Crushing on Nashville Sweets
Valentine’s Day presents such a dilemma. We don’t really want to go out. We don’t really want to stay in. I know many of you feel the same way, so let me suggest getting a sweet treat from one of Nashville’s local shops. This is not a complete list, just the places I tend to favor. If you have a favorite please let me know.
Goo Goo Clusters – Take a road trip downtown and visit the Goo Goo Store. Get one of the candy bars they make on premises. The Goo Goo cluster was the very first candy bar with multiple ingredients made in the USA. The store is gorgeously merchandised, and although, I’m not a tourist, when I’m downtown I have to stop in and get the house-made candy bard of the day.
You can also take a chocolate class there like I did. It’s a fun event and there’s a little wine pairing.
Triple Crown Bakery – located in Franklin, Tn
You can pop in and sit and have a pastry with coffee, or special order a custom fancy cake for birthdays and weddings. The pastries are delicious and there is usually one gluten free sweet available.
Cupcake Collection – Girlfriend has it so going on, and now features gluten free cupcakes including the smashing, legendary, sweet potato cupcake! Aside from of the most popular cupcake store in Nashville (and soon New Orleans), read the story about founder, Mignon Francoise. They are also partnered with Sweeten the Day, a service that delivers custom-prepared sweets as gifts.
Five Daughters Donuts – At first I was apprehensive. These donuts are pricey and would they live up to my expectations. I rarely treat myself to this kind of splurge, but if you’re craving donuts, this is the place to go. I like the cream filled, which blows my mind.
Bobbie’s Dairy Dip the first place I felt at home when I moved to Nashville. We used to live in Sylvan Park and go over and have burgers, and frozen custard dipped in chocolate. I wrote about them here.
Just mention this to Doug and he lights up and says “let’s go.”
The Pink Radio Days Cake at Fido
Fido is a coffee house that recently saved my birthday night. After a disastrous dinner at a fancy hotel where we did not eat, we headed to Fido for lattes and pink radio cake. The night was made all better.
This just might be my all time favorite cake and if anyone has the recipe, please give it to me. It’s made with beets, but you can’ taste them, but that’s where the beautiful pink color comes from. We’ve tried with all our might to taste and taste with our eyes closes and taste again to pick out the ingredients. Three people said molasses. Doug tastes graham crackers or the vanilla cookies in banana pudding. I taste milk, flour and vanilla with a texture of honey.
These people are the sweetest people we ever did meet. We stopped in one Saturday morning and left as friends. She started making cakes for people on the side and now they are an East Nashville neighborhood iconic bakery. They are known for their breakfast sandwich, but the don’t leave without a heavenly scone. I wrote about them in depth here.
Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream – I think you can learn a lot about a person when you take them out for ice cream by observing what flavor they pick when there are so many exotic choices. Will they pick vanilla or something out of the box like sweet potato with torched marshmallow?
Jeni’s is made Philly style meaning cream cheese, no eggs, which gives it a super creamy taste, but the biggest claim to fame are the very unique and intense flavors like dark chocolate that will appease any and all chocolate cravings! My favorite remains the lavender wildberry and the goat cheese cherry. Doug always gets salty caramel . I got to meet Jeni at a blogger brunch last year.
There are five locations, 3 Nashville, 1 Brentwood, 1 Franklin at the Factory)
Do you want to send something local? Consider Sweeten the Day. They partner with local bakeries like the Cupcake Collection to hand deliver a customized box of sweetness. They delivered a complimentary box to me so I could see how it works. There is nothing like getting a box of goodies, wrapped up beautifully and custom selected. Tell them Spinach Tiger sent you.
Legato Gelato
Nashville is blessed to have people move to here and pursue their dreams. Terri-Ann Nichols fell in love with gelato while traveling in Spain. After much practice making home batches, she decided to throw herself into the business of gelato, taking classes, even studying in Italy with master gelato makers. She was addicted from her first bite and I understand, as when we were in Italy, we couldn’t go a day (or a few hours) without stopping in a gelato shop.
The Grilled Cheesery Milk Shake Bar
The Grilled Cheesery started as a food truck. Lines were so long, they had to open a brick and mortar (second location coming to downtown Nashville).
Make the day casual, but memorable with a throwback to happy childhood times with a grilled cheese (gluten free available) and then head to the milkshake bar. Go retro with vanilla, chocolate, strawberry or cookies and cream. Step it up with a frozen Mexican hot chocolate. They have other flavors including a milkshake of the day!
Buttermilk Sky Pie – Franklin. It’s the south and perfectly acceptable to give pie to your sweetheart. Made fresh daily. You must try the I-40 (named after our major highway), I-40, consists of pecans, chocolate chips, a sprinkle of toasted coconut, and a smooth pecan pie filling combined in a sweet shortbread crust.
Sprinkles Cupcake Bakery – Cupcakes, Ice Cream, and such great flavors to pick from. Sprinkles has an outside Cupcake ATM machine, which means anytime you need a cupcake…..just go.
Crushing on Nashville Sweets & Treats: Candy
Here are some More Local Ideas from Eater.
So tell me. Do you have a favorite place to sweeten your day?
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