CakeSpy Undercover: Sugar Bakery and Sweet Shop Cupcake Truck, Connecticut

I'd like to tell you the truth: I suspect that I receive more pictures of desserts that people have eaten than the average bear. People are sending me dessert pictures all the time. Usually, though, they don't do things that would satisfy my spy curiosity, such as include what the dessert is or where they ate it. They just send a picture.

But a few days ago, when a few of my friends were at a Zombies concert in Connecticut and saw a cupcake truck, not only did they send me a photo of the partially eaten cupcake...but they included tasting notes and more information about the truck, too. It has a cute story, so I thought I would share it with you, dear readers.

The truck is the mobile outpost of East Haven's Sugar Bakery & Sweet Shop, a bakery which has been around since 2004. It's run by a mother-daughter team, Carol Vollono and Brenda DePonte. According to their website,  Brenda had been living in New York City studying fashion merchandising and marketing, and missed her family, but even more importantly, she missed how they connected over dessert. While visiting home, mom and daughter were having a sesh discussing their dreams and future plans, and somehow dessert came up. Inspired by the dessert boom in the city and wanting to take advantage of mom's baking skills, they decided to give commercial baking a go, putting a new twist on classic recipes. Apparently, "The collaboration of the two minds was epic. Sugar Bakery was born!"

I think that's cute. But cuter still? The goods.

They're delivered in this adorable truck. Wouldn't you be happy to see this at a concert? 

And wouldn't you be even happier, when you approached, to see this menu?

Well, they must be good if they've been on TV, right?

Definitely time to give it a try. My buddies chose the "Big Blue", a blueberry cupcake with blueberry mousse filling and...you guessed it, blueberry buttercream. Here's a before shot.

As reported, this was a very good cupcake, not to mention healthy "account of the blueberries". That definitely fits into my world view of sweets! 

Sugar Bakery and Sweet Shop, 422-424 Main Street, East Haven, CT, with a roving truck, too. Find them online here.

CakeSpy Undercover: Simona's Bakery, Sea Girt NJ

When you walk into Simona's Bakery in Sea Girt, New Jersey, you could easily mistake it with an old-school Italian bakery that has been there for generations.

As a matter of fact, it's been there only about a year, give or take. But that old-school feel has a strong basis: it's the newest bakery from a family that has 4 generations of baking experience. Locals may recognize the style of the bakery as being similar to Delponte Bakery in Bradley Beach. But it's not a ripoff--it's their daughter!

In spite of the similar appearance, I felt as if there were subtle differences between the two bakeries. Some of the cookies by the pound were different, and the decoration on the cakes had a slightly different style. But like I said--subtle. 

I was pretty excited to see some different brownie varieties--plain, frosted, Cookies n Cream (Oreo, basically), walnut, and German Chocolate. I decided then and there that it was a brownie kind of day. I asked the employee "should I do plain frosted, or German Chocolate?". She looked at me like I clearly must have something wrong in the head. "You should get..." she said slowly, as if I might have trouble understanding, "the German Chocolate." 

Good lord, was she right! The chocolate explosion in my mouth. The sticky-sweet coconut brown sugar topping. The little dollop of chocolate on top. I felt happy chills while eating it, and it wasn't just the air conditioning in my mom's car. This was a good brownie. I wish I could tell you how it compared to the plain, but I don't care about the plain. I love the German Chocolate. 

SpyMom got an orange pecan biscotti, which she deemed "good". She didn't add much beyond that, but I did note that it disappeared in a rather rapid way. 

SpyDad got a walnut brownie, which similarly disappeared quickly but without much comment. 

Overall, I was impressed by my visit to Simona's. I wish I had gotten more photos for you to ogle, but you see I was on a mission to get--and eat--a brownie. So the one at the top will have to suffice. Go there. 

Simona's Bakery, 2201 Highway 35, Sea Girt; online here.

Glazed and Infused, Chicago

The best way to become dazed and confused? By sugar and carb-o-loading on all things Glazed & Infused. This is a new-ish boutique doughnut chain in Chicago, and it has a sweet story for me, personally. 

Way back, when I started CakeSpy.com, I started to connect myself to the bakery pulse of the USA. And one of my favorite bakery discoveries was Dozen Bake Shop, an adorable bakery chainlet in Pittsburgh. I even did an interview with then-owner, James Gray.

