Dragonfly Cakes

​We all want to have our cake and eat it too from time to time. Petit fours make that possible. Every year at the Fancy Food Show we endeavor to "sample" a few favorites we have already sampled plenty of times before. Dragonfly Cakes petit fours from Sausalito are at the top of that list.

Always a pleasant nibble, these modest rectangles are brightly colored, fully iced, and filled with buttercream, icing, jam, or curd. At about two bites each, they're like cake without gluttony. Cake (and containers of ice cream) is one of those foods that too often comes to feel like something we "had better finish" even when logic, health, and pure caloric density makes it obvious we shouldn't.

These portable wonders certainly solve the problem. You can eat the whole cake and not feel a tinge of guilt. Of course, since they come in many flavors, the trick lies in eating just one.

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Double Dutch Sweets

The Ramona Bar nails the proportions that Snickers should have.

​Buoyed by the lessons learned in a free class on starting a business at San Francisco's Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center and a loan from Youth Business America, Shiyuan Deng started
Double Dutch Sweets in Oakland last summer. A mini-Mars mogul in the making, Deng has created the Ramona Bar, a superior version of that company's popular Snickers.

Instead of crappy, questionable chocolate, Deng's Ramona -- a healthier tribute to Snickers -- uses lush Venezuelan chocolate that's dark enough to touch upon savory territory. Her nougat is fluffy and made with honey, with a bit of sea salt is sprinkled on top. More than anything, she nails the proportions that Snickers should have, with lots of nougat and well-scattered chunks of peanut.

At $6 for a tiny 1.8 ounce bar, the Ramona can only be the super frequent habit of the monied. But if the price point was lower, we'd have a serious problem on our hands, so perhaps this is a public service.

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In our experimental tastings in the "raw" arena, chocolate has usually proven an elusive product: often adequate but seldom sublime. But the raw treats from Oakland-based Fearless consistently come pretty close to the latter, delivering the best raw chocolate we've had to date.

While they make a variety of flavors ranging from Super Seeds (containing hemp, chia and flax) to Sweet & Hot ( hibiscus and ginger), our favorite is the straightforward Dark as Midnight, with its promise of being 75% cacao. Having tasted raw cacao on its own, we can attest that Fearless has done an amazing job developing serious flavor from just two ingredients: raw cacao and rapadura (unrefined whole cane sugar).

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​What: Raw Vegan Desserts Class

Where: Pot + Pantry, 593 Guerrero

When: Thurs., January 12, 7-9 p.m.

Cost: $35

The rundown: Tonight at Pot + Pantry, Sidesaddle Kitchen's Laura Miller will teach you how to handcraft delectable desserts without the use of animal-products or heat. Get it, girl. Plus, she promises that you don't need any hippie credentials to attend. Good thing because I lost my devil sticks about the same time I found my self-respect. I kid, different strokes for different folks, and I don't know anyone who can't get behind Miller's luscious creations. Her pies, truffles, and puddings are the sort of stuff you serve to your barbecue-loving gramps and he'll be coming back for thirds. Learn how she does it tonight! And if you can't make this class, don't worry, she has another scheduled for Sat., January 21.

Register at Eventbrite.

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Laura Miller, Sidesaddle Kitchen

Tamara Palmer

Humphry Slocombe started back in 2008 with Jake Godby's inked commitment.

​At three-years-old, Humphry Slocombe Ice Cream has been a consummate overachiever.

When we first set foot in the place in its initial week of operation in December 2008, we knew it was something special. But we didn't know they'd soon woo Martha, Oprah, and all those other food ladies who don't have a last name, spawn international copycats, and keep a steady line out the door for its imaginative products even when it is lousy outside.

The parlor has led to a book deal and even a second forthcoming spot in the Mission called the Parlour by Humphry Slocombe. So there's a hell of a lot for this lot to celebrate and, as an excuse to have glitter around, Humphry Slocombe plans a third birthday "Brr-Lesque" on January 16 from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. at Truck.

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Tamara Palmer

Marina Snetkova bakes on her truck, Cookie Time.

​Marina Snetkova used to wake up at 5 a.m. for her Wall Street job as a day trader for a hedge fund; now she rises at the same time to hop in her truck to start baking.

After losing her job in 2008, Snetkova, who is originally from Latvia, started traveling west with dreams to open a wine bar with desserts and use her skills learned at pastry school. She wound up in San Francisco and, two weeks ago, unveiled a refurbished ice cream truck dubbed Cookie Time.

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​Give a kid a cookie, and you feed that kid for a moment. Teach a kid to cook, and you'll likely get some cookies out of the deal. More >>

Tamara Palmer

​We returned to the scene of some plywood that we spotted more than a year ago in the Inner Sunset to discover Next Door Sweets in full swing. So named for its proximity to San Tung, an insanely popular family-owned Chinese restaurant, the shop is owned by Joy and Frank Chu, and Frank is the son of San Tung's owners. It has been a long road indeed, with the initial business license being secured almost two years ago and a debut this August.

Next Door Sweets is cute, clean, and counts Gelateria Naia gelato as its leading feature. Various flavors are served alongside cookies, cakes, and cupcakes by Ultimate Cookie, frozen yogurt from Honey Hill Farms, and Capricorn coffee.

What you won't find here: Chinese desserts.

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A Three Babes pie

​The best laid plans of people and pie do not always turn out. We've just heard from Three Babes Bakeshop that they've broken off their plan for co-habitation with Bacon Bacon in the old Ashbury Market Space.

As we had originally reported last week, Three Babes was going to open in the joint location today, but according to Three Babes co-babe Lenore, "We weren't able to reach an agreement with Bacon Bacon in order to finalize our moving in last week, so plans for a partnership are no longer on the table."

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Ben Narasin

Lenore Estrada of Three Babes Bakeshop

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Who doesn't love pie? And, sorry various "v" folks, what omnivore doesn't love bacon? Now one purveyor of each are teaming up to move from temp to perm with Bacon Bacon and Three Babes Bakeshop's new, non-portable location opening Monday, Dec. 5 at 205A Fredrick in part of the old Ashbury Market.

"We're moving in on Wednesday and we'll be baking on Thursday," says Three Babes co-founder Lenore Estrada. She also tipped us off to the opening menu for the month. 

Bacon Bacon, previously of food truck only prominence, will offer an array of bacon-breakfast-bites, from cheddar bacon scones to bacon-and-egg sandwiches

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