Tag: desserts

First there were doughnuts, then cronuts, and now . . . sconuts? Husband-and-wife team Miguel and Anna Caraballo invented this sweet fluffy treat as a happy mistake. Owners of Flaky Not Flaky bakery and chocolates, they were intent on developing a less dense and crumbly scone recipe. What they came up with is a cute name for a product that sounds like a gimmick but is quite tasty.

The Loews Atlanta Hotel’s prime Midtown location gives it a businesslike aura, with corporate guests milling about the lobby. The desserts served within, however, are far from serious. “My approach to desserts, really, is a big kid that’s all grown up,” says Allison Poirier, the hotel’s pastry chef. “I think people nowadays want something nostalgic that tastes good, that looks good, and you obviously eat with your eyes first.”

Come December, Colony Square visitors will have more dessert options to choose from. Cupcakin’ Bake Shop is opening an 1,100-square-foot shop and to-go window next to King of Pops in the courtyard. A California-based company, Cupcakin’ brings cupcakes, cakes, and cookies to the mixed-use development.

Coming to Inman Park this fall, Donnie’s Donuts, a cake-based doughnut shop, comes from Atlantan Patti Summerlin and her husband, Donald. The couple “retired” to Florida, where they opened Donnie’s in Ormond Beach in 2014. A few locations later, they’re now returning to Patti’s home state to share their homemade treats with Atlantans.

Ray Bitzel has been hand-making truffles since he was a child, helping his mother who operated a baked goods store. When he got older, he studied chocolate-making in Belgium before opening Bellejais Chocolatier in Kennesaw. His original shop shuttered in a trademark dispute, but Bitzel never lost his passion for the creamy indulgence. He’ll open Bitzel’s Chocolate, a 7,000-square-foot factory, educational experience, and retail store serving gourmet chocolates, bon bons, bark, truffles, and more.

A mother of six and a grandmother, Kathy Carpenter spends a lot of her time in the kitchen, cooking and baking. About seven years ago, she started working at Casseroles, a shop selling take-and-bake meals in Morningside. She’d often make sweet treats for the shop, and when the pandemic hit in 2020, her baking rose in correlation with her spare time.

At 22, Lizzy Bullock unexpectedly became a mother when she took custody of her nephew after her sister and brother-in-law were killed. To forge a relationship with him and remind him of his mother—who had loved to bake—Bullock began making chocolate chip cookies with the 3-year-old every Sunday. Years later, Bullock noticed the cookie renaissance happening in the chain world with shops like Crumble, Tiff’s Treats, Insomnia, and others opening locations nationwide. She tried Dirty Dough—a stuffed cookie company based in Arizona—and decided to invest.

Are there better cakes? Sure: They’re made in local bakeries or by cottage bakers with locally sourced dairy, heirloom flour, and fancy European-style buttercreams. But they’re expensive and require planning—it’s hard to beat $20 for an eight-inch round cake that can be picked up on a whim and still tastes great.

The Salty features eight to 10 doughnut flavors at each location at a time, in addition to other baked goods. Flavors vary by location and rotate every few weeks. Expect a brioche-based glazed, vanilla cake-based brown butter sea salt, cookie butter cake doughnuts, white chocolate chai, and strawberry shortcake doughnuts.

Kendra Bauser started Three Peaches in 2018 after training at a health-focused gelateria in Sicily. She opened a small counter at the Municipal Market on Edgewood Avenue in 2020, where she sells pre-packaged dairy free and vegan gelato, as well as superfood lattes and vegan baked goods. Her goal is to expand at the Piedmont Park location, scooping gelato to order and offering additional dairy-free goodies.