Well, this adorable fellow made quite an impression on me, and we kept in contact through the years, though we'd never met in person. Then, fast forward several years. James has sold his bakery in Pittsburgh and moved to Chicago, where he is the manager and a partner in a doughnut shop chainlet called Glazed and Infused. I happen to be visiting Chicago for my book tour. Finally, we get to meet!! We are adorable!!

Naturally, we had a chat over some doughnuts. So, since I believe that everything tastes better with a backstory, I'll tell you a bit about the shop's history first.

It's owned by a restaurant company called Francesca's, which owns several restaurants in Chicago and beyond. But this was the company's first foray into morning sweets. This made James a great fit for the company, as he has experience with pastry and sweets retail, which is, as he puts it mildly, "very different" than restaurants.

They've quickly grown to five locations, and on the date of our meeting, James was headed out to scout location #6. Spreading beyond Chicago is a definite possibility, with an idea of bringing high quality doughnuts to the masses in a friendly and accessible way. 

In Chicago, the doughnuts have a healthy and loving following. In chatting with a customer who works nearby, he said that Glazed and Infused is his little "treat for myself" for walking to work, you know, to balance out all that exercise. On Yelp, one customer says, "If you want to feel like you're licking the floor in heaven, go to Glazed and Infused!", giving it a very high star rating. I must admit, I don't know exactly what that means, but I like the sound of it.

Looking at the variety of doughnuts available, your head might start to spin. They're prettily arranged, and the flavors are mostly standard fare but with a little twist--think, a bismarck doughnut stuffed with locally made blueberry jam, or instead of bavarian cream doughnut, a Creme Brulee Doughnut.

I, of course, got hooked up with a whole box of them. YEAH!  

What you've got in this picture is (from top left, going clockwise) an old-fashioned glazed, coffee glazed, creme brulee, "Bar Snack", Bismark featuring blueberries, and chocolate toffee (featuring Terry's Toffee, made in Chicago!). 

Curious about that "bar snack" doughnut? Well, it includes basically all of the little junk foodie snacks you might find in little bowls at a bar--pretzels, peanuts, chips, and then some M&M's (why not?). It makes for a salty-sweet guilty pleasure of a treat. 

To start my doughnut eating quest immediately, though, I went for the Banana Cream Cheese, which is composed of banana cake with cream cheese frosting, salted caramel drizzle & candied walnuts. It sounded a lot like Hummingbird Cake, so I was totally in!

Yum, dudes! The nicely banana-scented cake was soft and gooey owing to that caramelly glaze, definitely easier to eat with a fork. The cream cheese frosting was decadent and smooth and lightly tangy, and those crunchy walnuts added the perfect texture contrast. 

This doughnut made me a very happy spy. See?

Overall, I was very impressed with the doughnuts. What is a fairly large operation already has managed to maintain great quality in their doughnuts, and I love that they've tweaked the classics just enough to make them special, but not so much that they are too weird or inaccessible to please a crowd.

So, there you have it. If you're in Chicago, I highly suggest you give Glazed & Infused a try!

Glazed & Infused, multiple locations; find them, and more info, at goglazed.com.

CakeSpy Undercover: Huckleberry Cafe, Santa Monica

I love me a good cafe. And in Santa Monica, California, you'll find plenty of nice ones. Airy, sunny, often with outdoor seating. You can smell the ocean in the air if the wind is right. 

My new favorite is a bit in-land, but what they lack in the scent of sea air, they make up for in the smell of sweet carbohydrates. It's called Huckleberry Cafe. It's owned by a couple--half of which earned their baking chops at San Francisco's famed Tartine Bakery.

I had read about Huckleberry on websites and in magazines over the past few years, so I was delighted to finally have a chance to visit while spending a few days in Santa Monica. 

The website told me that "Everything served at Huckleberry is made on site using the best quality ingredients, including organic flour, Vahlrona chocolate and farmer’s market produce. The menu changes regularly with the seasons and on the baker’s whims."

So, I'll tell you what I had, but I can't guarantee it will be there when you go. 

First, the maple bacon biscuit. I am a biscuit lover, and this one was a fine specimen. Sort of like a hybrid between biscuit and scone, texture-wise, with a mellow sweetness from the maple. Yum. But then it was punctuated by salty spots of bacon. This was no "bacon just for attention" type of sweet. It was really effing good. 

