595. Sweet Potato Sensations – December 11, 2022 – Detroit, MI

A repeat visit to the Redford Theatre meant an excuse to check out Sweet Potato Sensations!

The Detroit-based bakery is located across the street from the iconic movie theater. An icon itself, it’s been in operation since 1987, crafting cakes, cookies, cheesecakes, pies, and other sweet treats.

Of course Sweet Potato Sensations sells sweet potato pie! And sweet potato cheesecake, sweet potato cookies, sweet potato cobbler, three-layer sweet potato cake – even sweet potato ice cream. It’s a cornucopia of sweet-spudded goodness!

And if sweet potatoes aren’t your thing, Sweet Potato Sensations offers baked goodies in other flavor varieties, as well. Try the decadent 3-Layer German Chocolate Cake or Cream Cheese Pound Cake.

Need something savory to wash down all that sweetness? Sweet Potato Sensations also offers meal-centric items such as the Salmon Croquette Sandwich, Black Eye Pea & Collard Green Soup, and The Chop Meal, a dish consisting of a fried turkey chop, sweet potato pancakes, and regular or sweet potato-infused grits.

The bakery’s interior is a cozy café, done in rich earth tones (or perhaps, sweet-potato tones?). Seating allows guests to enjoy Sweet Potato Sensations’ wares right then and there, and clothing and other goods by local vendors are for sale, as well.

I enjoyed my purchase from the bakery on the go, devouring a mini sweet potato pie in my friend’s car before I could even remember to take a picture of it. It was delicious, with creamy sweet potato filling and a buttery crust. I can’t wait to find another reason to be on Sweet Potato Sensations’ side of town so I can try more of its treats!

17337 Lahser Rd.

Detroit, MI 48219

www.sweetpotatosensations.com

579. Lebon Sweets – September 10, 2022 – Dearborn, MI

Sweet Lebon Sweets! The Dearborn-based bakery sells kanafa, which I sampled during a stop on the Yalla Eat! food tour offered by the Arab American National Museum. Lebon’s iteration of the sweet-cheese dessert was rich and creamy.

The locally-owned Lebanese bakery also sells bread and other baked goods, including multiple varieties of baklava and maamoul cookies filled with date, pistachio, or walnut paste. Its sesame-studded bread stuffed with kanafa cheese and drizzled with sugar syrup is exquisite! Get yourself down to Lebon’s to try some – or order it online and get it shipped to you.

13743 W. Warren Ave.

Dearborn, MI 48126

(With an additional location in Dearborn Heights)

www.lebonsweets.com

560. Clementine’s Pastries – May 6, 2022 – Mount Clemens, MI

Clementine’s Pastries, a beacon of sweet deliciousness, right in downtown Mount Clemens!

I first stepped into the adorable bakery on a rainy Friday morning, after a repeat visit to Black Cat Coffee (conveniently located next door). The interior was a cheerful sight to behold coming in from the rain. It reminded of a French café, with its mauve accent walls and little tables bedecked with vases of flowers.

I knew I couldn’t miss out on Clementine’s macarons! Every month, the bakery features select macaron varieties. During my visit in May, Snickers and cookie dough were two of the featured flavors, so I snatched one of each variety up. I also purchased a blueberry cream-cheese croissant, based on the recommendation of the staff member helping me.

All of these treats were SO good! I savored the blueberry croissant’s luscious cream cheese filling. And the macarons! They were delightful iterations of this classic confection, with their perfectly crisp-yet-pillowy meringue cookies sandwiching rich and creamy ganache. YUM and YUM!

Clementine’s offers so much more than cookies and croissants. Other featured goods include bundt cakes, cupcakes, cannolis, tarts, bear claws, cheesecakes, muffins, and even house-made dog bones. Vegan and gluten-free options are available. The next time you’re craving a sweet treat, look no further than this local gem!

57 Macomb Pl.

Mt. Clemens, MI 48043

www.clementinespastries.com

556. Cake Mitten Bake Shop – April 22, 2022 – Clinton Township, MI

You don’t need an excuse to visit Cake Mitten Bake Shop!

I felt like I needed an excuse to visit the Clinton Township-based bakery back in April – and a friend’s birthday celebration was the perfect one. I got her – and myself – some cupcakes. The two I chose for myself, a chocolate bumpy cake and a carrot cake, were delicious! The cupcakes were moist, and the cream cheese frosting on the carrot cake was especially decadent. I could eat a vat of that cream cheese frosting!

Special occasions such as a birthday are an excellent reason to visit Cake Mitten. Check its website and Yelp page for photos of its work. Cake Mitten’s bakers are TALENTED! The intricately decorated cookies and cakes are works of art. Favorites of mine include the wedding cakes festooned with fresh flowers, cookies decorated like mini pizzas (and cut into mini pizza slices!), and a cake shaped like a giant cheeseburger.

Besides cupcakes and custom cakes and cookies, Cake Mitten offers cake pops, cake jars, chocolate-covered strawberries, and pretzels dipped in chocolate and caramel. Look to this bakery to celebrate your next special occasion – or your next everyday Tuesday. Because life is hard, but places such as Cake Mitten remind us that every day is an occasion to celebrate – especially when chocolate and cream-cheese frosting are involved!

