How the Desserts bracket works
Dessert tier list without dragging anything into rows. You get one matchup at a time — Chocolate Cake or Apple Pie? Cheesecake or Brownies? — and after 23 picks the bracket has a champion, with everything else placed by how far it got. Comparing two choices is far easier than sorting 24 of them at once, which is why the finished list tends to survive a second look.
This bracket runs 5 rounds at the default 24-slot size (Round of 24, Round of 16, Elite 8, Final Four, Championship), with every one of the 24 choices in the field. 24 is not a power of two, so 8 of them draw a first-round bye — spread evenly across the draw rather than handed to whoever happens to land at the top of it. Because the draw is shuffled, two people playing the same bracket rarely face the same matchups. You can also play it at 8 or 16 slots for a shorter or longer run.
23 picks, 5 rounds
- Round of 248 matchups
- Round of 168 matchups
- Elite 84 matchups
- Final Four2 matchups
- Championship1 matchup
Roughly 2-3 minutes start to finish.
All 24 entrants
All 24 entrants are listed below, including Chocolate Cake, Apple Pie, Cheesecake and Brownies.
Chocolate Cake
Rich & decadent
Apple Pie
American classic
Cheesecake
Creamy & rich
Brownies
Fudgy chocolate squares
Tiramisu
Coffee-soaked Italian
Creme Brulee
Caramelized custard
Ice Cream Sundae
Topped & loaded
Banana Split
Three scoops classic
Red Velvet Cake
Cream cheese frosting
Key Lime Pie
Tart & tangy
Pumpkin Pie
Thanksgiving staple
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Warm & gooey
Carrot Cake
Spiced & frosted
Banana Pudding
Southern layered dessert
Churros
Fried & cinnamon-sugar
Molten Lava Cake
Oozing chocolate center
Cannoli
Italian filled pastry
Pecan Pie
Nutty & sweet
Bread Pudding
Warm & custardy
Macarons
French meringue cookies
Panna Cotta
Italian cream dessert
Crepes
Thin French pancakes
Baklava
Layered filo & nuts
Tres Leches Cake
Three-milk soaked cake
Would rather group them than rank them? Open all 24 in the tier list maker and sort them into S, A, B, C, D and F tiers instead — same entrants, no matchups.
How everyone else ranked them
Aggregated from 7 completed Desserts brackets. Win rate is the share of head-to-head matchups each entrant has won across every play.
- 1
Brownies
12W - 2L · won 2 brackets
86%
win rate
- 2
Tiramisu
11W - 3L · won 2 brackets
79%
win rate
- 3
Key Lime Pie
6W - 2L · won 1 bracket
75%
win rate
- 4
Cheesecake
13W - 5L · won 1 bracket
72%
win rate
- 5
Apple Pie
4W - 2L · won 1 bracket
67%
win rate
- 6
Banana Split
7W - 5L
58%
win rate
- 7
Chocolate Chip Cookies
4W - 3L
57%
win rate
- 8
Cannoli
6W - 5L
55%
win rate
- 9
Churros
6W - 6L
50%
win rate
- 10
Ice Cream Sundae
4W - 4L
50%
win rate
Getting a ranking you actually agree with
- 1Answer as if both options were in front of you and you could only eat one.
- 2The default run puts all 24 choices in the draw. Short on time? Drop to 16 slots — a quicker run over a random 16 of them.
- 3Use undo the moment you regret a pick. One reflex answer in an early round can knock out a favourite before it gets going.
Desserts bracket FAQ
How many choices are in the Desserts bracket?
The pool holds 24 choices. A default run puts all of them in the draw and takes 23 picks across 5 rounds: Round of 24, Round of 16, Elite 8, Final Four, Championship. 8 entrants start with a first-round bye, spread evenly through the draw. Other field sizes are available too — 8, 16, 24 slots.
Which choices are included?
Chocolate Cake, Apple Pie, Cheesecake, Brownies, Tiramisu, Creme Brulee, Ice Cream Sundae, Banana Split, Red Velvet Cake, Key Lime Pie, Pumpkin Pie and Chocolate Chip Cookies, plus 12 more. Every entrant is listed further down this page with its artwork.
How long does the dessert tier list take?
About 2-3 minutes — 23 choices at the default size, or 7 if you drop to a 8-slot bracket. There is no sign-up and nothing is stored until you reach the final.
Is this a desserts tier list or a ranking?
Both are here, and the bracket is closer to a tier list than it looks. It ends with a champion, a runner-up and then every other choice grouped by the round it went out in — which is exactly a set of tiers, decided by 23 direct comparisons rather than by your first guess at a layout. What it deliberately does not do is claim a precise gap between two choices that never met. If you would rather place the choices into S through F rows yourself, the tier list maker loads all 24 of them at bracketranker.com/tier-list-maker.
Is there a community desserts ranking?
Every completed bracket feeds the Desserts community results page, which aggregates win rates across all plays and tracks how often each of the 24 entrants takes the title. It updates continuously, so it moves as more people play.
Can I change which choices are included?
Use the bracket maker: add your own choices, name it, and share the link so other people play the same field. That is the route to take when this pool of 24 is missing something you would have picked, or when you want a version scoped to one era, label or franchise.