I haven’t been this excited about coffee cake in… ever. Writing about sweets is its own reward, especially when I discover something new where I least expected. Such is the case with the coffee cake at Kona Coffee Co. in Hillcrest. I tried all three varieties, but the chocolate chip was by far the tastiest. [...]
Ask me to name my favorite bakery in San Diego and not only will I immediately say “Azucar“, once I start thinking about the Cuban-style patisserie in Ocean Beach, you’ll probably have to shake me by my shoulders to stop the visions of sugary treats dancing through my head. Vivian Hernandez-Jackson’s take on tiramisu was one of my first SD Sugar reviews, and I’ve also featured the bakery’s triple chocolate espresso cookie in a spread in San Diego Magazine. So, when Vivian invited me back to try some of the bakery’s newest creations, I jumped at the chance, and tried three items: doughnut muffins, the “It’s Your Birthday” cake, and the Turron de Havana.
It’s been just over a year since the launch of San Diego Sugar, my permanent excuse to order dessert “for work,” but I’ve got a brand new San Diego food blog that celebrates both sweet and savory eats and is home to all of my writing for Serious Eats, San Diego Magazine, GrubGrade, and San Diego Sugar: EJeats.com.
You can search through all of my San Diego burger, pizza, and sandwich reviews on Serious Eats, read about great meals under $10 on my Everyday Eats column for San Diego Magazine, or check out my fast food reviews on GrubGrade. I’ll also be posting exclusive content like extended reviews, food guides, and the occasional rant. EJeats will also feature all of the content from San Diego Sugar, so it’s like one stop shopping for everything that’s delicious in San Diego. I hope you’ll check it out!
How many sandwiches have not one, but TWO songs inspired by the ingredients? I’m going to guess there’s only one: the mighty peanut butter and jelly. Biting into a standard PB&J sandwich is a fine enough way to celebrate International Peanut Butter and Jelly Day (April 2nd, 2012), but there are a few tastier (and sweeter) alternatives in San Diego, namely the PB&J cookie at Zanzibar, or the peanut butter and jam-inspired dessert at the Grant Grill.
My first clue that Ben and Jerry’s was planning some new frozen yogurt formulations was in a special “Chunk Mail” survey, which asked how likely I’d be to purchase a tub of Greek-style frozen yogurt. I selected the option for “very likely” and a few days ago, I finally had the opportunity. My store had all four flavors in stock, but the Strawberry Shortcake sounded the most appealing.
Know what you’re looking at? FREE CUPCAKES. Yep, with no strings attached. Yesterday, the new owners of Heavenly Cupcake hosted a free tasting party, where fans sampled the newest flavors and voted for their favorite. The winning cupcake will become flavor of the month.
Green beer, the “traditional” beverage of St. Patrick’s Day has never been too appealing, but Sprinkles has a few new cupcakes I’d happily devour instead: Irish Chocolate and Green Velvet. The Irish Chocolate flavor, a Belgian dark chocolate cupcake topped with Bailey’s Irish Cream cheese frosting, is in stores until March 18. The other new addition, Green Velvet, is just for St. Patty’s Day (March 17). The chocolate cupcake batter is infused with green dye instead of the traditional red, coloring the cake with a shade of green somewhere between “forest” and “Oscar the Grouch”.
Ok, so I know that technically, there’s nothing magical about mochi. As a snacky dessert item, it really couldn’t get more simple. It’s really just sweet rice flour, sugar, water, more sugar (in the form of corn syrup) and whatever is in or on it. The logical part of my brain gets that this basically means it’s a marshmallow, but the magic-loving, 12-year-old lobe is totally enchanted by mochi. I’m always on the hunt for good ones, like these coconut and chocolate versions. Find out more, including where I got them, after the jump.
A lifetime of loving sweets has taught me a few valuable lessons: always use a tiny spoon when eating ice cream, and a truly decadent slice of chocolate cake should be enjoyed in **absolute silence**. Extending the proverbial “moment on the lips” before the inevitable “lifetime on the hips” is key. Maybe my efforts to prolong the experience of eating sweets is one of the reasons I love mochi so much. The chewiness of the glutinous treats requires a lot of chewing, and a lot of time to reflect on just how delicious they are.
I feel bad for anyone whose dietary restrictions limits their intake of baked goods and other sweets. Vegans and those with gluten intolerance have it the hardest, but Sprinkles has created three variations on a classic cupcake flavor that lets more people experience the pure joy of partaking in a frosting-covered single-serving cake. This morning, I taste tested all three versions of their red velvet cupcakes to see how they are different and which one’s the best.
