Tag Archives: bakery

Getting Sweet at Sugar Blossom Bake Shop

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I recently had the pleasure of visiting Sugar Blossom Bake Shop in downtown San Clemente and meeting with the bakery’s owner, Lei Shishak.  Tucked off the corner of Del Mar Ave, this cute as a button bakery offers cupcakes, cookies and customizable birthday cakes made fresh daily with all natural and organic ingredients.  Sugar Blossom Bake Shop also has a variety of allergy-friendly items as well including gluten-free treats and nut-free cupcakes.

What sets Sugar Blossom apart from other bakeries is that nothing is “off-limits.”  Lei is constantly coming up with new dessert ideas, and is always looking to find the next treat her customers are sure to love! The bake shop offers a standard menu but also includes seasonal specials such as pumpkin cupcakes in the fall and a guiness-infused cupcake around St. Patrick’s Day.  Customizable cakes can be ordered for birthdays and other special occasions, and a real treat is the Macadamia Nut Cinnamon Rolls that Sugar Blossom offers every Sunday.

Since I was planning on doing some serious cupcake taste testing it only made sense that the Englishman came along for the ride.  We decided to try some cupcakes and cookies including some of Lei’s favorites.

Carrot Cake Cupcake: This cupcake was light and moist and had a nice cream cheese frosting.  I personally LOVED the fact that there were no nuts in the cupcake since most carrot cake cupcakes usually have walnuts (and I’m allergic).  It had a nice spice as well.  The Englishman would like to note that this was his favorite of the bunch.

Triple Chocolate Cupcake (with patriotic sprinkles!):  Lei mentioned it was a favorite and I can see why.  It had the right amount of decadent chocolate flavor without being too overly sweet.  It tasted like a perfect mini chocolate cake.

S’mores Cupcake:  This cupcake was fun!  It had gooey marshmallows with graham cracker dust on the outside and more marshmallow goodness on the inside.  Definitely the most decadent of the cupcakes but delicious.  Also a hit among English people.

Chocolate Dipped Coconut Macaroon (gluten-free):  This was by far my favorite and I practically devoured it in one bite!  I loved the toasted coconut and then the melted chocolate on the bottom.  A great combination.  Plus it’s a great gluten-free option as well.

Caramel Pecan Thumbster:  So much caramel!  It literally oozed out with each bite.  Another customer favorite.  Loved it with the chocolate and pecan as well.

After entering into a sugar coma, the Englishman and I chatted with Lei some more (she’s super sweet) and then decided to take some goodies for the road: another coconut macaroon, a lemon meringue cupcake and the oatmeal toffee cherry cookie (both unfortunately went unpictured).

Well, the oatmeal toffee cherry cookie was promptly devoured later that evening (so good!) and we delivered the other two goods to my parents’ house while stealing a sample or two for ourselves 😉  The lemon meringue cupcake had great lemon flavor and the meringue was so light and fluffy!  My only regret is that I didn’t get one from the bakery for myself!

Suffice it to say I’ll definitely be making a return trip to Sugar Blossom Bake Shop.  I loved the vibe of the bakery – from the local artwork and pictures of kids enjoying cupcakes on the wall to the freshly made cookies and cupcakes on display just waiting to be eaten.  I also love how the bakery will make custom cakes and cupcakes to order and there are plenty of allergy free options available as well!   Thanks Lei for letting us try your treats – we’ll definitely be back.  Gotta make sure I get my chocolate coconut macaroon/lemon meringue cupcake/oatmeal toffee cherry cookie fix!

Sugar Blossom Bake Shop

204 Avenida Del Mar, Suite F

San Clemente, California 92672

C’est Si Bon!

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The east coast has Au Bon Pain, Europe has Pret a Manger, and California has well, neither of those.  After falling in love with Au Bon Pain (only to find out that there were no locations in the west), I was determined to find a bakery/sandwich shop that had the same feel.  Enter C’est Si Bon.

C’est Si Bon is located in Newport Beach on PCH and is tucked away in a small strip mall.  Parking is limited and there’s almost always a line of locals eagerly awaiting freshly baked bread, homemade pastries and other goodies C’est Si Bon has to offer.  After hearing coworkers and friends alike rave about this bakery/café I knew I had to check it out.

cest-si-bonCredit: OCRegister.com

I cruised in during the week mid-morning and was surprised to see how packed it was.  Some people were ordering loaves of bread for the week while others were seated at the small tables inside, relaxing with a cup of coffee and a pastry.  The place also seemed to be full of Newport Beach locals which is always a good sign in my opinion.

C’est Si Bon offers made to order sandwiches, giant loaves of bread, and an assortment of desserts.  There is also a small section in the bakery where you can by jams and giant jars of nutella (which required strong resistance on my part).

The baked goods were calling mine (and my coworkers) names so we decided to get a bunch of different things and share including a cinnamon roll, chocolate chip cookie, raisin scone, and palmiers (also known as elephant ears).

While all of the items were delicious, I LOVED the scone.  It was light, fluffy, not too sweet and had yummy plump raisins.  I nearly devoured it all in a few short bites until I realized I was supposed to share.  Honorable mention goes to the palmiers which were light and crispy and dusted with sugar.

While this is not exactly the same as Au Bon Pain or Pret a Manger, I really liked the vibe at C’est Si Bon and thought they had a great pastry/sandwich selection.  I’d definitely come back on a nice sunny day and enjoy a scone (or two) while sitting outside with a cup of coffee.

Now we just need to work on C’est Si Bon getting a few more locations in the OC….

C’est Si Bon

149 Riverside Ave
Newport Beach, CA 92663