Next up was the multigrain oat bar with a cherry filling. This was different, I was told, because it usually has blueberries. Whatever. This cherry thing was freaking good. Tart cherries against a backdrop of oaty buttery cookielike goodness, then topped with brown sugary crumble. Don't be fooled by the word "grain" and the presence of fruit--this is not health food. No way, man. It's tasty-town.

The bakery case is STOCKED, though. You'll find shortbread cookies, croissants, cakes (cornmeal blueberry? YES!), layer cakes, scones, biscuits, and then in the cold case, trifles and salted caramel bars and other tasty stuff. 

Huckleberry is mos' def a new favorite of mine. It's a fantastic place to spend time and eat. I hope you'll visit next time you find yourself in sunny Santa Monica! Also go visit my sister. You might find her around the new Doc Martens store! She does all of the retail planning for them, so feel free to be effusive about their fantastic displays.

Huckleberry Cafe, 1014 Wilshire Boulevard, Santa Monica; online here.

Pastry Profiles: Chocolate Tart from Tree House Pastry, Santa Fe

Tree House Pastry Shop and Café is not easy to find. It's in an unlikely spot--inside of a mall, across from an insurance agent. But it's worth seeking out, particularly for their chocolate tart. It's both vegan and gluten free, but don't be scared off when I say that, because there is nothing virtuous at all about the taste of this devilishly decadent tart. Does the secret lie in the crust, made of crushed candied walnuts? Or is it the dense, lusciously luxuriant slab of chocolate topping, which is so thick that it will coat your teeth? Or is it the secret addition of raspberries which add a little tart burst to all taht chocolatiness? Either way, after a few bites, you don't care so much about the ingredients as you do that it keeps on finding its way to your mouth.

I wouldn't go quite so far as to tell you this tart alone is worth a trip to Santa Fe, but...I am saying that if you are in Santa Fe, this tart is worth seeking out. Or maybe it will make you strongly consider Santa Fe for your next vacation. 

Tree House Pastry Shop and Cafe, 163 Paseo de Peralta (inside of the DeVargas Center), Santa Fe, NM 87501; online here.

Sweet Times in Lewes, Delaware

Recently, I had the sweet good fortune of spending nearly a week in Lewes (pronounced "Lewis"), Delaware. I was there to paint a mural for three very lucky little girls in their home. 

I already shared some process shots with you, but here are a few photos of the finished mural. 

But guess what, my friends? Muraling wasn't all I did in Lewes. I also ate some totally sweet treats.

First up was a breakfast of baked oatmeal at Café Azafrán. This does, I realize, veer slightly toward health food, but it was sweetened, and it was so freaking good that it needs to be mentioned. Somehow, the geniuses at this cafe have turned oatmeal into a baked brick of lightly sweetened deliciousness. It had the texture of crumb cake, and remained cohesive enough to handle, but had the taste of oatmeal. It was a splendid breakfast, and they will serve it with milk or yogurt (or just plain). Unfortunately the photos don't do it much justice, so you'll just have to trust me: it's well worth a try.

Although it is not food related, I should tell you that Lewes has a dutch history museum, and over the entryway...well...that looks a lot like a unicorn to me! Clearly, I was meant to mural here.

Back to the sweet stuff. Lewes also has a bakery. It's called Notting Hill Coffee Company, but it has a big sign above the store that says Lewes Bake Shop.

Now, instead of asking what I tried here, you should ask "what didn't you try?". Because it is the primary bake shop in town, and I was there for DAYS. So I got to try a lot. 

Including...the "Ooey Gooey", a treat all their own which is described as "not a twist, a danish, a biscuit, or a sticky bun...it's all of the above!".

Visually, they look like a twisted cruller.

But taste-wise, they defy one definition. They're definitely ooey gooey. More solid than a doughnut. Not quite as sturdy as a biscuit. COVERED in gooey caramel icing stuff. Oh goodness are they good. It's possible that more than three were consumed during the muraling time.

This bakery featured a lot of sweets made with pastry dough rolled into sticks--including the "gorilla stick", which included a chocolatey nut mixture...

As well as the "Lewes Creation" which had a cinnamon-sugar-apple mixture smeared in the middle.

In both cases the pastries are surprisingly light and shatter when bitten, but are very pleasant in the mouth, indeed.

For breakfast treats, the croissants could not be beat. Here's the "Swiss Almond" one, made with a mixture of almond paste inside and almonds and chocolate on the outside. Yum.

