Start with sweet potato pudding, toto and gizzada, then add a scoop of ice cream if you want something cold. You can buy them from a bakery, a market stall or a roadside seller, and some of them can be ordered online and delivered on set days. In St Ann, Jus Coool in Priory is known for its sweet potato pudding. In St Mary, Buccaneers' Treasure Chest in Port Maria sells ice cream and baked goods.
Most traditional Jamaican sweets are built on coconut, brown sugar and spices. Some are baked, some are steamed and some are cooked down in sugar. A box of sweets makes a good gift to take home. If you are new to these desserts, buy one of each kind so you can compare them side by side, and match each one to your tastes and your diet.
Sweets to try first
Sweet potato pudding is a dense pudding made with sweet potato, coconut, spices and sweetener. Visit Jamaica describes the traditional version as cooked under hot coals, and Jus Coool's pudding is coal-baked too, so look for that method when you choose where to buy.
Sweet potato pudding is traditionally cooked under hot coals.
Cornmeal pudding is a baked or steamed pudding made from cornmeal, coconut milk, spices and sweetener. It belongs to the same family of coconut and spice desserts, and it is a good choice if you want a pudding without sweet potato.
Gizzada is a small pastry with a crimped crust, filled with sweetened grated coconut and spices such as nutmeg. It is also called pinch me round. Coconut drops are chunks of coconut cooked in brown sugar, often with ginger and spices. Grater cake is grated coconut cooked with sugar, commonly coloured pink and white.
Plantain tart is a pastry filled with seasoned sweet plantain, which makes it a good choice if you want a fruit filling rather than coconut. Bulla is a firm, spiced cake or biscuit made with flour, molasses or dark sugar, ginger and spices.
Other traditional sweets include busta, a hard coconut and sugar candy, peanut cake or peanut drops, and guava cheese, which is a firm sweet made from guava pulp. Dukunu, also called tie-a-leaf or blue drawers, is a boiled pudding made with ingredients such as green banana, sweet potato and coconut, wrapped in banana leaves. Matrimony is made from star-apple pulp mixed with sweetened milk, citrus juice, nutmeg and sometimes sherry.
Where to buy them
Jus Coool, also known as the Puddin' Man, sits in Priory, St Ann, along the A1 highway. Visit Jamaica names its sweet potato pudding as a specialty, traditionally coal-baked. Plan the stop around your route, since the A1 is the road that brings you there. For more places to eat in the parish, see the St Ann restaurant listings.
Jamaican sweets turn up at bakeries, markets and roadside stands.
Teresa Pastries Limited sells traditional Jamaican pastries online, including gizzada, grater cake, coconut drops, plantain tart and sweet potato pudding. It delivers weekly on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Contact the seller through its website to check delivery to your area before you place an order. Buying from the website suits a gift box or a delivery to a home address.
Buccaneers' Treasure Chest is at Llanrumney Square in Port Maria, St Mary. It sells Devon House I-Scream and baked goods. The business warns that its prices can change. For more places in the parish, see the St Mary restaurant listings.
Jamaican sweets also turn up through bakeries, markets, roadside vendors, supermarkets and gas stations. Tamarind balls are commonly available at supermarkets and gas stations. Food festivals are another place to taste a range of sweets; see Jamaica food festivals, dates and what to eat.
Confirm before you go: each seller's opening hours.
What the prices look like now
Teresa Pastries lists its sweets in Jamaican dollars, and Buccaneers' Treasure Chest prices its Devon House I-Scream by scoop and cup. All prices here are as of 14 October 2026. Teresa Pastries identifies tamarind balls as seasonal, and they were sold out on that date. Buccaneers warns that its prices can change, so check before you travel.
These are two sellers' prices, not an island average. Prices depend on the piece, scoop, cup, slice, whole pudding or order size, so the same dessert can be priced very differently. At Teresa Pastries, a gizzada at J$220 costs about a tenth of the sweet potato pudding priced from J$2,200. A gizzada from a bakery, a slice of pudding from a roadside seller and a whole pudding ordered in advance can all cost different amounts, so compare the item, the size and the seller before you decide. Ask what size each price covers before you buy.
