Well, it seemed about time to hit up a bakery. And no, doughnut and cookie shops don’t count no matter what you think! As with the doughnut shops, there are a fair number bakeries to try for a city that, on the surface seems so health conscious, but, as I have found out, definitely has a sugar addiction. The proliferation of them though is slightly less than the doughnut places. In my hood there are three within reasonable walking distance and each of those is highly different in their own right. One is vegan (we will see about that), one is French style and the other is Asian influenced. I will get to them all eventually, of course, but this time around is a spot I stumbled across when I first came here to try and find a spot to live and dump my junk.

Appropriately called Sugar Bakery, I almost walked past it’s nondescript storefront on Madison while wandering the city. What pulled me back was when someone carrying a cookie and a coffee popped out and my baser instinctual need for a sugar fix kicked in. Hmmm, seems I might fit in with this city. Not for the coffee, blech, of which there is A LOT, but the cookie, and whatever else they might be serving up.

Walking in it is a small-ish space helped by tall ceilings and is bustling with bakers whipping up the good stuff. The are only a few tables to nosh in at on the left and on the right is the counter full of tasty treats both sweet and savory. Since I am me, I am eschewing the savory and keeping my sights set on the sweet, figuring out what to try this time and the next time and the next and so on.

After some perusal it seemed like good bet to fall into old likes and get the carrot cake. It is a decent sized slice for price and I’m pretty sure you can all see what drew me to this—that luscious thick layer of cream cheese frosting. I know some are not fans with this much but to me, when all layers are mostly equal, I am here for it. The frosting here isn’t a standard thick cream cheese. They seem to have fluffed it up, but it is still creamy and delicious. Plus props for not over sugaring. It ran the balance line of sweet and tang without feeling like you’d fall into a sugar coma after eating. It meshed well with the cake itself with highlights of moist cake, brown sugar and chunky bits of carrot but still not being overly sweet. And while I’m not always a nut in cake fan, the walnuts were in manageable bits and don’t detract for me. I am definitely a fan of this version of carrot cake.

One of my other fall back cake faves is lemon. Especially if it is going to have some pudding tang from a lemon curd layer. This one was frosted in butter cream, and having learned my lesson from that other cake fiasco, I let this one sit at room temp to soften up said frosting and cake as all their cakes are kept refrigerated. This pic was taken fresh out of the box, thus you can see top layer is hovering straight out. After waiting it out I will say it was fine but the flavors were lighter than I was expecting. Like the walnut carrot it was not overly sweet and the cake was more sponge like than the other. There was some citrus bite in the curd and plenty of buttercream frosting, but I can’t say I was as enamored of it as the walnut carrot. This came closer to reminding me of some the Asian cake bakeries I have been to. Not a bad thing per say but you all know I enjoy some heft instead of light and airy. Thus nice, but not something I’d crave.

Of course I can’t not get a cupcake and again went with a fall back of the red velvet and they do bake up a decent version. The cake was moist and dense, which I like. The frosting was the same as the cream cheese from the cake so lightly sweet and creamy. I’m sure you can all see the one issue I had and that was frosting coverage. Still not sure why places feel like you only need a dollop of it when everyone should be like Sprinkles and cover the whole top. I know I am not the only one who thinks this and it is one half of the reason you get a cupcake after all. Beyond that, good cupcake.

What better way to judge a bakery than how they do the classic and humble chocolate chip cookie. It is kind of like when a chef can make a great omelette the French way then they are considered top level. It is all about technique…..or something like that. Whatever the case, I kind of feel that way about a chocolate chip cookie. It is a decent sized cookie, slightly brown around the edges, just crisp enough on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside and chock full of chips. I liked it. I know some places do that whole sprinkle of sea salt thing, which is fine, but a well made cookie doesn’t necessarily need it. I wasn’t looking for salty sweet and this cookie hit the spot for all that I wanted it to be.

Who am I kidding, I’m never gonna rag on a bakery, and grocery store bakeries don’t count! Any place called Sugar Bakery has to do something right and, while everything might not be to my liking, they still got me with the chocolate chip cookie, the walnut carrot cake and all those smooth, creamy, luscious layers of cream cheese frosting. Hmm, maybe they should package just the frosting and sell it, I’d be down for that because….frosting! And if Cinnabon can do it? The only bad thing about the place is it is relatively close to my work which is dangerous, though I have been able to mostly resist—except for that one time I had another slice of the walnut carrot cake. Sometimes you just gotta have what you want, it is why I run to eat. Now I just need to convince them of that frosting idea—the cream cheese one of course.