Similarly delicious, though quite different than the croissant, was a sticky bun. Served in generous slabs and rich with caramelly topping and nuts, these yeasty rolls made mornings happy in this wintry seaside town.

The bakery also does coffee in several flavors (they are beyond happy to let you try all of them) and they do all sorts of flavored hot chocolates. My favorite was the one where they double the chocolate (no, really). It sounds like it might be too much, but trust me, it's not. 

Oh, what a delicious trip! Thank you, Lewes, for the sweet memories.

Places mentioned:

• Notting Hill Coffee, 124 2nd Street, Lewes, DE; online here.
• Café Azafrán, 109 Market Street, Lewes, DE; online here.
• Zwaanendael Museum, 102 Kings Highway, Lewes, DE; more info here.

Interested in your own CakeSpy mural? E-mail jessieoleson@gmail.com.

CakeSpy Undercover: Potito's Italian American Pastries, Philadelphia

Where once, on Walnut Street, was the Philly Chocolate Company, now there is Potito's.

The chocolate company has moved, and Potito's has opened a center city outpost of their bakery, which is based in South Philadelphia.

And of course CakeSpy has visited. How could you NOT visit a place that offers a huge cannoli filled with millions of baby-cannoli?

Photo: ThrillistDudes, I know. I know. It's like witnessing the miracle of cannoli birth.

At the bakery, you'll be greeted with a generous display of baked goods, ranging from Italian classics (cookies by the pound, cannoli, lobster tails, etc) to American sweets (cupcakes, pies, etc). Because the bakery prides itself on being Italian-American, I decided to stick with an Italian roster of sweets to sample.

First up, the cannoli. At $3.95 each, I consider them fairly heftily priced, but obviously made with love and care. I've been told that in Chicago, there is a place that sells them for $9.00 per, though, so maybe I shouldn't focus so much on the cost, but rather tell you that the filling was dreamy?

Photo: Potito'sA rainbow cookie was highly satisfactory, a solid version of the Italian bakery staple.

Next up, an Italian ricotta tart. It's that lovely featured at the top of the post.  Clearly they know their ricotta filling, which was a very nice texture and flavor. Lightly sweet and nicely complemented by a cocoa topping and strawberry on top. The crust was lightly sweet, making for a pleasant backdrop for the tart.

Potito's Bakery, two locations (Center City and South Philadelphia); online here.

CakeSpy Undercover: Nook Bakery and Cafe, Philadelphia

There it is, hidden in plain sight in the middle of a busy city block: Nook Bakery. 

I say hidden not because it really is, but because somehow I had walked by roughly a zillion times without ever actively noticing that it said "Bakery" on the door. I thought it was just a coffee shop! No offense to coffee shops, of course, but for me, bakeries hold higher interest. 

But you can bet your bottom dollar that on the day I had my glasses prescription updated and finally noticed the word bakery, I went right in to buy something. 

They have a very nice bakery display, including cupcakes, brownies, cookies, and bars. I hope nobody minds, but I snagged a few photos from their Yelp page to give you a better idea, because I only had my phone camera. Here are some of the things you might see there. 

After much debate, I settled on a brownie and an apple custard bar.

Mostly, I am going to talk about the apple custard bar, though, because that was my favorite.

What seemed a pie like pastry molded into a Napoleon shaped brick, this apple custard bar had a sturdy bottom shortbread-y layer and a sturdy brown sugar crumb topping, but the inside was all gooey yum. The custard was smooth and played oh so nicely with the light spice of the apples, which permeated all parts with a sweetness that was most welcome to this mouth.

I would definitely need another. 

I will certainly be visiting Nook again, and I have my sights set on more bar cookies and the delicious looking cupcakes (one of which is pictured above, courtesy the Nook Yelp page).

Nook Bakery and Cafe, 15 South 20th Street, Philadelphia; online here.

Sweet Times at Ms Goody Cupcake, Philadelphia

We're going to talk about Ms. Goody Cupcake today, I promise. But first. When you walk into a bakery, do you consider every single little thing that had to come into play for this experience to happen? 

In your own life, zillions of little tiny things have happened, of course. But I'm talking now about the bakery itself. It may have started as a dream, but then it went through a strenuous time of buildout, health inspections, and refining recipes that work perfectly in a home kitchen to be suitable for commercial production and consumption. It boggles the mind. 

