CakeSpy Undercover: Mount Bakery, Bellingham, WA

In Washington, there is a mountain of keen interest to outdoorsy types called Mount Baker.

But to cake gumshoe-ing types, Bellingham's Mount Bakery is a much more palatable proposition.

This place isn't strictly a bakery--it is also a cafe serving breakfast (including a gorgeous Eggs Benedict, if you're into that savory stuff) and lunch items. But we're here to talk about the sweet stuff right now.

On our recent visit, after the requisite period of analyzing the choices, we settled on some solid choices: the black bottom muffin and the Linzer Cookie.

Now, for those who have not been initiated into the black bottom muffin club, they are basically one of the best muffins out there (with a possible rival in the doughnut muffin), in that they don't even pretend to be healthy: they're largely comprised of cream cheese and chocolate. Dense and moist, taster Nicole commented that she was impressed how the cream cheese taste permeated the entire muffin--definitely a decadent treat.

And as for the Linzer Cookie (the cookie version of the famous tart by the same name)--oh, what a cookie.

For one thing, it already wins points because it's a sandwich cookie--and everyone knows that sandwich cookies are basically the best excuse to eat two cookies at once and not be judged.

But it's even better when the cookies are excellent, like these: they're lightly crumbly (not quite as much as a pecan sandy, say, but slightly more than a sugar cookie), extremely buttery, and nicely complemented with a layer of slightly tart preserves and a sweet layer of confectioners' sugar on top.

(Oh, and as a P.S. -- right next door is a cupcake shop which says "coming soon" called Icing on the Cake!)

Mount Bakery, 308 W Champion St, Bellingham, WA 98225; online at mountbakery.com.

Do or Donut: The German Chocolate Cake Donut from Rocket Donuts, Bellingham WA

Every so often, a donut comes along that can only be described as a holey experience.

And this baby is worth a pilgrimage to Rocket Donuts in Bellingham, Washington: The German Chocolate Cake Donut. 

Now, the whole theory behind Rocket Donuts, which boasts a cool, sci-fi inspired interior, is that "donuts just ain't serious business"--the idea being that donuts are an indulgence, something fun, and something to be enjoyed. No, they're not healthy, but they do you good. 

But while they claim not to take themselves seriously, the donuts are indeed serious business. With a gorgeous display filled with varieties including a perfect Homer Simpson pink frosted cake donut with sprinkes, pretty crullers, several vegan options, and even a devilish maple bacon bar (not one of the vegan options), deciding on just a couple of flavors was difficult. 

Ultimately, we (myself and CakeSpy buddy Nicole) chose several cake varieties, including the chocolate frosted cake with coconut on top, the Homer Simpson (my term, not theirs), and the donut of the month, the German Chocolate Cake.

While all flavors had a dense and flavorful crumb, the flavor of the month really took the cake. The donut itself had an understated chocolate flavor which wasn't overpowering, but rather perfectly balanced by a thick slathering of traditional coconut-rich German chocolate cake frosting, which added moisture and richness to every bite. The sweet little cherry on top not only added an extra dose of sweetness, but it sure was cute too (and cuteness cannot be underrated in baked goods).

To sum it all up? When classic cake flavor meets cake donut, each bite is like a little jaunt to Bliss City. Of course, if you don't like coconut, bet you wouldn't turn away one of these:

Rocket Donuts, 306 W. Holly St. (Corner of Holly and Bay, Downtown Bellingham), 360.671.6111; online at rocketdonuts.com.

Sweet Love: A Bakery Crush on My Kids' Cookies, Bainbridge Island WA

Cookies are one of those foods fraught with nostalgia--few people can think of freshly baked cookies without sweet memories of the mom, dad, grandma, or neighbor who baked them. And that is the idea behind Bainbridge Island-based My Kids' Cookies, a retail bakery run by Barbara Reininger, who, according to their website,

began baking these fabulous cookies when her children were young. Having a love of chocolate chip cookies, but not able to eat them all, she began to give them away to friends. Her children wanted to share with their friends too, so they created the cookie raffle. They'd pick a friends name and off they'd go to deliver ‘just because’ cookies. More than one of the happy beneficiaries suggested that Barbara begin selling her cookies and the rest is My Kids' Cookies history. Barbara used to bake cookies to get her kids to do their homework. Now she's baking cookies to pay for college.

But not only is the story sweet--so are the cookies. Since they opened in 2007, they have branched out from the chocolate chip, peanut butter and oatmeal varieties to offer a number of other delicious cookies and sweets as well: milk chocolate peanut butter delights and gorgeous slabs of buttery shortbread, as well as some non-cookie goods like brownies, pumpkin muffins and cupcakes--many of which can also be shipped nationwide.

Perhaps the best thing about My Kids' Cookies is that while they have grown, they've still remained very true to their humble beginnings: simple, unfussy, but very good treats that would taste just as good today as they would have after school when you were little. Oh, and they've maintained a great sense of humor, too.

My Kids' Cookies retail bakery is located at 9723 Coppertop Loop NE, #202, Bainbridge Island, WA; a variety of their baked goods can be shipped and are available for purchase online at mykidscookies.com; if you want yet more, you can keep in contact via their blog, Facebook, or Twitter.

