Papa Haydn Just Might Have The Most Epic Dessert Selection In All Of Oregon
By Christy Articola|Published September 27, 2022
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Christy Articola
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Christy Articola has lived in Colorado since 2013 and considers herself a Centennial State enthusiast and expert through and through. She's based in Denver metro, but over the past decade, she has traveled to every corner, river, village, park, town, and city in the state and continues to explore it deeper and further whenever she can. Christy simply can't get enough of Colorado, and loves sharing all her adventures with you through Only In Your State! She graduated with a degree in journalism from Fordham University and is thrilled to be working as a full time travel writer for this and other sites - she finally found her perfect niche - and is so grateful for that.
If you want to have the best dessert of your entire life, with plenty of different options to excite everyone in your party, then there is simply no other option as perfect and wonderful as Papa Haydn in Portland. It has, by far, the best dessert menu in Oregon. This restaurant is special and has been serving up sweet treats since 1978. There are two locations, and they are both incredible. Papa Haydn serves other excellent food as well, but it’s the desserts that are especially to-die-for. Read on to learn about some of Papa Haydn’s many amazing dessert offerings.
Papa Haydn was first created by Heidi and Jeff Van Dyke in the late 1970s. This newly married couple wanted to open a small cafe where Jeff could make from-scratch soups and Heidi could create incredible baked goods.
Heidi's sister Evelyn soon joined the team as well, and the restaurant just grew from there. One of the biggest draws has always been the desserts; Heidi and Evelyn are from Germany, and the sweet treats served at Papa Haydn are European-inspired.
The desserts at Papa Haydn are not only tasty, but they are also beautiful. You can get fruity desserts if that's what you love. These Green Tea and Oregon Strawberry Tarts are an excellent example of one of Papa Haydn's fruity treats.
It has a milk chocolate & buckwheat crunch base, layers of rich mousse & panna cotta made with single-origin Peruvian dark chocolate, chocolate mirror glaze & Ecuadorian cocoa nibs. Wow!
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Papa Haydn does have an official dessert menu, and it's quite extensive. But this place is also always offering specials and seasonal items like this Apricot White Velvet Cake, too. You never know what you're going to find when you walk through the door.
This cake is made with white buttermilk cake brushed with honey-chamomile syrup, layered with apricot preserves and chamomile-vanilla bean panna cotta, and finished with swiss buttercream.
Here's another special: the Early Summer Garden Cake. It's made of buttermilk cake and a white chocolate crunch coating, then it's topped with a strawberry and rhubarb mousse and fresh organic strawberries.
How about a Baked Alaska? This is made with dulce de leche and banana ice creams, dark chocolate ganache and vanilla cake, and toasted Italian meringue. Try not to drool on yourself!
Or maybe you'd like this Boysenberry & Hazelnut Torte. It's made with Oregon boysenberries and hazelnuts, chocolate cremeux, hazelnut whipped cream and roasted crushed hazelnuts. Isn't it beautiful?
As if you're not already hungry enough, check out this Oregon Blackberry Cheesecake. It's a New York cheesecake, base plus blackberry brandy soaked chocolate cake. Then they put crème fraiche and glazed Oregon blackberries on top. Oh boy!
Papa Haydn makes Rhubarbarella every year. What is Rhubarbarella, you ask? It's a celebration of rhubarb! In this case, it's individual-sized desserts made with pistachio pound cake, Oregon rhubarb & mascarpone mousse, strawberry gelée & strawberry milk crumb.
You might not think of corn as a component in a dessert, but Papa Haydn wil prove you wrong with this Peaches & Corn Tart. It's made from sweet mascarpone and Oregon peaches macerated in bourbon & vanilla that's poured into a cornmeal crust.
Then it's finished with roasted corn whipped ganache and flowers made from single-origin Ecuadorian white chocolate made with roasted corn. I mean... come on!
Are you looking for a treat that can be hand-held? How about these espresso brownies? They're dipped in semi-sweet chocolate, drizzled with Valrhona Dulcey chocolate (a caramelized white chocolate), and finished with roasted walnuts and Dulcey pearls. Grab a few for the road.
Actually, you might as well grab one of everything for the road. Fortunately, Papa Haydn is more than happy to send you home with leftovers or take-out orders.
This is only a very, very small and short and incomplete overview of the types of desserts that Papa Haydn has on a daily basis at both locations in Portland. You should be going here every single day of your life if you live close enough to do so. Stop by Papa Haydn today and be sure to bring your appetite. You’re going to want to try a little bit of everything – and then some!