Recently I had the opportunity to chat with Gigi, the owner of Ms. Goody Cupcake in Philadelphia, and had the pleasure of learning more of her story. And with that, here are a few things you may not have known about this sweet little spot nestled in the up and coming East Passyunk area: 

What's in a name? The name came to her in an unexpected way: at a big box store! Owner Gigi was debating cupcake shop names--she had already dismissed Gigi's as it was already taken, and had rejected several others that seemed to generic. Then, while in a Wal-Mart parking lot in New Jersey, she overheard a conversation in which one person called the other a "Ms. Goody Two-Shoes." She thought--that's it! Ms. Goody Cupcake was born.

Sweet Trivia: Gigi's husband owns a pizza shop a few blocks away. I found this impossibly romantic, the perfect marriage of the foods I always eat on my birthday! 

Overcoming obstacles: On the day that she opened, Gigi slipped on the store's newly mopped floor and had to close! When she re-opened again, she suffered another injury shortly thereafter and had to close yet again! Luckily, her supportive neighborhood was ready and waiting for her sweet treats. 

Playing favorites: Gigi doesn't like to play favorites, BUT. Her personal favorite cupcake from the menu is the Tiramisu cupcake, offered as a special on occasion, which features coffee and mascarpone. Yum. 

Happy Hour: Ms. Goody cupcake does offer several boozy cupcake options. They're not available all the time, but they're popular when they are around. Beer-pretzel cupcake? Sounds perfect for Father's Day. Talk about a sweet buzz.

Now that I've given you some fun tidbits, let's talk about the cupcakes. There is a roster of about five flavors (basics, you know) that are always available, and then every day you'll see several other flavors that are specials. On the day I went, they included a "Banana Split" (banana cake, chocolate drizzle, cherry on top--pictured top), "Lunch Lady" (peanut butter and jelly), and "Holy Cannoli" (cannoli cream-esque frosting, bits of shell on the top - yum).

I tried one of their regular cupcakes--the "Pretty In Pink", which is a champagne cupcake available in the prettiest cake color, and the aforementioned "Banana Split". I thoroughly enjoyed my cupcake experience on both counts. I wouldn't call the cupcakes here fancy--but don't think that is an insult in any way. They are homey types of cakes, and that is sometimes very satisfying. The frostings are assertively dense, and perfectly sweet. The cake itself falls somewhere in the middle--not poundcakey, but definitely not spongey or over-light. The champagne cupcake had a nice bite from the champagne which was rather nice with the sweetness of the frosting. The banana cupcake was satisfyingly moist, but not to be confused with banana bread, ever, with all the sweetness happening on the upper level.

I also tried a cake truffle--once again, the "Pretty In Pink". You could still taste that little bite of the champagne, which was especially nice against the white chocolate coating, which can be so-o-o-o sweet sometimes. Nice. 

Thought I didn't try them on this visit, they also have cookies, a different type of cake every week (Jewish Apple cake on the day of my visit), and doggie treats. They also offer custom cakes by request. 

In the East Passyunk area? Go check them out, yo. It's a fun neighborhood to walk around in, as well.

Ms. Goody Cupcake, 1838 E. Passyunk Ave., Philadelphia PA; online here.

Almond Croissant, Elizabeth Street Cafe, Austin TX

I have sampled the almond croissant by Elizabeth Street Cafe in Austin, and I found them highly satisfactory. 

My path was indirect, however. Although I have been to the cafe, which specializes in Vietnamese food with a Frenchy twist, I actually sampled the croissant at the (sadly) now closed trailer La Boîte. It was a very cute spot: a trailer on a hill selling macarons, coffee, croissants and sandwiches. Here is a photo by Aimee Wenske and Jeff Kauffman.

I had visited after it was suggested by a reader; me and a buddy stopped by the pre-funk before breakfast at 24. 

Which takes us back to that almond croissant. 

It was supplied by the Elizabeth Street Cafe, I learned, and it was a fine specimen. A crackly exterior that did that nice shatter-crunch thing that a good croissant should do, in your mouth, not in your hand. A rich, almond-y flavor that permeated each bite. Crunchy almonds on top to give it a texture contrast with the smooth, slightly gooey interior. Overall, a very satisfying croissant experience.

That's all. Go get one yourself.

You can't enjoy one at La Boite anymore, but go right on over to Elizabeth Street Cafe, 1501 S. 1st Street, Austin; online here.