A Decade Of Desserts: The Most Popular Recipes From 2020

The year 2020 will be remembered as a year of unprecedented challenges since that’s when a disastrous pandemic started and took its toll on the world. A number of things shifted in the culinary space in and after 2020. The re-emergence of home cooking and DIY baking was one of the most predominant changes that happened that year as people were pushed indoors and got creative in the kitchens.

So, the most popular desserts of 2020 aren’t gourmet sweet treats or chic confections, but instead hearty recipes which are filling and can be made with simple recipes found appreciation. People started subscribing to recipe sites and bought baking kits for cooking at home upcycled old recipes and introduced baking alternatives due to lack of availability of ingredients. In short, it was the year that got people to fall back in love with their kitchen. Here are the most popular desserts from 2020

Banana Bread

One of the earliest and most enduring trends during the first half of 2020, especially the start of the lockdown period was the rise of homemade banana bread. It’s a minimal-effort loaf which can be made with simple ingredients and works for borth breakfast and dessert. The sweet aroma of baking bananas was an added plus and it doesn’t need any fancy equipment. Any ceramic or loaf pan is enough for making banana bread which takes less than an hour to bake.

Sourdough Creations

As people experimented with sourdough starters, they ventured beyond traditional bread recipes and delved into the world of sourdough desserts. From sourdough cinnamon rolls to sourdough pancakes, the tangy flavor of sourdough found a renewed appeal across the globe.

Adding sourdough starter to pancake or waffle batter can enhance the flavor and create a fluffy texture. The fermentation process in sourdough can result in a light and airy consistency.

Dalgona Coffee:

One of the most enduring trends of 2020, dalgona still shares a certain popularity among coffee lovers across the globe. Since coffee was one of the most usable staples during the pandemic months, people got creative with coffee recipes and discovered the dalgona. This whipped coffee drink, featuring a velvety layer of coffee on top of milk, originated in Macau and is easy to make at home with a simple frother or whisk

Quarantine Cakes:

Quarantine cakes were basically celebratory cakes with PSA messages. Celebrations during lockdown often involved smaller gatherings or virtual parties, leading to the rise of these quarantine-themed cakes. Bakers showcased their creativity by decorating cakes with quarantine symbols, such as toilet paper rolls, face masks, and hand sanitizer bottles.

Mug Cakes:

To be fair, mug cakes have always been popular since everyone loves quick DIY desserts. However, at a time when people were looking not to overspend and were budgeting supplies to save them a trip outdoors, these simple 3-minute cakes became widely popular for obvious reasons. Mug cakes are single-serve cakes which can be made in a microwave by combining flour, eggs, milk, chocolate, sugar etc in a mug. While cake pre-mixes can be used to make these, the recipe is so simple most people prefer using simple pantry ingredients to make their mug cake

Soda Bread

No-yeast baking was hugely popular in 2020 mainly due to two reasons. Most amateur bakers don’t store yeast in their pantries. Secondly, yeast needs to be combined with water and flour in a particular fashion and beginners or amateur bakers don’t usually know how to use yeast in baking. Soda bread is by leavening it with baking soda (bicarbonate of soda) rather than yeast. It originated in Ireland, where the availability of certain ingredients influenced the method of breadmaking. The primary components of traditional soda bread are flour, baking soda, salt, and buttermilk.

Apple Crumble

There’s nothing heartier than a slice of homemade apple pie. However, there’s no denying that it needs a long-ish prep time and the availability of fresh apples to make apple pie at home. An apple crumble is an everyday dessert made with sugar, flour, and butter and has a jammy apple filling and a crunchy oat topping. You can make an apple crumble with frozen apples and even with apple puree. Moreover, it can be made within a few minutes and kept in the fridge for at least 3 days which is