Cakewalk

'A vegan bakery...how cool is that?'

We were headed downtown to meet some friends for a show. To avoid the disastrous parking slog that is downtown on a Friday night, our usual strategy is to park our car in a neighborhood adjacent to a TRAX stop and take the train into town. Normally we time it perfectly so that as we park and bop on over to the TRAX stop, we only wait a minute or two. On this particular night we were cutting it close. The train was due in a couple minutes, so we parked on 9th east and dashed out for the train stop...when my eyes came about a small bakery I had never noticed before - Cakewalk.

We only had maybe a minute before the train got there, but I just had to stop in. How did I never notice this place before? I jumped in, said hi, took a mental note of the cupcakes and other baked products in the display case...they looked great....told the staff 'I'd be back' and then ran right out to catch our train. Fortunately we made the train and got to dinner and the show on time. We had a great night but didn't have time for dessert. To make up for this obvious atrocity, I decided to pay a visit back to Cakewalk the next day.

Not being in such a rush this second time around, I now noticed that the bakery itself was entirely vegan....a minor detail that had eluded me in the rush of trying to make the TRAX train the night before. It appears that all items in the bakery are vegan-friendly; a  substantial number of the baked goods are also gluten-free. To remind you of what we're talking about, here are a few definitions:

Vegan. People who avoid either using or consuming any animal products are known as vegans. In terms of their diet, vegans choose not to eat any animals as well as dairy products or eggs.

Gluten-free. People who do not eat ingredients derived from wheat, barley, or rye have a gluten-free diet. People adopt a gluten-free diet usually as a solution to health problems caused by severe wheat allergies.

'Very interesting' I thought to myself as my eyes glazed over in sugar shock. I asked the guy at the counter what his favorites were and methodically picked a few out. I ended up purchasing a number of different cupcakes and a dillo (a vegan twinkie kind of thing). They packaged it up and I ran straight home. My spouse and I devoured them over the course of two days. For the most part, the cupcakes were all pretty successful. My personal favorite was the Boston cream cupcake - yellow cake filled with a soy-type-cream with a chocolate topping. Although I thought they could have been a bit more liberal with the creamy filling, the cake was moist and flavorful and when eaten with the chocolate top, it did resemble a nice Boston cream pie. It didn't feel at all that I was eating the vegan version of a Boston cream pie. Also of note was the wonderful peanut butter chocolate cupcake (the favorite of the guy at the counter). Rich, decadent, chocolate cake paired naturally with a sweet peanut butter frosting. The mint chocolate cupcake to be honest wasn't a favorite, if only because the mint frosting tasted a bit medicinal in quality...a little too much like mouthwash...but the chocolate cake again was fantastic. I also tried a dillo, a vegan twinkie if you will. I'm a chocolate lover (if you couldn't tell from my above selections) and the dillo with its chocolate cake filled with chocolate cream, covered in chocolate coating, shaped like a twinkie was pretty darn good. Cakewalk also makes a selection of muffins, breads, cookies, and pastries and also has a bakery (pick up only) location in Bountiful.

I always thought that having either a vegan and/or a gluten free diet didn't lend itself much in the way of being able to make/enjoy luscious desserts. I mean really, most desserts have eggs, cream, milk, or flour in some form or another. How can you make a nice fluffy cake without flour and eggs? Well you certainly can...and Cakewalk certainly does it well. Although I am not vegan or gluten-free (or likely will ever be), a tasty dessert is a tasty dessert...and I for one am glad I accidentally ran into Cakewalk.  A vegan bakery...and a good one at that...how cool is that?


Cakewalk ~ Salt Lake City, Utah
434 S 900 E
www.cakewalkbakingcompany.com
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