Cakes and cold desserts
Toto is a Jamaican coconut cake made with grated coconut, flour, brown sugar, coconut milk and spices. A recipe in the Jamaica Culinary Arts Handbook uses flour, milk, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, mixed spice, grated coconut, eggs, margarine and molasses. The handbook also gives totoes as a loaf-style preparation with coconut, molasses, brown sugar and mixed spice.
Toto is the classic small coconut cake.
Fruit cake, also called Jamaican black cake or Christmas cake, is made with dried fruit soaked in wine or rum and then baked with spices. It is especially associated with Christmas and celebrations. If you need to avoid alcohol, check whether the fruit cake has been soaked in rum or wine before you buy it. If your visit falls in December, the Jamaican Christmas Food guide covers how the cake fits into the holiday table.
Devon House ice cream is a Jamaican ice-cream brand associated with Devon House in Kingston. It comes in flavours such as grape-nut, rum and raisin and coconut, along with other varieties. Buccaneers sells it by the scoop, in cups and in sundaes.
Before you buy
Check whether a sweet contains nuts, dairy or eggs if you have an allergy or a dietary need. Peanut cake contains nuts, toto usually contains milk and eggs, and ice cream contains dairy. Check whether an item contains alcohol, especially fruit cake and any sweet soaked in rum or wine.
Gizzada and coconut drops are among the easiest sweets to buy and compare.
Availability changes from day to day. Pudding, gizzada, toto and seasonal sweets may sell out or be made only on certain days. Whole puddings and larger cakes may need to be ordered in advance. Check with the seller before you travel, so you know whether you can collect on the day or need to order ahead. Bring Jamaican cash for markets and roadside stands, and check whether a bakery takes cards before you pay.
Common questions
What is the most popular dessert in Jamaica?
Sweet potato pudding and Devon House ice cream are two of the most widely recognised picks. Visit Jamaica highlights the pudding as a signature Jamaican dessert, and it sends visitors to the Puddin' Man in Priory. A practical order is sweet potato pudding for a baked dessert, gizzada or toto for coconut, and Devon House ice cream for something cold.
What are some traditional Jamaican sweets?
Gizzada, toto, grater cake, coconut drops, sweet potato pudding, cornmeal pudding, bulla, plantain tart and tamarind balls are the sweets most often mentioned. Busta, peanut cake, guava cheese, dukunu and matrimony are also traditional. Tamarind balls are commonly sold at supermarkets and gas stations, which makes them easy to find on a road trip.
What is a traditional Jamaican cake?
Toto is the classic small coconut cake, made with grated coconut, flour, brown sugar, coconut milk and spices. Fruit cake, the Christmas cake made with dried fruit soaked in wine or rum, is the other traditional cake most people think of. Hummingbird cake is the North American name for the Jamaican Doctor Bird cake, a moist banana and pineapple cake with cinnamon and other baking spices.
What do Jamaicans call hummingbird cake?
The Jamaican predecessor of hummingbird cake is called Doctor Bird cake, or Doctorbird cake. The name comes from the red-billed streamertail hummingbird, Jamaica's national bird, which is commonly called the doctor bird. Visit Jamaica reports that Air Jamaica published a Doctor Bird Cake recipe in The Daily Gleaner in February 1971, and North American magazines later adapted the name to hummingbird cake. Modern versions may add cream cheese frosting and nuts, but those are not part of every Jamaican version.
What is a delicacy in Jamaica?
Toto is described as a Jamaican delicacy in culinary references. The word can also cover gizzada, grater cake, coconut drops, sweet potato pudding and tamarind balls. One Jamaican food guide calls matrimony the national dessert, which is a cultural description rather than an official title.
Find more places to eat by parish in our restaurant directory, or read the Jamaican Christmas Food guide if you want the full holiday table.