The are a few smells customers walking around stores find hard to resist, the floral smell that comes out of Lush or Bath & Body Works and the sweet smell coming from a bakery.
After stopping by the endless nightlife joints or admiring the creative juices flowing out of the art museums, stopping for a snack is a must.
So all sweet tooths unite, because the Midtown area has raised the bar when its comes to baked goods.
Dayne Francis | The SIgnal
Insomnia Cookies
To release the inner cookie monster inside all of us, one must visit Insomnia Cookies. This bakery lays out an endless amount of cookies to munch on, such as Snickerdoodle, Double Chocolate Mint, Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup and more.
“Insomnia Cookies was born out of the dislike of heavy foods late at night and a sweet tooth,” Catharine Gatlin, marketing manager, said. “Our founder and CEO, Seth Berkowitz, created the concept in 2003 out of his dorm room at UPENN and the rest, as they say, is history. We have been fulfilling late-night cravings for our fans ever since.”
Insomnia Cookies closes every night at 3 a.m., so for those college students that either are pulling an all-nighter or for those that are walking the streets after mingling with some shots, Insomnia Cookies will be there and ready with cookies galore.
“Insomnia Cookies is known for delivering our warm, delicious cookies daily and recently began opening even earlier during the week at 9 a.m. (delivery starting at 10 a.m. Monday-Friday) to fulfill the demands of our guests,” Gatlin said. “We aren’t just cookies though, we also deliver cookie cakes, cookiewiches (your choice of ice cream sandwiched between two of our delicious cookies), bigwiches, brownies, ice cream and of course milk!”
Insomnia Cookies isn’t available anywhere else besides the Midtown location, so if the thirst is real, make the drive. It may be worth it when finding out that they enjoy giving back to this community, one they have connected well with.
“We are biased, but we think we have the best cookies around! But what truly makes us special is that we pride ourselves on not just trying to open new locations like many companies, but in truly looking to becoming a part of the communities we serve,” Gatlin said.
“We do this through our fundraising program, giving back a percentage of sales to organizations looking to raise money and also through cookie donations for local events and activities.”
What makes the Midtown area so appealing to Insomnia Cookies, according to Gatlin, is the the large amount of love they receive from their customers.
“We love the variety of guests at our Midtown location from students to professional to families…who doesn’t love a warm cookie?” Gatlin said. “We have also seen a lot of friendly faces coming back time after time, especially students. We know how college is so we do our best to help treat our students (and all our fans) by offering weekly deals on our website. We also have our Cookie Dough loyalty program on our app which earns you a point for every $1 you spend. For every 100 points, we will give you a $10 reward to spend at Insomnia Cookies.”
Photo by Dayne Francis | The Signal
CamiCakes
This bakery offers an assortment of different cupcakes for customers to enjoy and attempt to knock out all of the 30+ flavors of cupcakes.
“Our mission is to create happiness one cupcake at a time so we are often a part of birthdays, weddings, showers and many other special celebrations,” Janae Bryant, office assistant, said. “We pride ourselves in coming up with unique alternatives to the boring standard.”
Camicakes began with a woman and her dream to create cupcakes with smooth buttermilk and cream cheese frosting for the entire neighborhood. It’s CamiCakes’ origin story that proves that through any circumstances, working towards a dream is possible.
“CamiCakes began when Owner and Founder, Andra Hall’s, young daughter fell sick. In the midst of leaving corporate America to care full-time for her daughter, she decided now was the time to follow her passion for baking,” Bryant said. “CamiCakes is named after her daughter Camille, now 12, healthy, and a wonderful handful.”
This place doesn’t only offer cupcakes for the public, but also fresh ice cream. The ice cream is made from scratch, making it impossible to resist savoring every bit of flavor.
“One thing that puts a twist on our bakery is that we also have a creamery where we churn out homemade ice cream. We thought the only thing that could make our cupcakes better would be a scoop of ice cream on the side,” Bryant said.
CamiCakes is home to many flavors of cupcakes, and there are some that customers enjoy a bit more than others. The colorful and quirky ora surrounding CamiCakes can be the positive pick-me-up for anyone walking through the door.
“Red Velvet is our best seller, which is no surprise due to being in the South! The Classic Cami is another best seller and Camille’s favorite. It’s a perfectly simple yellow cupcake with a dollop of delicious buttercream frosting on top,” Bryant said. “Students love our shop because it’s a great place to treat themselves to a reward for a tough test or a long day of studying. There’s such a fun atmosphere at CamiCakes, it just brightens your day.”
Photo by Dayne Francis | The Signal
Sweetening the Deal: Sweet Hut Bakery & Cafe
Along with the niche-friendly shops, here is a look into another bakery that has delved into all aspects of the baking spectrum. Sweet Hut Bakery & Cafe is an East-Asian eatery that offers a cafe menu, bakery menu, sandwich menu and cake menu (including wedding cakes).
Their long list of different foods is what sets them apart from other bakeries, especially when factoring in their worldly taste. The bakery was founded by Howie Ewe, who had a background in Chinese/Asian culinary experience.
Here are some of the items offered from each menu for whatever the craving is at the moment:
Bakery Menu
- Curry Chicken Puff: Chicken marinated in curry sauce and formed into a triangular, soft and flaky pastry.
- Danish Nutella Chocolate: For all those Nutella fans, this pastry is filled generously with the chocolate hazelnut spread.
- BBQ Pork Bun: This traditional Asian dish has pork smothered in Asian BBQ sauce and stuffed into a fluffy bread roll.
Cake Menu
- Blueberry Cake: This dome-shaped cake is a vanilla cake with layers of whipped cream with blueberry puree and blueberries.
- Matcha Cake: This Japanese origin cake is made from Matcha, a green tea leaf. A powder form of the herb is used and combined with layers of sweet cream.
- Strawberry Yogurt Mousse Cake: This dessert is made from a mixture of strawberry puree and tart yogurt to create a mousse, which is layered with vanilla sponge cake.
Cafe Menu
- Hong Kong Milk Tea: This drink has a strong tea flavor and is combined with brewed Ceylon, evaporated milk and condensed milk.
- QQ Mango Pudding Green Tea: It’s made with mango pudding and green tea, with the option to add toppings.
- Avocado Slush: It’s a different spin on fruity slush drinks, avocados are mixed with fresh milk, condensed milk and ice.
Sandwich Menu
- Bibimbap Burger: This burger is topped with spinach, a fried egg, stir-fried carrots, sesame seasoned bean sprouts and it’s partnered with Sweet Hut’s house-made sauce.
- Bulgogi Cheese Steak: This hot sandwich is made with a thin sliced sirloin steak, portobello mushrooms and onions and is topped with provolone cheese. It’s placed in a baked hoagie and partnered with Bulgogi sauce.
- Tuscan Chicken: It’s made with grilled chicken breast, which has spinach, basil, provolone cheese, olives and artichokes added to it. It’s then drizzled with a sun-dried tomato spread.
