My first visit to San Francisco’s Ferry Building last month was quite a success. I savored delicious oysters at Hog Island Oyster Company while I sipped on some bubbly from Napa’s Domaine Carneros. As usual, I saved room for dessert and marked Miette off my cupcake hit-list.
Miette, which means “little crumb” in French, is the cutest little sweets shop with a spectacular story. Self-taught pastry chef Megan Ray launched Miette at the Berkeley farmer’s market in 2001 and hasn’t looked back since. Miette has expanded into a full-blown candyland, offering cakes, cupcakes, cookies, tarts, macarons, old-fashioned candy, cake stands and more.
{Bright colors and sweet treats made it difficult for me to pull myself away. Photo By beastandbean/Courtesy Flickr.}
{Miette's cake and cupcake display is ravishing. Photo By feministjulie/Courtesy Flickr.}
From all of these sugary offerings, I chose Miette’s Old-Fashioned Cupcake because it was topped with a generous helping of Italian meringue icing and the simple colors—chocolate, white and red—appealed to me. The chocolate cake was decadent yet not overpowering, and the marshmallowy frosting got stuck to my lips—a good sign! The frosting was fluffy and sweet—utterly perfect. I dug into my Old-Fashioned Cupcake after a long day reporting on a biodynamic farm in Sonoma; it was quite the best treat after a long day!
{Miette's Old-Fashioned Cupcake has loads of frosting and a balanced taste—not too sweet, but not boring.}
Miette cupcakes cost $3.25 a piece and can be ordered ahead of time for in-store pick-up; unfortunately for me, Miette doesn’t ship cupcakes because it can’t guarantee they will look as perfect or be as fresh. (But I can order cookies, macarons and confections to my heart’s desire—or you can order some for me!)
I guess this means I will have to keep Miette on my cupcake hit-list every time I visit the Bay Area. These little cakes are just too delicious to decline.
What are your favorite cupcake shops in Northern California?