Sweet Love: A Valentine's Day Bakery Crush on Fields of Cake in Maine

Question: What is love?

Answer: Love is sweet, rich, and full of butter. And this Valentine's Day season, the collective CakeSpy heart has been captured by the sweet treats made by Fields of Cake, a Brunswick, Maine-based custom order baking operation which (joyfully!) is able to ship a select few sugary sweets nationwide.

So what kind of sweets could you get by mail? Here's a roundup:

Red Hots Fudge: White Chocolate Fudge with just enough crushed red hots for a creamy, spicy balance that is out of this world! $6/ 8 ounce box

Red Velvet Whoppidy-Do’s (pictured top): Red Velvet whoopie pies filled with scrumptious Amaretto Buttercream and half dipped in White Chocolate and beautiful edible red glitter. Amazing. $9/ half dozen

Fresh Raspberry Truffles: Fresh Raspberries, filled with a bit of almond paste then dipped in silky dark chocolate. $12/ 8 ounces (note: these are not shippable)

Fresh Strawberry Marshmallows: Beautiful light pink swirled clouds of strawberry sweetness. If you have never tasted a homemade marshmallow, DON’T miss out on this. They are heaven. $9/ dozen

Giant Chocolate Chip Cookies: As big as a saucer, with chunks of delicious fine dark chocolate. These cookies are crispy on the edges and soft and chewy in the center made with 3 kinds of sugar and a few of my own secrets. $15/ dozen

Chocolate Toffee Marshmallows: A light delicious vanilla bean marshmallow swirled with fine dark chocolate and chunks of toffee. Insane! $9/ Dozen

Heartbreaker Cupcakes: Chocolate cupcakes, filled with chocolate chunks and smoked sea salt caramel, topped with chocolate ganache and white chocolate buttercream. (shipped cupcakes will be in mason jars) $21/ half dozen

Combo Pack: 4 pieces of Red Hots Fudge, 2 Whoopidy-Do’s, 4 Truffles, 4 of each Marshmallow and 2 Giant cookies. Blissful Excess at it’s best. $18/pack (Note: If you are having the combo pack shipped to you, the truffles will be swapped for either 4 extra pieces of fudge or 4 extra marshmallows, your choice).

Want to order? You can check out the Fields of Cake shop, or contact Head Baker Carrie by email at carrielynnfields@gmail.com or by phone (so old-school!) at (207)449-7982.

Heaven is a Place on Earth: Heaven On Earth Restaurant and Bakery, OR

We all feel regret sometimes, and for this Cake Gumshoe, it hit bigtime when we failed to stop at Heaven on Earth Restaurant and Bakery in Oregon.

Traveling along I-5 in Oregon, we only noticed the sign after we flew by: "Home of the world famous cinnamon rolls".

In retrospect, it was probably a big mistake to not have turned around. Why?

For one, the cinnamon rolls. Available in traditional iced as well as caramel pecan variations, these look like a totally sweet way to carb-o-load for your next sporting event (or, you know, your next...workday). Yes.

But they also have other sweetness on the menu, which includes oh, let's see...turnovers, whole pies (in apple, marionberry, pumpkin, pecan, and cherry), carrot cake, chocolate cake, chocolate mint cake, German chocolate cake, pineapple upside down cake, coffee cake, cookies, macaroons, peanut brittle, and Western toffee. Not to sound obsessed or anything.

Oh well. There's always next time, right?

Heaven On Earth Restaurant and Bakery, 703 Quines Creek, Azalea, Oregon 97410; online at heavenonearthrestaurant.com.

Sweet Love: A Bakery Crush on Crumb

Sweet infatuation has hit again: CakeSpy has a bakery crush.

And that crush is called Crumb {a bakery}, and it is (regrettably for this Seattleite) all the way in Atlanta.

I came across this special order bakery via the site You Are What You Eat...or Reheat, in which the writer opens her ode by saying "Crumb {a bakery} may just be the new love of my life". I'm with you, buddy.

The experience starts with their beautifully designed and printed letterpress labels...

...and gets even better once you get to the goods, which consist primarily of gorgeous macarons and cupcakes.

The hardest part is imagining what I'd want to taste first: perhaps the Liz's Lemon cupcake (lemon cake topped with honey-lemon cream cheese frosting)? Or maybe the pistachio macaron with rich, creamy pistachio filling?

Check out Crumb {a bakery} online on their website, their blog, and get instant pleasure with their Twitter updates!

Cake Byte: Sweet Things Cupcakes Now Open in Tacoma!

You know what the world needs right now? More cupcakes.

Happily, Sweet Things is right on top of that need--they just opened in Tacoma, Washington. The shop specializes in cupcakes (both a daily assortment and special orders) and also has a retail section featuring cake stands, notecards, and other gift items. Based on the feedback of Tacoma guy-about-town Kevin Frietas, they're worth a trek:

We snagged a 4-box of raspberry vanilla, chocolate mint, chocolate chocolate, and red velvet. The raspberry vanilla frosting was excellent, the chocolate cake with mint frosting balanced well and didn't overwhelm one way or the other, the chocolate chocolate was dark and smooth, and the red velvet was tasty but forgettable. We spied their carrot cake and hopefully there will be more interesting flavors to come like lavender, sweet potato, and mocha cherry mentioned over at the TNT Diner back in May.

