Sweet Week Seattle 2015

Having been a success last year, Sweet Week Seattle returned this year. More places participated, and instead of two weekends, this time it was a whole week. We ended up with things from ten different places (we visited all but one; my cousin thoughtfully brought one when we saw her for dinner), and fortunately some of them were ones you could take home and wait to eat, otherwise that would have been a lot of sweets.

Pie. Trio of Mini Mini pies: Beechers Apple Pie with local Flagship cheddar, apples, and brown sugar cheddar crumble; Boozy Blackberry with local berries and Schilling Cider’s Mischief Maker, Crème Fraiche Pecan.

Verdict: Pie is always reliable. I think the blackberry was my favorite, since it had really intense flavor.

Hot Cakes. Apple Cardamom Ginger Crisp with salty molasses caramel and vanilla ice cream.

Verdict: Very good. We didn't make it to the Capitol Hill store to try the cherry crisp, but I bet that was good, too.

Theo Chocolate. Flight of fall flavors: Pear Balsamic Ganache, Apple Cider Caramel, and Fig Fennel Ganache.

Verdict: The Apple Cider caramel had weeped a bit when we got to eating it, but was still good. Pear Balsamic was probably my favorite.

Sweet Mickey’s. Fudge Sampler Box: maple walnut, chocolate, dark chocolate sea salt caramel.

Verdict: The sea salt caramel was great. We had had the other flavors before, too. That particular piece is split because the owner realized what he had cut was a little small, so added a bit.

Macrina Bakery (via my cousin Kathy). Mini Banana Chocolate Cake, layers of banana and chocolate cake with sweetened whipped cream and rum roasted bananas, glazed with ganache.

Verdict: The bananas were great. The whole thing was very delicate, so kind of fell apart when we cut into it. That didn't stop us from enjoying it, though.

Fresh Flours. Tea-infused macaron sampler: Chai, Rooibos, Hojicha, and Matcha.

Verdict: I'm not much of a tea person, so these were a bit strong for me. Still pretty good, though.

Parfait. Caramel ice cream, dipped in 70% cacao Theo Chocolate, with fleur de sel sea salt.

Verdict: Adria (the owner) bills these as much better than a Dove bar. Yeah, they are. Seemed like she was selling a lot of them.

Gelatiamo. “Gelato d’Autunno” trio of gelatos using pears, figs and hazelnuts, served with a caramel cookie.

Verdict: We go to Gelatiamo pretty often, but I had only had the hazelnut before. I tend to not choose chocolate ice cream/gelato, but it was great with figs. Hazelnut with the honey drizzle was my favorite.

Le Panier. “La Vie en Rose” sweet rose cream, raspberry mousse, and hazelnut shortbread, in choux pastry.

Verdict: Nicely done, great presentation. The fillings had the right balance of subtle (rose cream) and intense (raspberry mousse).

Dahlia Bakery. “City of Seattle” Italian plum and ginger Basque cake.

Verdict: The pastry was excellent, and the filling had the right amount of sweetness.