fruit parfaits, like the popular mangonada made with mango ice cream, mango, chamoy, lime and Tajin. Ice cream flavors vary, but include labels in Spanish and English for flavors like queso (think cheesecake), coffee, pineapple, guava and watermelon.
Frank’s Donuts
549 E. Third St.; 859-523-1866
Frank’s Donuts, which started in Georgetown, opened this location in Lexington in 2018. The bakery makes dozens of flavors of cake and yeast doughnuts, each cut by hand and made from scratch. Even these days, the donuts are cheap: most are under $1, coming in at between 64 and 75 cents.
Freshie’s Ice cream and soda fountain
freshiesicecream.com; 4379 Old Harrodsburg Road; 3851 Kenesaw Drive
This ice cream shop has a retro flair and soda fountain, and makes ice cream, shakes, sundaes, sodas, floats and more. Customize your ice cream cone or cup with toppings or try specials like an ice cream flight, banana split, “cookiewich” or “browniewich.” There’s dozens of flavors of shakes, draft sodas, a half-dozen signature sundaes, and ten ice cream sodas and floats. There’s even a vegan ice cream sundae and a rainbow sorbet-filled lemon-lime soda float.
Graeter’s
1925 Justice Dr.; 836 Euclid Ave.; graeters.com
Graeter’s Ice Cream is based in Cincinnati and has a loyal following in Kentucky. The scoop shops on Euclid and on Justice Drive have pints, ice cream cakes, ice cream pies and other treats available too. Be sure to check their seasonal flavors for a bit of something special.
La Petit Delicat
722 National Ave; 859-266-0041; lapetitedelicat.com
A boutique bakery specializing in macarons and custom-designed macarons. The French confections are made of almond flour and meringue and filled with ganache, buttercream, caramel or jam fillings. The macarons will each have a crispy outside and soft and chewy inside, and the bakery makes gift boxes you can order for special events. In addition to macarons, the shop sells croissants with various fillings, muffins, cruffins and quiches.
Lexington Tea & Brie
219 N. Limestone; 859-303-4337; lexingtonteaandbrie.com
This boutique tea room and event space offers daily afternoon tea by reservation, group tea parties for adults and children, and rental space for special events like bridal showers. Afternoon teas include your choice of three tea sandwiches, scones with preserves, clotted cream or lemon curd, a selection of sweets and your choice of one pot of tea. Teas include black teas, oolong, green tea, white tea and herbal tea with infusions.
Martine’s Pastries
400 E. Third St.; 859-231-9110; martinespastries.com
Martine’s has lots of delicious small pastries including butter cake, eclair, bars, cookies and French macarons, but they’re known for their pistachio cake. You can get cakes by the slice, seasonal specials like pumpkin rolls and gingerbread cookies, and pretty much anything you want special-ordered.
The bakery also offers breakfast items like muffins, croissants, quiche and Saturday waffle specials and lunch items like soup-and-salad combos, grilled cheese, chicken salad and more.
Missy’s
502 E. High St.; 859-253-0449; missyspieshop.com
This shop offers fresh pies and cheesecakes made daily, either whole or by the slice. Enjoy a sweet treat for any occasion — but if you’d like one for a holiday, make sure you order for Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter as early as possible. Missy’s makes a rich chocolate brownie pie, whipped peanut butter pie, and a “combination” pie that’s a mix of both. There’s also coconut cream, chocolate cream, butterscotch, cherry, pecan, key lime, apple and “black bottom banana pie,” layered with chocolate.
Mondelli’s Bake Shop
3120 Pimlico Pkwy; 859-971-6367; mondellis.com
This family-run bakery uses recipes handed down over four generations. Stop by for made-from-scratch cakes, pastries, cookies and cupcakes topped with signature buttercream icing. They also have a rotating breakfast menu, with cake donuts, pecan crisps, walnut squares, cream horns, turnovers and muffins.
Never Too Much Creamery
110 W. 6th St., 859-382-0446
Never Too Much Creamery makes gargantuan stacked treats like loaded ice cream scoop cups, shakes in several flavors, ice cream sundaes, frozen fruit roll ups, banana splits and nacho ice cream. The fun thing at this shop is the toppings for your scoop, which make them stand out.
