Stateside Bakery in Berkeley lets you relive your childhood, giving you permission to indulge in sugary treats that look like Twinkies, Hostess Cupcakes and Oreo cookies. But its versions of these nostalgic treats are better — they’re made with high-quality natural ingredients and no preservatives.
I finally got to try Stateside Bakery recently when I visited its tiny store on Telegraph Avenue across from Whole Foods. I was thrilled to see what looked like Hostess Cupcakes and big Oreo cookies, but sad that they were out of their Twinkies, or what they call “Twinkles” for obvious trademark reasons.
Stateside opened about two years ago and was originally founded by Kate McEachern, who started selling cupcakes out of her food truck, Cupkates. A few months ago, McEachern and her husband sold the company to Angel Cruzado.
While I was visiting the store, Cruzado was there and he told me of his plans to re-brand the store and trucks as Stateside Treats, pending the completion of a Kickstarter campaign.
The slightly different name will allow Cruzado and his pastry chef partner the freedom to expand the food truck offerings beyond cupcakes. (As part of the sale, Cruzado’s team got all of McEachern’s recipes.) The bakery is already starting to offer macarons and original treats like a Nutella chocolate chip cookie, and Cruzado says he also plans to sell ice cream in the form of an ice cream taco.
For now, you can still expect to get the same fresh and light cupcakes and nostalgic treats. The “cream-filled cupcakes” (resembling Hostess Cupcakes) are made from delicious dark chocolate cake with vanilla bean cream. I tried a new lemon meringue cupcake that was citrusy with a tiny dab of lemon curd at the bottom.
Take a look at some more of the offerings at Stateside in the photos below:
Stateside Bakery is at 3001 Telegraph Ave. (at Ashby Avenue), Berkeley. 510.647.9919. Open Friday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Connect with the bakery on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Note: The Berkeley store is only open Fridays through Sundays. You can get treats from the food truck Mondays through Thursdays.
Benjamin Seto is the voice behind Focus:Snap:Eat, a food blog in the San Francisco Bay Area, where this post first appeared.
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