SnickerDoodles Bakery/Cookies by Design

Even though the heyday of cupcakes has long since passed, it's always nice to find a talented producer like Snickerdoodles Bakery that can still elevate this childhood favorite with the skill of a craftsman. There is an adjacent cookie shop called Cookies by Design that operates out of the same kitchen. Between the two shops, something can be found to sate your sweet tooth.

The baker was passionate about her wares, and she explained that the cupcakes were vegetarian but not vegan appropriate. Many ingredients were locally sourced, including non-homogenized milk from a farm about 35 minutes from Mobile.

The Mississippi mud cupcakes were a brownie-like cake base flecked with Cookies by Design Oreos and crushed pecans. It was drizzled with caramel and chocolate syrup, and rich cocoa flavor exploded in each bite.

The turtle cupcake had salty pieces of crushed pretzel as a foundation. Caramel and nuts make the flavor sing.

The red velevet cupcakes with a liquid chocolate center add another layer of texture to a Southern bakery standard. The cake was moist, and the icing adds fat vanilla notes to what is a deceptive chocolate bomb.

The Elvis cupcake is banana cake topped in peanut butter icing. The King's favorite sandwich stands well as a baked good.

Overall, the appearance of the cupcakes is artful but lacking the sophistication of some of more talented icing pipers at other bakeries. This slight defect notwithstanding, everything I sampled tasted great.

Snickerdoodle

Vegan baker wins Cupcake Wars

Since I spend my spare time watching almost every competitive food program on television, I was particularly pleased when Chloe Coscarelli won Cupcake Wars on the Food Network. The vegan chef took the crown by preparing 1,000 cupcakes for a singles event, including a chocolate strawberry shortcake, a dark chocolate orange and a raspberry tiramisu. The theme of the ingredients was aphrodisiacs.

All we need is for a vegan chef to win Iron Chef America or Top Chef Master and vegetarian fine dining might get its due recognition. Much like Pattycake in Columbus, Chef Chloe demonstrated that vegan dessert can be more amazing than its non-vegan counterparts.

Sugar Inc.

Sugar Inc. is a bakery/restaurant in Dublin that specializes in funky cupcakes of the gourmet persuasion. In addition to the delicious individual pastries, Sugar Inc. also makes sandwiches, soup, salads and smoothies alongside a variety of artisanal teas.

Proprietor Ava Misseldine has taken the cupcake craze a step further. While many places in Columbus offer cupcakes (see Bakery Gingham, Surly Girl or Pattycake for a few examples), Sugar Inc.'s products have the extra bonus of being organic. They also produce gluten-free cupcakes for those with allergies.

The interior of Sugar Inc. is mostly blue with a modern art accents. There is seating for about 25 diners, although I imagine most cupcakes are enjoyed off-site.

Cupcake flavors include Madagascar bourbon vanilla, dark chocolate, buckeye, red velvet, strawberry merlot and chai honey cream cheese. The lineup changes regularly, although the bourbon vanilla and dark chocolate are regular choices. There are normal and baby sized cupcakes in most flavors.

The bourbon vanilla cupcake was excellent. The sweet notes of whiskey smoke are tempered by rich vanilla that is a perfect foil to the cupcake. The dark chocolate had a sweet icing that rounded out the bitter chocolate in the cake. The buckeye is the heavenly Ohio staple combination of chocolate and peanut butter. The chai honey cup cake has more in common with a muffin than a true dessert, with spicy ginger and cinnamon elements that add new and exciting elements in each layer of flavor. The strawberry merlot is what a wine critic would call a fruit bomb. Imagine it as a strawberry shortcake with a darker hue and hints of cassis.

The lunch menu features a vegetarian sandwich wrap and salads. The Scioto Trail veggie wrap comes cold or toasted. I ordered mine toasted, which makes the Jack and Swiss cheeses ooze perfectly out of the sandwich. The wrap holds spinach, mushrooms, carrots, cucumber, artichoke and red peppers in a dill dressing with a side of Thai peanut sauce. It comes as a half or whole order.

The Sugar signature salad is also delicious. It is intensely flavorful, with pickled beets, cranberries, dates, grape tomatoes, dates on a bed of spinach with brie and cherry rosemary vinaigrette.

Sugar Inc. has been in the news lately because Miss Misseldine is auditioning to appear on the Food Network's latest foray into battle food programming Cupcake Wars. With Columbus getting on TV often for foodie-related activities lately (two different 614-area-code bakers on Ultimate Cake-Off, Jeni's ice cream on Best Thing I Ever Ate and Anthony Bourdain filming in Columbus), this could be another bit of cool publicity for Columbus.

Sugar Inc

Pattycake Bakery

It seems impossible for a Columbus vegetarian blog that has been in operation for three years not to have reviewed Clintonville's Pattycake Vegan Bakery. Christmas gave me an opportunity to make up for this egregious wrongdoing.

Pattycake's wares are found in a number of restaurants throughout the city. Proprietor Jennie Scheinbach is one of the most famous names connected to vegan dining in the Capital City, and she does a great job getting the word out about her delicious baked goods.

Pattycake was also open on Christmas (and will still be open until 6 pm Christmas night). They featured cookies, cupcakes, candies, pies and the holiday favorite, sticky buns.

The baked goods at Pattycake are so delicious so that ovo-, lacto- and not-even-close-to-vegetarians will not miss the animal products in their sweets. Pattycake also makes a number of low sugar, no sugar and gluten-free baked goods for diabetics and those with celiac disease.

Some items in the cases that looked particularly delicious include chocolate chip cookies, snickerdoodles, holiday sugar cookies, carrot cupcakes, whoopie pies, brownies and granola.

The sticky buns were delightful. Served piping hot from the oven, the soft rolls melt in your mouth with a spicy cinnamon kick. The icing adds another layer of flavor to the enormous pastry.

Baked goods can be picked up on location, on the Web, and at restaurants like Rad Dog, Cup O' Joe and many of the local farmer's markets. Those looking for guilt-free sweets should definitely head to Clintonville and reap the bounty from Pattycake.

Pattycake Vegan Bakery

Bakery Gingham

I have heard nothing but praise for German Village's Bakery Gingham, a bakery specializing in all things delicious and sweet. I was tempted a number of times when Bakery Gingham was located adjacent to Brown Bag deli, but I never could pull the trigger.

Also, my endocrinologists have always discouraged me from eating sweets because I'm diabetic. I split the difference by getting a few cupcakes as a welcome home present for mom (where, of course, I will defy the logic of endocrinology by taking at least a bite).

The building is stylishly designed. The door handle is an angled clothes hanger because of the fabric nomenclature. The interior is brightly colored (like the desserts) with shades of pink offset by greens and blues and browns. There is limited seating for on-site enjoyment of the pastries.

The range of flavors and the artistry of the cupcakes are profound. There are Key lime cupcakes, vanilla, almond and violet cupcakes, chocolate mocha cupcakes, chocolate, banana and peanut butter cupcakes, pumpkin pie cupcakes and Buckeye candy cupcakes with chocolate/peanut butter balls baked into a chocolate cupcake with peanut butter icing and scarlet and gray M&M's on top. These are just a few of the delicious choices.

There are a number of other baked goods at Bakery Gingham. There are cookies and other creations that would taste great with a cup of coffee or a glass of milk. The cupcakes can also be ordered as a full-size cake option.

Bakery Gingham is a cool little outpost that caters to gourmands looking for a little bit extra to sate their sweet tooth. The new location and the baker's artistry should spark enough interest to keep the business booming.

Bakery Gingham