I’ve spent thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours traveling on Amtrak, and, like anyone who travels regularly enough by train, I can tell you that the food isn’t always particularly showstopping.
But one menu item during a recent long-distance trip wowed me more than some fine-dining desserts.
In fact, it made my nearly $1,000 first-class ticket worth it — and I’m far from the only one obsessed with the unique regional dessert.
I’ve traveled long-distance on Amtrak many times, and the food isn’t always my highlight
Kristine Villarroel/Business Insider
Most of the time, I travel by coach, so I eat little else than whatever snacks I pack and maybe Amtrak’s $5 hot dog that I find weirdly enjoyable aboard the train — perhaps the only time I would find a microwaved bun at all appetizing.
On the coach café, microwaved burgers and hot dogs offer a sufficient warm meal if you don’t care for anything other than survival and perhaps the novelty of train dining.
On the other hand, the first-class dining car offers much better alternatives, though not particularly worth the $1,000 travel upgrade. While some routes offering flex dining allow passengers to buy a breakfast, lunch, or dinner pass for $20, $25, or $45, respectively, the upcharge isn’t always worth it depending on travel plans.
The buttercake dessert on a recent trip changed my opinion on the train dining options
Kristine Villarroel/Business Insider
During a June trip from Washington, DC, to Chicago, while traveling in a first-class roomette, I enjoyed the better dining options in the first-class dining car.
After my lunch, the server asked whether I’d like to have dessert. The two options were a brownie and a buttercake. Having tried the brownie on a prior trip, I went with the buttercake, although I wasn’t too sure what the name exactly described.
What arrived at my table was a warm, rich, gooey, very sweet, and buttery custard-filled shortcake. I was beyond wowed by it.
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After a couple of delicious bites, I looked online to see if other riders felt as passionately about the dessert as I had.
They certainly did.
The dessert is only regionally available on certain routes and has an online cult following
Kristine Villarroel/Business Insider
As soon as I looked it up, I encountered an online cult following for the dessert, which is only offered on certain train routes and has limited availability off the tracks.
Frank & Louie’s, the manufacturer of the buttercake, is a small family-run Italian bakery and retailer in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Apart from the train routes and a couple of locations in Delaware, the business also sells the buttercakes online, although they can only be ordered by the case. The minimum order you can place is 60 frozen buttercakes, which comes to $299 after shipping and handling.
In May, Amtrak posted an exciting, all-caps message to all buttercake lovers announcing the dessert would now be available aboard the Northeast Regional route. Online users report that the cake is usually available on routes like the California Zephyr, the Crescent, and the Empire Builder.
THIS IS NOT A DRILL. WE ARE NOW SERVING FRANK AND LOUIE’S VANILLA BUTTERCAKE ON BOARD OUR NORTHEAST REGIONAL TRAINS ‼️‼️‼️
— Amtrak (@Amtrak) May 13, 2026
Aside from the many grams of sugar in the dessert, the buttercake competes in taste with some of the best fine-dining desserts I’ve tried.
Next time I travel on Amtrak, I might have to plan my route around finding this regional dessert again — or maybe just plan a trip to Delaware.