The late-night sweets dilemma

👋 Annalise here. If you're like me and desperately crave dessert at night, you may also want to know where you can get your after-hours fix.

Why it matters: Late-night sweets can be tough to locate around here, outside of the obvious standbys like Astoria in Greektown — no hate, I love the seemingly endless supply of cheesecake — or national chains like Cold Stone.

• Locally made cakes, cookies and brownies are especially tough to find at night.

Good news: Warmer weather means more after-dark ice cream availability.

Reality check: Long hours aren't always doable for small businesses, especially those in the food industry with small profit margins.

• Plus, staffing shortages make decreasing hours a necessity, as For the Love of Sugar owner Manal Hussein told me last year.

A few places open past 8pm:

1. Family Treat

• This little ice cream, taco and coney parlor has been around for decades — and it's open until 8:30pm. It's got churro and cheesecake sundaes and hard-pack ice cream.
• 2010 Springwells St.

2. -320° Coffee & Creamery

• Open until 9pm weekdays and 10pm weekends in Detroit Shipping Co., this shop makes ice cream the fad-science way: using liquid nitrogen. Most noteworthy — they mix in fresh fruit for a satisfying scoop.
• 474 Peterboro St., Suite 201 (the other location, 4830 Cass Ave., closes at 8pm)

3. Sheila's Bakery

• Sheila's is one of few bakeries open until 9pm, with tres leches cake, conchas sweet bread, danishes and more. Stop by, grab some tongs and a tray and pick your favorites.
• 2142 Springwells St.

4. Milk & Froth Ice Cream

• The only time I've had Milk & Froth's unique black waffle cone is when their food truck hung out in Capitol Park. But now they have a physical location downtown and it's open until 9pm on weeknights and 10pm on weekends.
• 535 Griswold St., Suite 112.

📬 What open-late shops did we miss? Let us know by emailing [email protected].