Dessert First: My Sugar

Dessert First: My Sugar

My Sugar; where getting your face on a doughnut is totally normal and chocolates are shaped into robots and Buddha’s.

 

With Friday 1st June being International Doughnut Day and My Sugar casually printing faces on doughnuts, the universe was clearly telling me to cancel my plans and so, I willingly complied. Not that it involved much persuasion.  

This is how I met co-owners Kaylah Greenberg and Asher Isaacs who are just as sweet as the treats they so lovingly serve up. This barely three-year-old coffee and chocolate shop, leaves you feeling like you’ve just dived into dessert heaven and you absolutely never want to come out. With chocolate dripping from the roof (literally) and doughnut-laden countertops, all my dessert dreams had just come true.

Although the display cases at My Sugar were packed with interesting chocolate-shaped treats, I only had eyes for the over-the-top-filled-to-the-brim doughnuts, because one simply cannot celebrate D-Day sans doughnut. Stuffed with salted caramelised white chocolate mousse and generously topped with their famous pretzel bark, the pretzel doughnut didn’t just have my name on it – it had my face on it! Literally. They printed my face on the doughnut – how cool?! With all the other doughnuts in tow (and a few friends to help me ‘research’), I happily trotted over to a table to get ready for the long-awaited tasting celebration. I especially loved the doughnut topped with a mini macaron doughnut because doughnut-ception is a real thing.

Although they look like the happy cousin of a freakshake, these doughnuts aren’t just all sugar. They’re so well-balanced and don’t leave you regretting your decision to devour three in the time span of 5 minutes. So skip lunch, grab a group of friends and share the doughnuts so you can get a taste of each delicious flavour – but, don’t forget to leave without a box of chocolates to gobble up on your own later because life’s too short to share My Sugar chocolate treats!

My Sugar

Address: 77 Regent road, Sea Point, Cape Town

Times: Tuesday-Friday: 10am-6:30pm Saturday & Sunday: 10:30am-8pm.

Prices: R35 for a doughnut,  R17 for coffee, R5 for face printing, chocolates from R15 ,R45 for milkshakes 

Follow them on Instagram here

 

CHECK OUT MORE OF MY FAVOURITE SPOTS TO DEVOUR DESSERT: 

Coco Safar, Sea Point
Unframed Ice Cream, Kloof Street
Dessert First: Coco Safar

Dessert First: Coco Safar

‘A journey beyond ordinary’ is is not exactly what you’d expect when you glide down the escalators of the Artem Centre (previously known as The Adelphi Centre) in Sea Point but it’s exactly what you get when you find yourself immersed in dessert wonderland! In fact, it felt like I was in Paris, or New York – not Sea Point! The fact that we now have a pastry and dessert spot in Cape Town that is world-class, makes my heart and taste buds so happy (my waistline, not so much! ) especially because Coco Safar is not just about dessert, there is so much to explore…

The pastry counter is JAW-DROPPING! I have not yet seen pastry skills of this calibre in South Africa. And guys, I eat a LOT of dessert. From the Salted Caramel Dome (my absolute favourite) which is filled with caramel mousse, candied pecans and buttery shortbread, to White Chocolate Passion Green Tea, every single dessert is meticulously piped and presented (not just a pile of crumbs on a plate with a quenelle of ice cream – hands up who is tired of this restaurant dessert trend?!). These desserts have TECHNIQUE. The prices are reasonable too when you consider all of the above – and the fact that, when you sit down, the dessert is served fully plated with ice cream, sauce and the works. It’s Paris quality without the Paris price tag.

This chocolate creation had me closing my eyes in bliss. Chocolate mousse, orange blossom ganache and crunchy biscuit all lived up to it’s name of ‘Chocolate Decadent’ although not too much so. As all good desserts should be, this one was thoughtfully created, not too sweet and beautifully presented.

There’s a chocolate studio that creates pretty little chocolate jewels. The bon bons come in white chocolate with  lemon meringue, green rooibos and raspberry pistachio flavours, milk chocolate filled with banana salted caramel, or coffee cardamom and for the dark chocolate fans (hello!), there’s mint crisp, passionfruit ginger or gianduja hazelnut. The chocolatier’s workspace is thoughtfully encased in glass so you can watch her work her chocolatey magic while sipping your cappuccino. At the moment, they use an imported chocolate brand but hopefully they’ll switch to one of our amazing locally made bean-to-bar chocolates soon! And speaking of coffee…

Their capsule emporium has a large range of some of the best coffee in the world, popped into a coffee pod. And it’s not just any coffee pod either – it’s The World’s First home compostable coffee capsule. I don’t know about you, but for me that solves one of my biggest pet peeves about coffee pods. Another world first is their Spirit Idrocompresso espresso machine with lever technology which was exclusively made in Holland by Kees van der Westen for Coco Safar. If you are a coffee snob, or have one in your life, this will be love at first sight.

