The Young Minds of NYC’s Most Indulgent Festival, Dessert Goals

If you love dessert, Instagrammable photo ops, creativity and fun, then Dessert Goals is the festival you need in your life. This festival is brought you by young entrepreneurs, and fellow dessert lovers, Miraya Berke and Liang Shi.

As the story goes, these two young women were relaxing on a hot summer day, enjoying some shaved snow, when they pondered why on earth there wasn’t a dessert festival in New York City.

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Because everyone loves a sweet treat, they decided to create this incredible event themselves. This fall edition of Dessert Goals marks the seventh one in just two years and the fifth in New York City. As a celebration of all things decadent, this event is the first of its kind in New York City.

It’s become so popular, so quickly, that Berke and Shi have launched fests in Los Angeles as well.

Dessert Goals is taking place Oct. 13, 14, 20, and 21 at Sound River Studios in Long Island City, and boasts an indulgent lineup of over 20 sweets vendors, a new theme (costumes very much encouraged,) waterfront views of Manhattan, and surprises that have yet to be announced.

This year’s theme is Joy! The fest has collaborated with Joy (an app that helps people spend money on things that make them happy) to bring you this fall’s Joy Edition. “Think: puppies, rainbows, sunshine, and desserts—basically, the literal interpretation of joy,” states the description online.

Many of the desserts will be available exclusively at Dessert Goals. Petee’s Pie’s will be debuting their “Slice Cream,” a slice of pie mashed with four scoops of their homemade vanilla ice cream, while Rebecca’s Cake Pops will be featuring their festival exclusive “Cake Pop Bouquets,” decadent photogenic cake pops gathered in a pink chocolate dipped ice cream cone.

Lastly, People’s Pops will be launching dipping sauces for their popsicles for the first time ever.

From 2 Dough Boyz cookie dough creations and Baked In Color’s rainbow-swirled cookies and brownies to Cruff’s stuffed ice cream, Recolte Bakery’s decadent pastries and WOOPS!'s creative macarons, you’ll be in dessert heaven. A full list of vendors can be found here.

We had the sweet opportunity to sit down with both festival curators and masterminds behind one of the most anticipated food events of the season to talk inspiration, the future of the fest and all things sugar!

What inspired you to create Dessert Goals and what was the moment when you realized you had a fantastic idea that could really take off?

Miraya Berke: New York has a festival for literally everything and two years ago Liang and I realized there wasn’t one yet for dessert. We thought our background in events (me) and design (Liang) would be the perfect team to create this delicious experience. The day we launched 1000 tickets to our first festival and they sold out within minutes, we knew we were on to something.

What makes an exceptional dessert in your opinion?

Liang Shi: I think an exceptional dessert inspires more than just one sense—not only does it taste amazing, it also looks as good as it tastes! It should also have a complexity to it beyond just sweetness, maybe it’s an interesting combination of ingredients or a crunch or texture to it that stands out. And it most certainly should bring a smile to your face!

Miraya Berke: I’m a big fan of textures and a range of toppings and flavors on one dessert. Like, The Stackery will have warm, crunchy chimney cakes in a variety of gooey flavors and I CE NY will have rolled ice cream with different toppings, for a smooth and crunchy combo. I love the surprise element of each bite.

What's your favorite part about organizing a new Dessert Goals?

Liang Shi: I love getting to taste test and photograph all the new vendors we curate for each festival! Eating desserts is literally my job. I also love thinking through the experience people get to have from the moment they line up until they exit—we want to design an experience that feels wonderous and fun.

Miraya Berke: My favorite part about organizing a new Dessert Goals is brainstorming ways to improve upon the event. This October it will be our 5th edition in NYC and each time we try to make it the best festival yet.

Where do you see the future of Dessert Goals headed?

Liang Shi: We would love to expand Dessert Goals to more cities! We think there’s nothing better to enjoy and bond over than desserts, and it’s our medium to bring joy to people.

Miraya Berke: New cities and new partners to host mini-festivals and other events with.

What should people be most excited about for this year's theme?

Liang Shi: The theme this year is joy—think puppies, rainbows, sunshine, and desserts—basically, the literal interpretation of joy! We’re going all out to make this the most joy-filled experienced ever (including giving our guests complimentary sweets from Sugarfina) and even partnering with Joy, an app that maps your spends to happiness.

Miraya Berke: Each event we curate a new roundup of vendors, with just a few who we invite back from past festivals. This event more than any of our past, vendors will be making exclusive desserts for the festival. Treat House is making new rice crispy treats for the theme, Foughnuts is making a new donut flavor, Silk Cakes is launching their beautiful blossom cake now in purple and green (ube + matcha) and so many more!

General admission tickets are on sale now and available here. All tickets are valid for a designated hour and a half time slot and offer ticket holders access to an array of desserts available for purchase inside the festival.

Tickets also include complimentary beverages from Bodum, Boxed Water, Zico, and Sparkling Ice, complimentary candy and snacks. For those who have an extra big sweet tooth, they can purchase Extra Sugar Rush Tickets, which are valid for a full two hours and include a limited edition deluxe tote bag filled with curated treats to take home.

For more info, head to dessertgoals.com.