Hope & Love

A Beautiful Cake from Kinder’s Kupcakes

It was a dessert lovers playground and a chocoholics dream.  We give you Dayton’s first ever “Sweet Treats Festival.”   Held at The Commander Aero Building in Springboro on Sunday January 27th, the event drew a nice crowd on this winter afternoon. There were confectioners, bakers, chefs and restaurateurs.   In fact over 30 vendors participated in the Sweet Treats Festival.   Every vendor booth had samples set out of various “sweet treat” specialties.   Festival goers could browse each display and sample to their heart’s content.  What a  surprise, the “foodies in their forties,”  The Food Adventures Crew tasted treats from each and every booth.   A few days later, the Food Adventurers are out of their sugar comas and here with a recap of the day’s festivities!

You know the old saying “Like a kid in a candy store?”  Well, here you had us BIG kids in a sweets festival which is a dangerous combination.  Sponsored in part by Dayton Most Metro, the festival featured some amazing displays that would have impressed Willy Wonka.

Junebug’s Cupcakes- deliciously decorated treats

Each vendor booth was set up in a circular setting to allow easy flow of the hungry crowd.  There were some many sweets and such talented people.  Below are the festival vendors and our impressions of each company.

• 3 Leees Cupcakery – Incredible tasting desserts.  Some choices were vegan and gluten free.  Some of the best tasting cupcakes we tried.
• Aim To Please Home Cooking – Specializing in various unique flavors of delicious rock candy and more.
• Amy Cakes & Cookies– Some of the tastiest “cake pops” you will have and delicious cupcakes.
• Baked – The friendly staff served up some very complex cupcake flavors that blew us away.
• Cake, Hope & Love – Wonderful “chocolate mustaches” were a hit with the kids.  We loved the gorgeous cupcake display with beautiful toppings.
• Cheryl & Co. – Turning sugar cookies into works of art.  The staff could not have been nicer.
• Dee Dee’s Gourmet Peanut Brittle – Generous samples of delicious peanut brittle that seemed to melt in your mouth
• Edible Arrangments – About as healthy as you can get at this festival.  The chocolate covered apples were a nice twist.
  
• ele Cake Co – A Dayton Icon whose chocolate covered cake bites are a perfect gift to get your Valentine drooling.
  

  “Over The Top Productions” had some inventive displays

• Homemade by Heather– Amazing mini-pies, made just for this festival.  Full sizes on sale for full blown taste!
• JuneBug’s Cupcakes– Icing decor on these cupcakes were matched by a rich tasting cake.
• Kilwins – Located at the Greene, this vendor had a huge variety of top notch items including hand dipped caramel/chocolate apples.
• Kinders Cupcakes – Not only did they have fantastic cupcakes, but their two display cakes were the most gorgeous in the house.
• LongHorn Steakhouse– Local kitchen chefs have kicked up this restaurant.  They Key Lime cheesecake, apple strudel and chocolate brownies were homemade and not “chain” like.
• Maria’s Buckeyes– The richest buckeyes ever.  Good eats, nice owner !
• Moore Dessert Please – Local celebs from “Cupcake Wars” didn’t dissapoint with some mouthwatering cupcake treat.
• Over The Top Productions–  Arguably the best display of the event. The decor was unique as they specialize in weddings and party events.
• Sweet By Kristy– Cupcakes with ice cream in the middle. Genius!  One of the most popular items at the event and created a lot of buzz like birthday cake and ice cream all in one.
• Sweet Eats Bake Shop – Intricately topped cupcakes led to creamy tastes across the board with this baker!
• Sweet Nothings– Hands down, the best toffee we have ever eaten.  All flavors of the sea salt toffee are addicting!
• The Rustic Loaf & Patisserie– From the chocolate crunch cake pops, to the cupcakes that looked like royalty.  These bites were eye pleasers and mouth pleasers!
  

  Cupcake Display from “Cake, Hope & Love”

• Signature Confections– What can you say about chocolate that sometimes takes 3 days to make?  Unique flavors such as Crown Royal, Khalua, Raspberry Guiness, Chai Tea, and Earl Grey Tea.  The painted pieces of chocolate belong in an art museum if they weren’t so tasty.
• Two Bears Chocolates – They featured homemade caramels dipped in Boston Stoker’s Highlander Grogg Coffee.  the Big Ragu said it was the best flavored caramel he has ever eaten.  We loved the local twist on taste!
• Winans Fine Chocolate– Some of the best turtle bark in the world.  We found ourselves overstaying our welcome at the sample dish.

Special thanks to The new Austin Landing Kroger for sponsoring the event.  Other sponsors included Tim Horton’s who provided coffee, while Aquafina supplied free bottled water.

All of the desserts were scrumptious, and with each vendor having numerous desserts.   There were over 100 sweet treats to choose from, and we got our taste buds on almost every delicacy.  Your Food Adventurers had some favorites that stood out from the pack.

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The handpainted Candies from “Signature Confections” were nothing short of amazing

In our humble opinion, here were our picks:

Food Adventure’s Top 5 Favorite Items:

1) The Hazelnut Pistachio Cupcakes from Baked.  We ate way too many of these !

2) White Chocolate Ginger Pistachio Sea Salt Toffee   from Sweet Nothings.  This incredible treat may be purchased at 2nd Street Market and Ghostlight Coffee

3) The Ice Cream Cupcakes from Sweet by Kristy

4) The Hand Painted Chocolates from Signature Confections

5) Red Velvet Pops from RSVP Sweet Treats

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The Big Ragu’s Top 5 Favorite Items:

1) Highlander Grogg Coffee Caramels from Two Bears Chocolates

2) The Baked Apple Strudel with carmel sauce from Longhorn Steakhouse and Chef Bob Medlin

3) Chocolate Carmel Nut Bars from Sweet Eats Bake Shop

4) The Mini-Pecan Pies from Homemade by Heather

5) Hand Pulled Peanut Brittle from Dee Dee’s

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Highlander Grogg Caramels from “Two Bears Chocolates”

As the festival ended, we were stuffed with confections.  We had starved ourselves the whole day in anticipation for the event, and now we were going to sleep well.  From meeting local culinary masters to tasting their masterpieces, The Sweet Treats Festival was a full blown Food Adventure.  From the rich tastes to the sugar rush, the 3 hour event gave everyone more than enough time to get a feel for the desserts of the Dayton area.

In the end, sweet tooths were satisfied and blood glucose levels were raised.  The festival attendees were introduced to many local bakers and chefs for the first time.  From Hazelnut Pistachio Cupcakes to Chocolate Covered Fruit, this first ever Sweet Treats Festival seems to have a promising future for years to come.

Did you get a chance to visit the Sweet Treats Festival ?  If so, please comment below and tell us your favorite treats!  Also, make sure you browse through the nearly 50 photos below.  The view is simply divine…

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