North Lime Coffee & Donuts
3101 Clays Mill Road; 101 West Loudon Ave.; northlimeorders.net
This coffee and doughnut shop updates its schedule weekly, and you can sign up for a text alert to hear about new flavors, special offers and events. Each doughnut is fried, glazed, iced and topped by hand. Some flavors include maple bacon, espresso delight, cinnamon roll, lemon iced, glazed blueberry, birthday cake and apple fritter. There’s also a location in Louisville.
Old Kentucky Chocolates
450 Southland Dr.; 859-278-4444; oldkycandy.com
Old Kentucky Chocolates has been making chocolate in Lexington for more than 50 years and is known for its bourbon chocolates, bourbon cherries and old-fashioned pulled creams. The shop also makes gourmet truffles, sea salt caramels, chocolate-covered strawberries and grapes and other chocolates.
Olive’s Apron Bakery and Tea Shop
223 Rosemont Garden; 859-810-4149; olivesapron.com
Swing by this pastel dream of a tea shop for a treat in the cafe, or make a reservation for a group for afternoon tea. There are several tea services available, but the basic one includes cucumber sandwiches, unlimited tea, cheesecake mousse, shortbread, scones, cupcakes or another dessert slice. Deluxe teas have additional sandwiches.
Panaderia Aquascalientes
1400 Alexandria Dr; 859-388-9037; panaderia-aguascalientes.res-menu.com
This classic Mexican bakery makes pastries, tamales and custom cakes. Customers particularly enjoy the authentic pan dulce and Mexican croissants. It’s self-service, so grab a tray and tongs and take anything that looks good.
Rayann’s Popcorn Company
101 W. Loudon Ave.,; 859-489-3331;
This gourmet popcorn shop located in Greyline Station makes small-batch popcorn in tons of unique flavors, like cheddar jalapeno, caramel chocolate peanut drizzle, cookies and cream, and banana pudding.
Ruth Hunt Candies
213 Walton Ave.; 859-268-1559; ruthhuntcandy.com
This chocolate company is over a hundred years old and still kicking with about 70 kinds of candy, using many of founder Ruth Hunt’s original recipes. Favorites include Kentucky pulled cream candy, caramels, mallows and bourbon balls, though Ruth Hunt’s Blue Monday Bar is the most famous product. Bourbon chocolate products include Woodford Reserve bourbon balls, Mint Julep bourbon balls, samplers, dark chocolate caramels, bourbon butter crunch and bourbon caramels.
Shake & Crave
535 S. Upper St.; 859-309-0029; shakencrave.com
A destination for anyone craving crepes, waffles and pancakes. This restaurant serves many flavors of crepes, waffles, lokma (fried sweet dough) and chocolate kunafa (an Arab dessert made with kadayif layered with cheese and soaked in sweet syrup.) For drinks, they serve coffees, smoothies, milkshakes and mojitos.
Sharp’s Candies
2021 Regendy Rd., 859-276-4625; sharpscandies.com
Sharp’s makes over 100 varieties of candy, all from family recipes and all but the chocolate made from scratch. The company prides itself on the quality and freshness of its candy. The shop also makes hand-pulled cream candy, boxes of chocolates, Woodford Reserve bourbon creams, cherries and truffles and mixes with nuts.
Spalding’s Bakery
760 Winchester Rd.; 859-252-3737; spaldingsbakery.com
Spalding’s has been hand-forming doughnuts since 1929, and four generations of Spaldings have worked at the bakery, which supplies tens of dozens of doughnuts to local churches on Sundays. Come for the cult-like following and stay for the delicious glazed yeast doughnuts, cake doughnuts, twists, apple fritters and sticky buns.
Sweet Creations
2312 Palumbo Dr., 859-550-4336; bakerysweetcreations.square.site
This bakery sells both sweet treats and budget-friendly lunch items like chicken salad sandwiches, a chicken chipotle burrito and a burrito bowl. For sweet treats, try the tres leches mini stacks, fresh conchitas, or guava cream cheese and pineapple cream cheese danishes. There’s also a variety of pastries, scones and doughnuts.
Sorella Gelateria
591 W. Short St.; sorellagelateria.com
This small-batch shop focuses on gelato and sorbetto, with rotating flavors and even a vegan option. Flavors will change, but some of them include raspberry pavlova, stracciatella, passion fruit, Sicilian pistachio, classic crema, bourbon vanilla cake and lemon ginger.