40750 Garfield Rd.

Clinton Twp., MI 48038

www.cakemitten.com

547. Donut Cutter – February 7, 2022 – Berkley, MI

Donut Cutter for the win on a Monday morning! Or any morning . . . because the Berkley-based donut shop’s wares are definitively delicious any day of the week!

During my visit to Donut Cutter, I ordered the donuts pictured above: the sour cream glaze, the cruller, and the frosted chocolate cake with sprinkles. All three were fresh and tasty, with perfectly crispy deep-fried exteriors and soft, cakey (or airy, in the case of the cruller) interiors. All three were answers to the question of why Donut Cutter is so beloved by Metro-Detroiters!

28173 Woodward Ave.

Berkley, MI 48072

539. A Serendipity Cakery – December 19, 2021 – Riverview, MI

A Serendipity Cakery and its exquisite Cake Drops! With their chocolatey outer shells and rich, truffle-like interiors, they were more than worth the trip.

The bakery was one of the earliest entries on my to-do list for 100 Places in the D. I’d read about A Serendipity Cakery years ago, when it was based in Wyandotte. It’s since moved, to a strip-mall storefront in Riverview flanked with pink signage and hanging baskets of brightly-hued artificial flowers.

This was my first trip to Riverview! It admittedly felt like the other side of the world from where I live. I’m fascinated by how large the tri-county Detroit area is – how you can drive for an hour and be somewhere you’ve never been and still be in Metro Detroit. That’s how I felt when I went to Riverview and A Serendipity Cakery.

I was thrilled to make an acquaintance of this bakery! How could I not be, with the variety of sweets that A Serendipity Cakery sells? Those include custom cakes, cupcakes, macarons, cookies, cannolis, ice cream, and various items dipped in chocolate. The latter category includes pretzel rods, potato chips, and something called Bacon Crack (I’m intrigued).

And of course, there are the Cake Drops, which I’d argue are the pièce de résistance of A Serendipity Cakery’s offerings (I believe A Serendipity Cakery would agree; its website is www.cakedropsgalore.com). I couldn’t help but order a dozen. How could I not, with compelling flavor varieties such as chocolate-peanut butter, chocolate-banana, chocolate-caramel, and mint-chocolate chip?

As you can see, I went pretty chocolate-heavy in my flavor pickings. A Serendipity Cakery is happy to accommodate chocolate lovers like me! Many of the shop’s 50 flavors of Cake Drops incorporate dark chocolate. But there are varieties that feature white chocolate shells and non-chocolatey fillings such as key lime, piña colada, and cotton candy. The carrot cake Cake Drop I bought was one of my absolute favorites. Its moist spiced-cake filling was oh-so-delicious!

The chocolate-banana was another standout favorite. Every Cake Drop I purchased from A Serendipity Cakery was a delight in its own way. How could I not love this bakery?

18100 Fort St.

Riverview, MI 48193

www.cakedropsgalore.com

521. Bakehouse 46 – August 14, 2021 – Rochester, MI

Here’s Bakehouse 46, offering up a sweet serving of collaboration! And cupcakes, and donuts, and cider . . ..

Located in downtown Rochester, Bakehouse 46 marries Blake Farms (of cider mill and hard cider fame) and Cupcake Station (whose eponymous treats have been delighting Metro Detroiters since 2006) with a sleek style that’s all its own. If you’re familiar with these beloved local businesses, you already know this is one EPIC mash-up!

I visited Bakehouse 46 during a jaunt in mid-August that had me bustling around downtown Rochester: to Catching Fireflies, The Home Bakery, and the farmer’s market. All that shopping worked up a hunger in me. Enter the Bakehouse Club: a delightfully soft Everything bagel sandwiching layers of bacon, ham, turkey, arugula, tomato, cheese, and scallion cream cheese.

WOW, was that sandwich delicious! What a melding of flavors: rich cheeses, smoky meats, juicy tomato, and zesty seasonings. And arugula! Bakehouse 46, you had me at the Everything-bagel sandwich – but add fresh, peppery arugula to the mix, and my taste buds are kvelling!

Bakehouse 46’s menu showcases several breakfast- and lunch-oriented bagel sandwiches. It also sells bagels sans the sandwich filling, plus coffee and the previously mentioned cupcakes, donuts, and cider. Check the shop’s online menu for its enticing – and numerous! – cupcake offerings, which include Snickers, Chai Latte, and Bump-a-licious (Bakehouse 46’s riff on Bumpy cake).

As someone whose grew up on Blake’s donuts (donuts so fresh as to make you cry tears of joy when you bite into them!) – I know Bakehouse 46’s are bound to be special. Blake’s cider (the best of the best!) is served there, too. There are also caramel apples made from Blake’s apples, and Blake’s jams and maple syrups. Other baked goods such as cheesecake bars, cookies, and brownies are sold at the shop, as well.

