Seattle
One of my favourite quick weekend get aways is to Seattle, Washington. A 2.5hr drive from Vancouver, Seattle is full of great sights and more importantly great eats. During my visit in August I checked out some new & not so new sweet spots. If you have a sweet tooth like I do, here are a few places worth visiting.
GENERAL PORPOISE - Located in the trendy Capital Hill neighbourhood this place serves up top quality coffee & the most amazing homemade doughnuts. This was the first stop we made when we arrived at 8:30 am and I was ready for one of those sugary crusted babies! And can we just talk about how cute their hot pink Strada Expresso maker is? Adorbs!
After trying to decide which doughnut to order, I finally picked the Chocolate Marshmallow. Now how do I describe this? Words that come to mind are: PURE HEAVEN! It was so soft & fluffy...and that oozy chocolately goodness. It reminded me of malasadas from Leonard's Bakery in Hawaii. If you've had one of those you'll love these.
The Chocolate Marshmallow was yummy. It paired perfectly with my coffee. Happy and satisfied 😊
General Porpoise has a bunch of different flavours, but they only make 4-6 flavours each day. They have classics like Vanilla Custard and Lemon Curd with a rotation of other flavours like Peanut Butter & Jelly and Hawaiian Punch Pluot Jam! I can understand why @bonappetitmag recently called them "the doughnut - and - coffee shop of your dreams".
CHOUKETTE - eclair'art - I accidentally stumbled upon this lovely spot while we where heading to the Ferris Wheel at the pier. This French eclair bakery just recently opened, and is a must visit in Seattle IMO. They offer amazing flavours of their dough based eclair, from black sesame to a lychee, raspberry, rose water 😱 Yum!! I wanted to try them all!! Just look how beautiful these are!
Too pretty to eat!!
Definitely pay them a visit if you're in the area. You won't regret it. This photo was taken in the summer so I think it may be time to make another visit for their Fall/Winter eclairs flavours!!! 😉
The Huckleberry Marscarpone eclair was delicious! (summer flavour).
ELLENOS GREEK YOGURT - If you're visiting Pike Place Market a must stop is at Ellenos Greek yogurt. What's up with all the hype over their Greek Yogurt? Well I got the chance to find out. OMG, I can honestly say they makes the smoothest, creamiest, best tasting yogurt I've ever had...no joke! They use pure whole milk & only 100% natural fruits & topping to create this Greek yogurt perfection! I couldn't decide from the many flavours available, so the sweet server suggested the Lemon Curd. Damn! It's really that good!! Do I dare say I would possibly choose this over ice cream ?! And the best part is it's relatively healthy, right?!
Cupcake Royale was Seattle Weekly's 2016 winner of Seattle's Best Cupcake and was featured as a must visit US food destination by both Zagat and the Huffington Post this past summer. With all that recognition, how could I not make this a stop in my Seattle sweet food tour?
Below is the Raspberry Pavlova which I sampled and it was really yummy!! Raspberry cake & lemon buttercream, drizzled with raspberry & topped with a pavlova.
The Lavender Cupcake was AMAZING!!!! Voted top 10 cupcakes in the USA by MSN.com, this is a must try. They stir real lavender buds into their vanilla buttercream, and topped onto the moist, delicious vanilla butter cake. My only regret is I didn't buy some to take home back to Vancouver. There are so many flavours to pick from it's a bit overwhelming for me. As I'm writing this I'm trying to convince Hubby to take a weekend trip back so I can try a couple of their seasonal cupcakes - like the pumpkin pie and chai cinnamon. How amazing do those sound?
In addition to their fabulous made-from-scratch cupcakes, coffee, they offer their own ice cream too. Unfortunately, I couldn't eat another bite otherwise I would've loved to try their Red Velvet Ice cream on a fresh made Red Velvet waffle cone. Oh well more reason to make another visit very, very soon😉
(Ice Cream photo credit: Cupcake ROYALE)
General Porpoise https://gpdoughnuts.com/https://www.instagram.com/gpdoughnuts/ 1020 E. Union St, Seattle, WA (206) 900-8770 Monday - Sunday 7:00am to 3:00pm
Choukett eclair art http://www.choukette.com/https://www.instagram.com/eclair_art/ 1500 Western Ave, Seattle, WA (206) 209-2243 Sunday 10:00am to 6:00pm Tuesday 12:00pm to 6:00pm Wednesday - Friday 11:00am to 6:00pm Saturday 10:00am to 6:00pm
Ellenos Greek Yogurt http://www.ellenos.com/https://www.instagram.com/ellenosyogurt/ 1500 Pike Pl, Seattle, WA Sunday 9:00am to 5:30pm Monday - Saturday 9:00am to 6:00pm
Cupcake Royale http://cupcakeroyale.com/ https://www.instagram.com/cupcakeroyale/ 111 E. Pike St, Seattle, WA (206) 701-9579 Monday - Friday 8:00am to 10:00pm Saturday - Sunday 9:00am to 10:00pm