If you’re more of a tea lover, they have a botanical microbrewery. Red Rooibos, Green Rooibos, Coffee-Citrus and Rooibos- infused Tonic are all poured like a draft, on tap and my FAVOURITE part is that you can order it as a float  with a scoop of gourmet gelato in flavours like balsamic vinegar, black pepper or earl grey.

So next time you’re looking at plane tickets to Paris to do a pastry tour and our Randela doesn’t get you that far, consider a trip to Coco Safar instead!  Got a pastry/dessert spot you think I should know about? Drop the deets in a comment below and I’ll give it a visit – it’s a tough job! 😉

COCO SAFAR

Address: 277 Main Road Sea Point, Cape Town
Contact: 021 433 0490
Website: www.cocosafar.com

Dessert First: Unframed Ice Cream

Dessert First: Unframed Ice Cream

You can’t buy happiness but you can buy ice cream and that’s the same thing. One of my FAVOURITE sayings of all time. After ‘Forget Love, I’d rather fall in chocolate’, which makes it my second favourite saying of all time but let’s not get technical here. Can you remember a time when you went out for ice cream and were sad about it?! NEVER. Ice cream = happiness. And although I love making my own happiness, nothing quite beats going out for a scoop of ice cream in a sugary waffle cone on a warm summer’s Sunday with the sun beating on your face.

My ice cream moments are pretty sacred – I have one or two spots where I get my favourite scoop and I am loyal to them because there is nothing worse than trying a new spot and getting disappointed. I’ve dubbed it: calorie regret. When you want to call the manager over and demand that someone give you back the calories you just wasted on that sub-par chocolate brownie! And so I stick to the places I can trust. Except a few Wednesdays ago when I threw caution to the wind and allowed someone new to scoop my ice cream (that sounds a lot dirtier than I intended!).

Which is how I met Yann Rey at Unframed Ice Cream in Kloof Street. Yann is one of those effortlessly cool people who you immediately want to be friends with (I promise it wasn’t because he owns an ice cream shop although that briefly crossed my mind to be a convenient factor). In typical Capetonian style, he greeted me wearing slip slops and his cap on backwards like he’d just come from a surf – he’s a laid-back kinda guy. But when he starts talking about ice cream, he gets as excited as I do about baking. Waxing lyrical about ice crystal structure, flavour balance and his fancy gelato machine from Italy; I could’ve stood listening to him talk about ice cream for days (provided my ice cream cone was topped up sporadically, of course).

I would cross my heart and hope to die that this is THE best ice cream in Cape Town, if not South Africa. Forget the normal flavours everyone else is doing, Unframed is all about pushing boundaries (hence the name) so expect to have to choose between flavours like Grapefruit and Black Pepper, NuttiKrust, Dirty Sea Salt Caramel, Matcha Green, Burnt White Chocolate and my personal favourite, Jasmine and Lemongrass. Yann’s ice cream recipes were developed by his partner, ice cream master Stephane Auge, who’s won the Meilleur Ouvrier De France for ice cream (basically, like a Michelin star) so expect delicately-flavoured, uber creamy ice cream with the perfect balance.

Vegans and vegetarians, you’re also welcome here! None of the ice creams are made from heavy egg-based custard – coconut milk and nut milks are used in many of the flavours, meaning everyone gets a scoop of happiness. And by scoop I mean tasting platter – don’t even try and choose a single flavour on your first visit. Just go ahead and order the tasting platter for R75 and have all 5. That’s what I did when I visited Unframed twice in one week. Jip, it was so good, that I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

The toppings! I almost forgot about the toppings! No sprinkles here people, this is serious ice cream business. Choose from toppings like dried white mulberries, mini coconut macaroons, biscotti, raw date caramel, dirty sea salt caramel (which I assume got the name from the dirty thoughts it gives you) and caramelised nuts. What are you still hanging around for? Go get your scoop on!

TIP Unframed is open in Kloof street from 11am to 11pm, every day. Prices: R32 for one scoop, R54 for two, R65 for three, or R75 for a tasting flight (recommended!). They also sell 1L tubs (yay for eating ice cream in bed) – find out where you can get your hands on it here.