Bakery Review: Mix Bakeshop

Mix Bakeshop - visited January 12, 2019

In case you can't tell by now, I haven't really been baking this month. I'm still working remote and flying back and forth from Reno to the Bay Area. I only take a small hand carry which does not fit any baked goods and honestly, I'm not ready to tackle high altitude baking just yet. For now, I'm sticking to the professionals who've already mastered it.

Mix Bakeshop was my next place to explore. From the yelp reviews, they were initially known for their cupcakes then they bought a pie business and now they're known for that too. So I knew what I was pre-disposed to get.

There was no one in the shop when I walked in around the middle of the day which was a little surprising. And sometimes worrying. As you know, I'm a big believer in supporting small businesses and go out of my way to seek them out. Hopefully they have busy times and I just didn't happen to be there during one of them. Or I need to step up my bakery-patronage game and help them out.

For this first visit, I decided to go with a couple of mini pies - Salted Caramel Apple and Coconut Chess Pie. At first I was also going to try a slice of quiche but the only flavor they had was Spinach and Feta. I wanted something with a little more protein so I skipped the quiche and settled on a German Chocolate cupcake instead. Yeah, I know, we all make our own choices. That was mine. #dontjudge

So....let's talk about the cupcake first. I was on my way to a hair appointment after I left Mix Bakeshop and I hadn't had lunch yet. I had planned on the quiche but you know how that choice went. So I ate the cupcake for lunch instead.

You're going to judge me, aren't you? Well, before you do, let me tell you - go ahead! Because this cupcake was delicious and worth every bad choice I've ever made in favor of my sweet tooth. The cake was moist and had a tender crumb.

German Chocolate Cupcake $3.75

I love coconut so the traditional German Chocolate part of the cupcake was a win-win. Heck, I even liked the chocolate buttercream frosting between the cupcake and the German chocolate frosting. I mean, hello, not a frosting person and I liked this frosting. Not too sweet, not oily, perfect mouthfeel and flavor. I'm going to need to have this again. No joke.

Salted Caramel Apple cutie pie $5

Now, let's turn to the pies. I had the cupcake for lunch and no lie, I had the salted caramel mini pie for dinner. Yeah, I know, my A1C levels probably gave me the stink eye that day. Usually, I try to limit myself to one decadence a day but, well, I didn't this time.

I warmed up the little pie slightly in my toaster oven and it was perfect. I loved this pie. It was the perfect size for one person although I have to admit I felt a little full of pie by the time I finished it and I did have to give myself an hour break between the first half and the second had. It was rich, particularly because of the salted caramel blanketing the top. But oh so good.

I have slightly more mixed (ha, get it?) feelings about the coconut chess pie. But I think that's also my fault because I translated "chess pie" to "coconut cream" or "coconut custard" pie. Which this was not.

For the record, I don't think I've ever had a real chess pie so I can't compare this to what a chess pie is supposed to be. On the plus side, the crust was amazing. Like shortbread-amazing. The ganache was good, the creamy custard part was great, the coconut was delicious.

But there was also a liquidy corn-syrup-like layer as part of the filling. I didn't care for the sweetness or texture of that. That might be part of a real chess pie so I miscalculated there. I think I would have preferred an actual coconut cream pie. But with their amazing crust.