Sugar & Scribe Bakery is a little shop in Pacific Beach off Garnet. It’s easy to pass it by and I had honestly never noticed it before. It’s pretty small and scrunched next to “Cow” – a music/video store (which I love the name of).
I’ve heard about Sugar & Scribe before but hadn’t had a chance to visit and I finally made my way over with a Groupon in hand.
Jake and I went here for the first time after our not-so-satisfying meal at Big Kahuna’s. We had trouble parking so Jake just dropped me off and I poked into the bakery. And to my dismay, the only thing they had left in the shop were just a handful of unfrosted cupcakes, a couple of breads and one large brownie. I was told that they had been cleaned out that morning by some other Groupon users and on top of that, one of their bakers was out – hence the lack of baked goods. I decided to hang on to my Groupon until next week, but tided myself over with this brownie:
[Brownie – $5]
This was a pretty large brownie and after having a bite, I was in heaven. The brownie had a nice crunchy outer crust while the inside of the brownie was a bit dense and fudgy. I also liked that the whole brownie had that edge to the it (like if you used that special “all edges” brownie pan). I loved the texture of this one – I thought it was perfect!
On my subsequent visit, I made sure to visit early – not long after they first opened. I was treated to shelves full of cookies, breads, whole pies and more and I had a really hard time picking out what I wanted to try. I almost just got a whole pie, but I really wanted to try a variety of items so I’ll have to save a pie for a future visit.
[Ginger Cream Cookies – $3/bag of 4 cookies]
This was one item that caught my eye – these huge, thick Ginger Cream cookies. It’s two thick shortbread cookies with a lovely ginger cream filling inside. I loved the ginger cream – it had a good bit of spice to it and wasn’t overly sweet. I personally thought the cookies were a little too thick – I would have preferred thinner cookies so they could have been easier to eat and you’d get more of the filling/cookie ratio. I still enjoyed the cookies though – the ginger cream was really good!
[Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting – $5]
This is one of their Carrot Cakes with cream cheese frosting. I was told this is one of their more popular items. I liked the cake, but I found that I wished it had a little more frosting – or that the frosting was also spread inside the middle of the cake. The cake is pretty thick and a little on the dry side and the frosting really complimented the cake – but eating it without the frosting made it lack a little in my book. But maybe that’s just me.
They also have carrot cake cupcakes instead!
[Guinness Porter Cake – $5]
I was silly and didn’t read the ingredients properly so I didn’t notice until later that this had a mess of raisins in it. I despise raisins. I had a small nibble but the raisins made me not like it. I liked the idea of a something baked with Guinness though (on their website, this is actually listed under “Breads” and not “Cakes” – it’s not really a very sweet thing).
[Red Velvet Cupcakes – $4]
This was Jake’s one requested item since he always, always orders this when we go to bakeries. Can you believe I’ve never made him Red Velvet anything before? Probably because this love of red velvet is relatively new for him – within the last year or so. I’ll remedy that soon enough though, we do have an anniversary coming up (Valentine’s Day goodie is already planned out!).
Anyway. I love the little edible pearls on this one! How freakin’ cute are those?! This red velvet had a much more “chocolate” flavor than most other red velvets I’ve tried. It was very moist and since the chocolate flavor was more pronounced, Jake didn’t like it as much. I thought it was good, but I like chocolate things. Jake tends to not like them. The frosting was also a touch sweet (a cream cheese frosting) but it complimented the cupcake every well.
All in all I liked most of the items we tried out here at Sugar & Scribe. I’ve read they are really known for their pies, but that just wasn’t in the cards this time around. I’d have to say my favorite item was the brownie, believe it or not! I did not share that thing… not that Jake asked, but I’m kind of glad he didn’t ask for any! I’m terrible, aren’t I? I just like my sweets, I guess.
One other thing! I noticed on their website they do High Tea here (with 48 hr notice)! I totally want to go in and try that sometime!
Sugar & Scribe Bakery
1420 Garnet Avenue
San Diego, CA 92109
(858) 274-1733
I believe they also sell their goods at various farmer’s markets. Good to know they have a store. I’m always looks for a treat in that area. That porter cake looks divine!
Do you have a baker’s edge pan? Travis bought me one and I love it! They also make one for lasagna, so you get more slices with crispy cheesy edges (it’s wider than the brownie pan so the noodles fit).
Hi Darlene – Oh, I didn’t know they were at the Farmer’s Markets, too! Good to know. I want to go back and try their pies one of these days.
Hi Leanne – I don’t have one, I almost bought one and then for whatever reason I didn’t. That’s a good idea for the lasagna, too. I think I’ll have to get one after all.
That red velvet cupcake has a lot of frosting! If only they could be generous like that on the carrot cake.
Hi Alyssa – Yeah, that’s how I felt about it. Should have gotten the carrot cake cupcake instead I guess!