Sarah's Pastries and Candies

I am an extremely competitive person. I will make almost anything a competition. Walking somewhere? I’ll beat you there. Eating ice cream? Bet I can finish mine first (that may not be my competitive streak so much as my love of ice cream). A friendly game of cards? I will cheat to win. 

That’s right. I said it. I have cheated at card games! I am a big, fat cheater. (I said I was competitive, I didn’t say I was always proud of it.) Now, I haven’t done this for a long, long time. When my sisters and I used to play when we were younger I had no qualms about sneaking a peak at their hands to see what I was up against. Thankfully, I risen above my cheating ways.  

But, I still know how to win. Or at the very least, find a way to get what I want out of situations. Take my journalism assignments for example. Last year, I painstakingly twisted, maneuvered, and tailored my ideas so that I got to write about what I wanted to – not necessarily what was originally assigned.

Like food. I found a way to write about, go somewhere, or talk to someone that was “food-centric.” 

And it was brilliant. I had some of the most amazing experiences and interviews from these assignments. One of these assignments involved a trip to Sarah’s Pastries and Candies to interview chef and owner, Sarah Levy.

Before I even went to her shop, I was a huge fan of Sarah. Not only is she an alum from my school, but she started her own business at only 23! Hello, idol! When I sampled her treats? Forget about it, I was a goner! A sugar-induced coma goner!

The first thing I had was the fresh strawberry cupcake with strawberry buttercream.

Normally, I am not a huge fan of strawberry flavored baked goods. If I want fruit, I’ll eat fruit. I don’t want fruit in my cake. But this changed all my ideas about strawberry cake! Light, moist, tender heaven. That was this cupcake. And the buttercream?! A Swiss meringue that was light as air and not too sweet – the perfect complement to a cake that was sugary sweet from fruit.

After the interview Sarah was kind enough to give me a box of cupcakes to take home (Score 1 for journalists)! Although I wanted to be a miser and keep them all to myself I knew that I would eat them all in one sitting cupcakes are best when shared with friends, so I did just that. I did keep the carrot cake cupcake for myself, though. Like any other version of carrot cake it was moist, spicy, sweet and the cream cheese frosting was tangy.

Berry pie with crumb topping. Sigh.

Sarah doesn’t just do cupcakes though! She’s got chocolates, candies, cookies, and a huge business of personalized cakes. And then some. They even serve savory lunch items in the store. I really have to get back there to try more menu items.

Look at everything we could buy! And eat!

Anyone want to come with?