And they've really got some sweetness baking for the holidays, per an email from one of the owners:

For the Christmas Season we are offering a 4-pack consisting of Gingerbread, Eggnog, Candy Cane, and Winter Wonderland. The Gingerbread is frosted with a spiced buttercream and finished off with a trio of spice drops. The Eggnog cake has an accompanying eggnog buttercream, a light dusting of nutmeg, and two white chocolate 'straws'. Candy Cane is a deep, dark chocolate cake frosted with mint buttercream tinted the palest mint green color, and it is then rolled in crushed candy canes, and topped off with another dollop of mint buttercream with a sugar "candy cane". Lastly, our Winter Wonderland is our Classic vanilla/vanilla frosted in an icy blue vanilla buttercream, sprinkled with sugar crystals for sparkle and shine and topped with two cute white snowflakes.

Sounds like Washington just got a lot sweeter! I can't wait to try their cupcakes myself!

For more information, visit the Sweet Things Cupcakes website.

Sweet Love: A Bakery Crush on Gourmet Library

I don't know about you, but I love looking at online bake shops. Even if I don't order, I get a lot of flavor ideas (and things to dream about!).

My current online crush? Gourmet Library, a site dedicated to food: including videos, stories--and an online shop!--which I discovered via Thrillist. They have a comprehensive Cakes and Confections section, which includes goodies like Almond Pan Cantuccio,Chocolate Dipped figs, Almond-filled Speculaas, Stroopwafels, and more! I especially love how each product has a video where the employees discuss the product.

Check it out at gourmetlibrary.com!

CakeSpy Undercover: The Upper Crust at Pryde's Old Westport, Kansas City MO

Pop Quiz: you're in Kansas City, MO and hankering for a sweet treat. Where to go?

Pryde's Old Westport, of course. This was Cake Gumshoe MJ's latest discovery on a recent trip to Kansas City (which has the unusual tagline of "Make It a Good Place to Live In"). The bakery had looked intriguing during online research before the trip, and happily it was just as good in person. Based in the Westport section of town, this is not merely a bake shop: it is a three-story emporium of kitchen and garden goods, with an in-house bakery called The Upper Crust, which is open Friday and Saturday 10am-6pm.

So what's on show at The Upper Crust? Pies of all sorts, including fruit (apple, French apple, blueberry, blackberry, bumbleberry, cherry, crimson appleberry, gooseberry, peach, rhubarb, strawberry rhubarb), cream (banana cream/meringue, chocolate cream/meringue, coconut cream/meringue, lemon meringue, key lime, pumpkin, sour cream raisin, peanut butter) and nutty (cranberry pecan, chocolate pecan, mince, pecan, pumpkin pecan, german chocolate) varieties, including small "cutie pies" in the $7-8 price range and full size pies from $19-$22.

Our Cake Gumshoe sampled the bumbleberry and gooseberry pies, and reported that both were pretty perfect.

And though the pies are certainly the star of the show, they also carry cookies which range from $1.95 - $2.25, including Breakfast cookies, chewy oatmeal raisin, chocolate chip, decandent chocolate, frosted banana, shorbread, molasses crinkle, lemon sugar, peanut butter, coconut macaroon.

MJ bravely sampled the cookies in addition to the pie (anything for the sake of research!); her favorites were the chewy oatmeal raising and frosted banana.

In fact, the only regret that MJ had was that on the last day of her trip she went back, but alas The Upper Crust was closed. Which just goes to show--while there's noplace like home, Pryde's will certainly make you feel welcome in Kansas City.

The Upper Crust at Pryde's Old Westport is located at 115 Westport Rd, Kansas City, MO; phone: 816.531.5588; online at prydeskitchen.com.

Taste the Rainbow: Rainbow Cake From Madison Park Bakery, Seattle

Have you ever found yourself wondering "where on earth--or in Seattle--can I get some rainbow cake?". If so, you're not alone--but just in case not, here's a primer on what is meant by rainbow cake. A rainbow cake is a multi-layered confection consisting of several rainbow-hued layers of cake, all covered with a snow-white buttercream frosting. The idea is that once cut into, there's a gorgeous surprise inside. And honestly, it's something that never fails to delight children or adults.

While it's usually not something you'd see in a bakery--it would be more of a homemade thing, or a special-order item--happily, in Seattle, you can occasionally find this sweet treat at Madison Park Bakery.

Their version consists of five thin layers of technicolor cake--red, orange, yellow, green, and blue--which are quite light and almost springy, with the slightest taste of almond (perhaps almond extract?). The buttercream frosting is firmer than some, with a more dominant creamy than buttery taste--but of course, above all else it's sugary as all get-out.

Of course, it must be said that part of the joy of eating it is perhaps more the construction and look than the taste of the cake--but of course, how could you feel unhappy when you're eating a rainbow?

The rainbow cake can be found at Madison Park Bakery, Seattle; call first to ensure availability. Here's their website.