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Time to get it straight once and for all. When do you / do you not make a Brocho on dessert in a meal (where you washed)?

5 Answers 5

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There are a lot of different practices (and I believe a stira in the Mishna Brurah), and it may depend on your practice.

BUT:

Here's what I was told in yeshiva:

Fresh fruit (including "ha'adama fruit" like watermelon and bananas), candy, ice cream -- all get a bracha.

Anything mezonos, anything liquid, cooked fruit -- included with the meal.

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    Hamotzi/Bread exempts meal foods. So the question is- is it a meal food? Some exceptions that Shalom mentioned: Many mezonoses are safek hamotzi which you already made (ask your posek). Liquids- the minhag is not to even if it should get a bracha. Some will not make a bracha directly on ice cream since it will melt into a liquid. I argued with a local posek that there's no loss since meikar hadin liquids should get brachos, too, but he wouldn't budge since the minhag is not to make a bracha on a liquid.
    – YDK
    Aug 27, 2010 at 2:39
  • There's a Rabbi Frand tape all about the frozen-liquid controversy; I don't know what he concludes, but I picked "yes bracha" for the quick answer above.
    – Shalom
    Aug 27, 2010 at 12:12
  • Does this mean you can even continue to eat bread after the desert?
    – user8832
    May 28, 2015 at 5:40
  • @YDK But even if the mezonos dessert is safek hamotzi, it's not part of the meal, right?
    – SAH
    Sep 25, 2017 at 15:14
  • @YDK The minhag is not to make a bracha on a liquid - Does your posek consider broth and beverages exceptions to this? Or no bracha on any liquid?
    – SAH
    Sep 25, 2017 at 15:15
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According to Sephardi poskim all deserts require their own blessing. In most sephardi homes on shabat they typically strive to bring out something for each of the berakhot(mezunot, eitz, adamah, hakol).

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    Mekubal, do Sefardim refer to the brachot as "eitz, adamah, hakol"? That's cool! We Ashkenos call them "haeitz, haadamah, shehakol." As usual, you're using gramatically correct nouns; we're just lifting words out of context.
    – Shalom
    Aug 27, 2010 at 12:13
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    Israeli ones refer to them as such. Native English speaking sephardim... I am not sure. Aug 31, 2010 at 14:10
  • Mekubal- you mean after the meal for 100 Berachot. And you also mean to wait until after the meal to eat the cake, right? Nov 30, 2011 at 16:16
  • Do sefardim use any type of mezonos dessert for this or specifically one which covers all points of pas haba bkisnin?
    – NJM
    Nov 20, 2020 at 6:18
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Regarding mezonos (mentioned quickly in a comment on a different answer):

Bread is Hamotzi, and therefore one doesn't make a beracha on it since it is included in the Hamotzi at the beginning of the meal. Cake is Mezonos and one would make a beracha on it when it is eaten as dessert.

The question of making a beracha on a mezonos dessert depends on what is considered "Pas/Bread" vs. "Pas Haba BeKisnin/Cake". There are 3 possibilities cited in SH"A (really simplifying here):

  • Sweetened dough
  • Filled dough
  • Hard dough

If the desert you're eating satisfies all three, it is definitely a Mezonos (and not a Hamotzi) and therefore one makes a Mezonos when eaten as dessert. A good example are hamentaschen.

However, if it satisfies only one (possibly even two) of the conditions, no beracha.

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  • Can you give an example of a desert the satisfies all three?
    – Bas613
    Sep 1, 2010 at 2:10
  • Pie, filled with cherry/blueberry/mousse/etc, and baked with a hard crust, would satisfy all three, and you make a mezonos.
    – Barry
    May 30, 2011 at 16:35
  • @Barry Really? This question has to do with whether dessert is bread? I thought it had to do with whether dessert is part of the meal?
    – SAH
    Sep 25, 2017 at 15:13
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According to the Sephardim, one is Lechtechila not allowed toto eat cakes or cookies during a meal of bread (Yalkut Yosef, Heleq 3, page 187). He says you must wait until after you finish Birkat HaMazon. EDIT: Because some cakes are Hamotzi and some are Mezonot. This Halacha has a lot of cirumstances. http://www.dailyhalacha.com/displayRead.asp?readID=1571&txtSearch=eating%20cake%20meal See this for more details.

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    Prohibited why? Because of a safek in whether a b'racha is required? Or for some other reason?
    – msh210
    Nov 30, 2011 at 16:28
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This publication is relevant to the conversation:

http://halachayomit.co.il/en/default.aspx?HalachaID=1812 Summary: One should not recite any blessing at all on cakes served at the end of the meal. If the cake, however, contains all three conditions in that its dough is sweet, it is crunchy, and it is filled (like Ma’mool and Baklava), only if the tablecloth was removed and only then was this kind of cake served will one recite the blessing of “Borei Minei Mezonot” on it. If even this kind of cake was served without first removing the tablecloth, one does not recite any blessing. It is preferable, however, not to serve any cakes before Birkat HaMazon is recited.

http://halachayomit.co.il/en/default.aspx?HalachaID=1803 Summary: If desserts, such as fruits, assorted nuts, and the like, are served at the end of the meal, one must recite the appropriate blessings on each item, be it “Borei Peri Ha’etz”, “Borei Peri Ha’adama”, or “Shehakol Nihya Bidvaro”. Regarding ice cream served at the end of the meal before Birkat HaMazon, according to the letter of the law one may recite the “Shehakol” blessing on it, however, it is preferable to delay eating the ice cream until after Birkat HaMazon, at which point one may recite a blessing on it according to all opinions. This holds true especially on Shabbat and holiday meals when Kiddush is recited over wine before the meal, as was explained above.

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