Let’s talk about the shop itself. Bakehouse 46’s interior is an ultra-modern, ultra-gorgeous amalgamation of glistening white tile, slate-blue walls, wood floors and furnishings, and buttery leather furniture. Potted plants, accent pillows, and a red Oriental rug provide pops of color. It’s a feast for the eyes – the perfect counterpart to the culinary feasting facilitated by Bakehouse 46’s menu. Here’s to harmonious collaboration!

205 S. Main St.

Rochester, MI 48307

(With an additional location in Birmingham)

www.bakehouse46.com

520. The Home Bakery – August 14, 2021 – Rochester, MI

The Home Bakery: purveyor of sweet treats for over 90 years!

The bakery based in downtown Rochester has been in business since 1930, according to its website. It mixes up all manner of baked goods, including beautifully imaginative cakes (check out the Zombiecorn and PB&J cakes on its website!).

Have a craving for a cupcake, cookie, cannoli, or eclair? The Home Bakery has you covered. How about a donut, danish, muffin, or pie? The Home Bakery makes those, too! It also bakes up one of the most wonderfully decadent desserts I’ve ever eaten: the cronut.

The Home Bakery’s cronut is a hefty iteration of the donut-croissant hybrid that had so many going gaga at its 2013 debut. This cronut’s layers of flaky croissant are formed into a square shape, dusted with vanilla-infused sugar, and thickly coated with vanilla bean glaze.

When I bit into that cronut, my taste buds exclaimed with joy! The juxtaposition of the deep-fried, sugar-kissed, vanilla-glazed exterior and the flaky-soft interior was SOOO good.

And that wasn’t all! Hiding inside The Home Bakery’s cronut was the pièce de résistance: a creamy filling the bakery’s website describes as “vanilla bean pastry cream.” I describe it as “WOW!”

All of these elements melded together to form one supremely rich, SUPREMELY DELICIOUS dessert.

At $4.50 apiece, The Home Bakery’s cronuts are not cheap. But they are worth every penny. Apparently, I’m not the only one who thinks that, as they routinely sell out (as I learned the first time I attempted to buy them). Calling ahead of your visit and ordering over the phone is an option – one you likely won’t regret!

300 S. Main St.

Rochester, MI 48307

www.thehomebakery.com

509. Warda Pâtisserie – May 8, 2021 – Detroit, MI

My visit to Warda Pâtisserie was a product of happenstance – one that happily introduced me to its tasty treats!

I didn’t come to Detroit’s Eastern Market neighborhood on that May Saturday to visit the bakery located inside Trinosophes. I came to visit a nearby business that ended up being closed. When I saw Warda Pâtisserie’s signage, I knew the trip hadn’t been in vain.

The bakery offers thoughtfully crafted cookies, cakes, and other pastries “inspired by the seasons and influenced by our travels and previous life in Algeria, France and Asia,” according to its website. It recently opened a second location in Midtown Detroit.

I opted for three of the enticing treats showcased by Warda Pâtisserie on that day: a Chocolate & Halvah cookie, a chocolate-caramel financier, and a strawberry-matcha financier.

The desserts didn’t make it past my car. I gobbled them up, relishing the chewiness of the chocolatey, sesame-speckled cookie and the rich caramel and strawberry fillings of the spongey-caked, gluten-free financiers. May happy accidents such as this visit to Warda Pâtisserie occur more frequently!

1464 Gratiot Ave.

Detroit, MI 48207

(With an additional location in Midtown Detroit)

www.warda-patisserie.square.site

504. Yell Sweets – March 30, 2021 – Shelby Township, MI

I have such sweet memories of Yell Sweets! The Shelby Township-based bakery makes PHENOMENAL cupcakes, which I learned from my March visit.

I went to Yell Sweets to purchase a birthday gift for a friend – and a gift for myself (because I couldn’t leave that bakery without something for little old me, as well!). The timing of my visit was fortuitous because it was a Tuesday, and Tuesdays at Yell Sweets are $2 cupcake day! Once I learned that, I asked the kind staff member assisting me to please add more cupcakes to the for-me pile.

That for-me order consisted of Peanut Butter Cup, Strawberry Crunch, Banana Pudding, and Carrot cupcakes. I purchased nearly the same order for my friend, swapping the Carrot cupcake for a Solder Boi (a red-white-and-blue-hued melding of cherry, blue raspberry, and vanilla flavors).

All four of the cupcakes I got were AMAZING, so it’s hard to pick a favorite. If I had to, I’d go with the Carrot, which was a super-moist carrot cake cupcake dotted with raisins and nuts and slathered with Yell Sweet’s oh-so-good cream cheese frosting. The Peanut Butter Cup also stole my heart with its rich chocolate cupcake and swirl of peanut butter frosting topped with a bunny-shaped, peanut-butter-filled chocolate candy (love that finishing touch!). The Strawberry Crunch was a tasty melding of strawberry-and-vanilla marbled cake, cream cheese frosting, and a strawberry crumb crust. And the Banana Pudding cupcake wasn’t messing around with its sumptuous banana pudding center!

These flavors are only a drop in the bucket when it comes to Yell Sweets cake offerings. Check out the bakery’s website for more enticing choices and for pictures of its pretty cupcakes and elaborate custom cakes.

14142 Lakeside Blvd. North

Shelby Twp., MI 48315

www.yellsweets.com