Just Desserts

Seth skips the main course and dives right into dessert, with memorable visits to the neo-bistro Lutèce in Georgetown, the dessert shop Mr. Bake Sweets in Riverdale Park, Maryland, and The Conche in Leesburg, Virginia, where chocolate infuses everything on the menu - even the drinks

Seth visits neo-bistro Lutèce in Georgetown to sample their imaginative honeycomb semi-freddo. Made with shaved 18-month-aged comte cheese, the dessert is a fresh take on a classic French cheese plate. As Chef Isabel demonstrates, the dish starts with a homemade honeycomb cracker, which is broken apart and mixed into a cream dessert, half frozen, and topped with cheese shavings.

Chef Kareem at Mr. Bake Sweets in Riverdale, Maryland shows Seth the secrets behind his sweet potato cupcake. First he complements the natural sweetness of the mashed sweet potatoes with a blend of brown sugar, white sugar and secret spices. Oil keeps the cupcakes moist when they are baked. Then Kareem tops them with a special cream cheese frosting and drizzled with salted caramel.

Seth Tillman takes a tour of a real life chocolate factory in Sterling, Virginia where Chef Santosh of The Conche makes the chocolate for his delectable desserts. Back at the restaurant in Leesburg, Santosh demonstrates how he puts together the Conche Chocolate Entremet, a rich cake and ice cream dessert built inside a gold dusted dome and then cracked open by lighting 151 proof rum on fire.