You don’t need help deciding whether or not you want to eat chocolate haupia cream pie. But you may never have heard of the dessert, let alone know where to find it.
Haupia is a traditional Hawaiian dessert made from coconut milk. The texture is like thick pudding. Almost flan-like. Gelatinous, but sturdy enough to hold in your hand and bite into. The flavor is ridiculous in the best possible way.
The dessert predates Western contact. Traditional haupia was made by mixing coconut cream extracted from fresh coconut meat with pia (Polynesian arrowroot) and cooking it until it set. Modern recipes swap in cornstarch for the arrowroot, but the coconut base is the same. Haupia is still served at every luau in the state and appears at virtually every Hawaiian celebration — birthdays, graduations, funerals. It is comfort food in the deepest sense.
The chocolate haupia pie — the version that most visitors encounter — is a newer creation. Ted’s Bakery on Oahu’s North Shore is widely credited with popularizing it. Two layers: a dark chocolate custard on the bottom, a thick slab of coconut haupia on top, whipped cream over everything, all in a flaky pie crust. The combination works because the chocolate grounds the coconut sweetness. One layer without the other is good. Together they are absurd.
What separates a great haupia pie from a forgettable one? Three things. The haupia layer needs to be thick and firm — not watery or loose. The chocolate layer should taste like actual chocolate, not cocoa-flavored pudding mix. And the crust matters more than people think. A soggy crust ruins the texture contrast that makes the pie work.
Temperature matters too. Haupia pie is served chilled. The coconut layer should be cold and set, not room-temperature and sliding. The best bakeries keep their pies refrigerated until the moment they hand it to you. If you see a haupia pie sitting in a warm display case, keep walking.
Expect to pay $5-$8 per slice at most bakeries, or $25-$40 for a whole pie. Ted’s Bakery on Oahu’s North Shore — where the chocolate haupia pie arguably became famous — sells whole pies that locals buy for parties and holidays. Liliha Bakery in Honolulu is another institution. On neighbor islands, the best haupia pies often come from small family bakeries that don’t have websites. Ask locals. They know.
The chocolate-haupia combination is the most popular, but it’s not the only version. Some bakeries do a haupia-macadamia nut pie. Others layer haupia with lilikoi (passion fruit) or ube (purple yam). The traditional plain haupia — just coconut, no chocolate — is worth trying at least once. It’s the purest expression of what the dessert is supposed to taste like.
So let’s figure out where to get a slice (or three) on whichever island you’re visiting.
