Coquette offers layers of sweet comfort in a jar
In the middle of a pandemic, as it turns out, you savor life’s little pleasures even more. Your big party plans got canceled. Your date planner is collecting dust. Even the wisdom of enjoying dinner while seated at a local restaurant is up for debate.
But Coquette, a new boutique bakery in Santa Fe, delivers a momentary escape from the doldrums: edible happiness that you can hold in your hands.
Owner and chef Caitlin Olsen’s treats come in the form of decadent cakes layered into 16-ounce pint jars and decorated with sweet ribbons and tulle. You can order online at coquettecakes.com and opt for free delivery or contactless pickup.
For $15, you get an elegantly decorated Mason jar (yours to keep) with layers of flavors such as tiramisu, coconut tres leches with mango, rhubarb cake with crumble topping and sabayon, and devil’s food chocolate cake with buttercream frosting and fresh raspberries. Sampler packs are available, too.
“If that doesn’t make you smile,” Olsen says, “I don’t know what will.”
Olsen, 37, first moved to Santa Fe in 2009, and has been here the better part of those 11 years. But her adventures have included operating a bakery in Meinerzhagen, Germany, where she introduced people there to American pastries.
Then in the summer of 2019, she founded Coquette in Montauk, N.Y., where she put her strawberry shortcakes into Mason jars so she could transport them via vintage tricycle to people at the beach.
In addition to the layer cakes in jars, Coquette offers traditional personalized wedding and event cakes as well. Her jar cakes are being sold through the Squash Blossom produce bag program as add-ons, and plans are underway to sell them at Whole Foods in Santa Fe and Albuquerque.
Olsen uses local and organic ingredients, picking up carrots from the farmers market, berries from Heidi’s Raspberry Farm, Navajo Pride flour, Iconik coffee, and dairy and eggs from Bosque Farms.
“I want to support sustainability as much as possible — with everything going on right now, it’s come into even sharper focus, and that’s translated to the bakery,” she says. “It’s important to know where your food is grown, who’s making it, and to support small farmers and food producers. I think that’s what’s going to be a stabilizing force if we’re going to make it through a time like this.”
I decided to explore some of Coquette’s flavors in the time-honored tradition of the family taste test: six jars, four spoons. My partner, my 5-year-old and my 3-year-old gleefully tasted every one and ranked our favorites. The runaway winner: creamy, bright New York cheesecake with cherries. We awarded second and third place to the coconut cake paired with zingy lemon curd and coconut frosting, and Coquette’s original strawberry shortcake.
These pretty little treats, Olsen says, are designed to serve two. But let me tell you: In these strange times, if you want to derive a little comfort and joy from grabbing a spoon and diving straight into the jar on your own, we won’t tell a soul.
MORE SWEET NEWS
◆ Big news from the ever-popular new Craft Donuts food truck: You can now order its magically warm, made-to-order doughnuts online at craftdonutsf.com. In addition to the regular lineup of flavors and creative weekly featured donut, don’t miss trying out summer specials such as samoa, blueberry lemon, strawberry lavender and Boston cream. Also new to the menu: the doughnut sundae, which is exactly what it sounds like and twice as delicious. Find them parked at the corner of Old Santa Fe Trail and Paseo de Peralta.
◆ You won’t find any prettier dessert in town right now than the adorable ice cream sandwiches that Chainé Peña is crafting out of her signature macarons at Chainé (131 W. Water St.). Currently on offer for $6.75 is the strawberry shortcake flavor: ice cream made with fresh strawberries sandwiched between two large macaron shells and sprinkled with handmade vanilla and strawberry crumbles. You can also pick up a selection of gourmet cookies, including caramel popcorn, pistachio cherry, coconut macadamia with passionfruit, and piñon chocolate chip. Order online at chaine-gourmet-cookie-shop-llc.square.site and pick up 2 to 4 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday and noon to 1:30 p.m. Saturday.
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