REVEALED: The Fastest Rising Bakes in America

Each month, millions of Americans bake hundreds of different sweet snacks for their friends, family and themselves to enjoy, ranging from brownies and blueberry muffins to key lime pie.

Baking has always been popular in the US, but it’s had somewhat of a renaissance in the last few years, spurred on by Netflix’s Great British Baking Show (GBBS) with the Friday episodes regularly appearing in the top 10 TV shows each week on the streaming service. To add to this, millions of us were baking last year, due to the global popularity of banana bread as we were confined to our homes for the majority of 2020.

Baking is fantastic as you can put your own twist on traditional recipes if you have food sensitivities, but many psychologists also believe that the serotonin that baking releases in us provides a great way to ease symptoms of anxiety and depression.

But from brownies and muffins to key lime pie and coconut cake, what are America’s favorite sweet bakes in 2021?

We analyzed almost five million monthly Google searches for 200 popular recipes by Americans looking to bake, including “banana bread recipe”, “apple crisp recipe”, and “chocolate cake recipe.”

We then looked at the top 50 bakes and calculated the difference in monthly searches between September 2020 and September 2021, to reveal which recipes are rising in popularity – and which are growing stale.

And the results speak for themselves:

Peach cobbler is the fastest-rising baking recipe in America

Summer in a bowl – aka peach cobbler – looks set to be America’s favorite recipe of 2021. Searches for “peach cobbler recipe” had a 306.6% increase in the last year, up from 46,500 to 201,000 unique searches per month.

The recipe, which can be eaten in cheesecake, french toast or even egg roll form, is so versatile for any occasion. One of the reasons that interest in banana bread grew last year was sparked by the fact that it can easily be made with few ingredients – and the same relates to peach cobbler, which requires ingredients which many will already have in their pantry.

Interestingly, banana bread didn’t even make the list, despite searches for “banana bread recipe” still being the most popular in America out of the 200 recipes. Searches have lulled in the last 12 months, with a 0% rise since 2020.

Battle of the American classics: Pumpkin pie has had the biggest dip in interest

As we entered fall, searches for “pumpkin pie recipe” fell by over 75% this year. Are people looking for more creative pumpkin recipes, such as the cheesecake? Or is peach cobbler replacing the famed pumpkin pie?

Thanksgiving is approaching, and pumpkin pie is the hallmark dessert on many of our tables. Will that stay the same this year, or will new, more creative trends take over, spurred on by TikTok?

Kerri Ferraioli, nutritionist at YorkTest, commented on the findings: “Banana bread took the nation by storm last year, with an upsurge in the recipe which required few ingredients. However it looks as if peach cobbler is on track to become the nations’ next favorite sweet bake.

“Peaches, high in vitamins A and C, are even more versatile than bananas – you can roast them or grill them, eat them perfectly ripe, or even freeze them for a smoothie. Like banana bread, a standard peach cobbler also requires ingredients that many people have in their pantry – sugar, flour, cinnamon, kosher salt, and you can even use canned peaches.

“With the Great British Baking Show back on our screens, it’s no surprise that Americans may be searching for new recipes to make for their loved ones. While peach cobbler and apple crumble dominate the list, it’s interesting to see the drop in searches for pies and donuts, especially as the weather gets colder. Will we see people sipping on more peach cobbler lattes than pumpkin spice this fall?”

When you’re cooking and baking, if you’re concerned that there may be an ingredient that you’re intolerant to, check out our Premium Food Sensitivity Test.

Methodology

To reveal which recipes had the highest and lowest drop in searches, YorkTest used monthly Google search data from Google Keyword Planner.

These searches were filtered to the United States overall, and also each individual state.

The average monthly searches were taken from September 2020 and September 2021, to establish the difference in interest in the last 12 months.