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When you’re in the Bonita Springs area, try Dixie Moon Café’s peach blossom cake – a buttery confection topped with caramel sauce, served warm in a pool of real cream.
Just Desserts
Treat your sweet to dessert at these favorite eateries, colorful cafés, ice cream parlors,
Euro-style bakeries and specialty shops.
By Chelle Koster Walton
Treat your sweet to dessert at these favorite eateries, colorful cafés, ice cream parlors,
Euro-style bakeries and specialty shops.
By Chelle Koster Walton
  Norman Love Confections |
Let Yourselves Eat Cake
When you’re falling in love, it’s time to eat cake. You’ll find the best selection, in oversized portions perfect for sharing, at the Bubble Room on Captiva Island and The Mermaid Kitchen & Cake Factory on Sanibel Island. (Both use basically the same recipes. The Red Velvet is legendary, but the Orange Crunch is my favorite.) When you’re in the Bonita Springs area, try Dixie Moon Café's peach blossom cake – a buttery transgression topped with caramel sauce, served warm in a pool of real cream.
Live on Bread (Pudding) Alone
If bread pudding is your passion (as it is my husband’s and mine), take our recommendations for the best in the area: In Cape Coral, RumRunners serves a warm chocolate bread pudding (did I detect a splash of rum in there?) to swoon over. In Bonita Springs, Wylds Café’s sinful cinnamon bread pudding comes with a pecan praline crust, warm caramel sauce and crème anglaise. And in downtown’s historic River District, The Bar Association’s Louisiana bread pudding is studded with raisins and pineapple and topped with a creamy bourbon sauce. Oooeee!
 Latté Da |
Why scream? Eat ice cream. Nothing melts discord and hearts like a double-dip ice cream cone, and purveyors of homemade goodness spread throughout this land. In Cape Coral, hit the old-fashioned ice cream stand with a Holstein paint job called Working Cow to try the Cow Tracks flavor (chocolate swirl with chocolate-peanut butter cups). Mo’s Deli and Ice Cream in Fort Myers scoops unique flavors such as Dulce de Leche and Strawberry Cheesecake. And what could be more romantic than slurping side-by-side at the Love Boat in Fort Myers Beach? Royal Scoop, where they’ll make you a couple’s sundae of your choice on request, reigns imperial in Bonita Springs. On Sanibel and Captiva Islands, you’ll find Queenie’s Real Homemade Ice Cream, produced locally, at Latté Da and Pan-American Coffee House. Also on Sanibel Island, Pinocchio sells Italian ice cream (the Dirty Sandollar flavor is a good choice, swirled with caramel and studded with chocolate chips and malt balls). Or for a milkshake in any of more than 50 flavors, stop at the original Cheeburger Cheeburger on Sanibel Island.
To the Bakery
To put a little ooh-la-la in your relationship, hit one of the European-style bakeries in Fort Myers. Sample pastries, meringues, fruit tarts, cookies and more at Les Lavandes French Bakery and downtown’s Bara Bread French Bakery and Bistro. European-American Bakery whips up everything from strudel and éclairs to scones and pineapple upside down cake.
Romanced by Chocolate
Finally, to get your day’s chocolate buzz and pheromone recharge, visit Norman Love Confections in Fort Myers for nibbles of divine homemade truffles. I recommend the passionfruit flavor for lovers everywhere. Norman Love (that’s really the chocolate chef’s name!) has been top-listed by Consumer Reports, USA Today, The New York Times and others. If you prefer to sip your love potion, try the addictive chocolate martinis at Dolce Vita Restaurant & Lounge on Sanibel Island or the Coco Vino (a perfect accompaniment to Love's truffles) at Time to Make Wine in Cape Coral.
If you go...
The Bar Association, 239-334-8080
Bara Bread French Bakery and Bistro, 239-334-8216
Bubble Room, 239-472-5558, www.bubbleroomrestaurant.com
Cheeburger Cheeburger, 239-472-6111, www.cheeburger.com
Dixie Moon Café, 239-495-0023
Dolce Vita Restaurant & Lounge, 239-472-5555, www.dolcevitaofsanibel.com
European-American Bakery, 239-694-7964, www.eabake.com
Latté Da, 239-472-0234, www.captivaislandinn.com/village/la.htm
Les Lavandes French Bakery, 239-482-2011
Love Boat Ice Cream, 239-466-7707
The Mermaid Kitchen & Cake Factory, 239-472-1242, www.themermaidkitchen.com
Mo’s Deli and Ice Cream, 239-437-7135
Norman Love Confections, 239-561-7215, www.normanloveconfections.com
Pan-American Coffee House, 239-472-7787
Pinocchio Italian Ice Cream, 239-472-6566
Royal Scoop Homemade Ice Cream, 239-992-2000
RumRunners, 239-542-0200, www.capeharbour.com/rumrunners.htm
Time to Make Wine, 239-542-9463, www.timetomakewine.com
Working Cow, 239-945-0654
Wylds Café, 239-947-0408, www.wyldscafe.com
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