Sweet Delights in Worcester County

With a sweet tooth to satisfy

I’ve made certain that Worcester County’s bakeries have not gone undiscovered.

There are four things that I love: cupcakes, cannolis, coffee, and alcohol.  When I’m offered all these things, my heart feels like exploding with joy.  This is how you make me happy.  Just so you know.

Also, I suppose family, love, Jesus, Massachusetts people, horses, a new friend – those things make me happy too.  They make my heart melt like cotton candy on the tongue.  They make me feel secure, loved, and hopeful.

But cupcakes are also nice.  And red wine.

Gerardo’s Italian Bakery

Shop for your wedding cake or cozy up for an afternoon with tiramisu and…drumroll please…complimentary coffee.

To escape the bang, bang, banging of our kitchen renovations, my grandparents and I retreat here for a late-afternoon treat.  We get a chocolate cannoli and a coconut macaroon boxed for my parents and then settle down at a table dusted with sunlight.  A sugar-free, raspberry cheesecake for my Grandma and three pieces of biscotti for Grandpa, one almond, one sesame seed, and one chocolate.  For me, I try something new.

It tastes chewy and more syrupy than bready.  I eat the whole thing with no guilt.

Darby’s Bakery

I already wrote about this beautiful place and its fall delights in my last blog, “Autumn Madness in Massachusetts,” but I have made frequent trips back, indulging in their seasonal pumpkin whoopie pie with maple syrup frosting and trying my first Cape Cod muffin.

Crown Bakery & Cafe

With baked goods and a deli-bar, this Worcester-based hotspot draws my family and I inside with its promise of coconut-cream pie and pastel-colored macaroons – and then maybe for lunchtime, a proper Massachusetts lobster roll.

Oh, and of course, these guys.

Sweet

Bar meets bakery in this treasure of a place on Shrewsbury Street, featuring margarita-flavored cupcakes and cannolis freshly stuffed with ricotta frosting.

I have the pleasure of meeting with head chef, Alina, who’s had a passion for baking since childhood.  She describes to me their recent event, “the Willy Wonka Experience,” which featured a redesigned menu and restaurant space (Willy-Wonka-themed, of course.)  Sweet also doubles as a bar/restaurant with a lunch and dinner menu as well as a dessert menu separate from their bakery selection; it features delights like gourmet s’mores and fluffernutter dosants.

I think one of the things that I love about New England is its value of locally-sourced food.  Sweet, among other businesses like Armsby Abbey and Deadhorse Hill, uses ingredients grown in farms not far from Worcester.  In addition to that, I have met many Worcesterites who harvest food in their own backyard.

Now that’s sweet!

 

Rachel Noelle is a writer based in Worcester.  Read about her here.