2016 Delicious Food Trends

Magic Cake
The magic is basically that in one dish, you end up with a three-layer cake with a custardy center and a cake topping and bottom.





UNICORN ICE CREAM
The magical treat was one of the most-pinned ice creams on Pinterest in 2016. Be a unicorn in a sea of mint chocolate chips.





GALAXY CAKES
Far out doesn't even begin to describe it.





COOKIE MONSTER DESSERTS
We reached peak '90s nostalgia in 2016, when people started turning everything from ice cream to cookies to fudge into a Cookie Monster-inspired creation.





UNICORN BARK
Before unicorn ice cream was a thing, unicorn bark was the enchanting dessert of the moment. Swirlz on swirlz on swirlz.





SWEET POTATO TOAST
Living that low carb life.





GALAXY ICE CREAM
It's out of this world.





FREAKSHAKES
After getting introduced to the freakshake in 2016, an OTT giant milkshake topped with cake, cupcakes, cookies, candy, and more (literally nothing is off limits), a diner-style shake with whipped cream just won't cut it anymore.





CAULIFLOWER
Cauliflower proved there's basically nothing it can't do this year, serving as a low-carb hack for everything from pizza crust to toast to rice.





GOLDEN MILK LATTE
Turmeric is the new IT superfood, and the herb has been more widely incorporated into meat dishes, veggies, juices, and more, but the most Pinterest-worthy of them all was the Golden Milk Latte, made with almond milk, coconut oil, coffee, and turmeric.





DUNKAROOS





JAPANESE CHEESECAKE
2016 was definitely the year Japanese desserts took over America, and one of the most popular was the Japanese cheesecake. Two restaurants have popped up in the U.S. offering the insanely fluffy, yet still totally rich and creamy, cheesecake, and in case you're wondering what the biggest difference between this and regular cheesecake is— Japanese cheesecake can be eaten hot or cold.





STARBUCKS' PINK DRINK
This summer, Starbucks' pink drink basically stole the Instagram crown from the PSL. The off-the-menu creation went viral, inspiring people to come up with new ways to blend tea and coconut or soy milk to come up with other pastel drinks, including blue, purple, and green.





RAINBOW FOODS
It used to be enough for food to just look OTT melty and cheesy, but this year was all about creating insanely delicious foods that are also visually stunning. In the same vein as unicorn and galaxy inspired treats, rainbow foods took over everything from bagels to grilled cheese to sushi.





FAIRY BREAD
Apparently, we're no longer capable of eating food unless it looks magical AF (even if it's legit just bread covered in butter and sprinkles).





TOAST
The easy breakfast you relied on to get out the door and to school on time got elevated in a major way this year. From the super trendy avocado toast, to topping bread with a variety of different (often "artisanal") ingredients, to forgoing the bread altogether and toasting a sweet potato or making a low-carb cauliflower version, toast was living its best life this year.





ROSÉ GUMMY BEARS
The rosé obsession reached a new level this summer when you had to put your name on a waitlist to score rosé gummy bears, but luckily, these are pretty easy to DIY at home.





LA CROIX
With Americans drinking less soda, La Croix sparkling water is having a major moment.





ROLLED ICE CREAM
The rolled, Thai-style ice cream was the only way to eat ice cream in 2016.





POKEMON-INSPIRED FOODS
Eating totally counts as catching.





DONUT ICE CREAM SANDWICHES
Because we've all been there, done that with cookies.





SMOOTHIE BOWLS





RAMEN BURGER
The ramen burger isn't exactly a new trend, but the love for it got reinvigorated this year when Red Robin took the crispy noodle burger nationwide.





PUFFLE CONES
You haven't had a waffle cone until you've had one of these, originated by Cauldron Ice Cream in California.





BIRTHDAY CAKE EVERYTHING
People just want to party every day like it's their birthday.





MUFFIN TIN FOODS
Because using anything for its intended use is totally boring, 2016 gave us muffin tin mac and cheese, muffin tin pizzas, and even mini muffin tin pies.





ZUCCHINI
Like cauliflower, zucchini popped up in everything from meatballs to lasagna to brownies. Clearly, the people will do anything for their favorite indulgent foods—even if that means eating vegetables.





RAINDROP CAKE
This Japanese dessert, which appears to be a fancier version of Jell-O, transfixed social media. The "cake" is made from just mineral water and agar, and after heating, the mixture is set in molds under refrigeration, creating a gorgeous, translucent dessert.





ICE CREAM RAMEN
NYC's The Dessert Kitchen upped the ramen game in a big way by serving up ice cream ramen—which ironically contains no ramen noodles at all (or actual ice cream)—and consists of Japanese jelly noodles served over a bowl of crushed ice, mochi, cantaloupe and mango, all topped off with evaporated milk and served with a side of white peach syrup.





GIANT SOUP DUMPLINGS
We traditionally think of dumplings as a mini appetizer before our main course, but Drunken Dumpling in NYC changed everything we thought we knew about the Chinese classic, serving up giant, oversized soup dumplings.