Cheap Eats - Southern Sweets Bakery: Not just desserts

Refined and elaborate desserts are all well and good, but sometimes you want something that tastes homemade — without actually having to bake anything. At these times, we turn to Nancy Cole’s Southern Sweets Bakery (186 Rio Circle, Decatur, 404-373-8752, www.southernsweets.com) where the motto is “Perfect Ingredients, Simple Preparation.”

The sight of the cases, filled with every kind of classic sweet imaginable, evokes a rush of childlike excitement. A slice from one of the towering layer cakes ($5.20) – most notably the chocolate coconut or Key lime – is big enough for two people, but you won’t want to share. Rustic cherry pie has a flaky crust covered in crushed sugar cubes ($25/whole pie or $4.50/slice) that plays nicely against the tart cherries swimming in a “secret sauce.” Pecan-embedded crème fraîche coffee cake ($23/whole or $4/slice) is the perfect complement to your morning java, but it also makes one killer midnight snack. The bakery also carries an impressive assortment of vegan and gluten-free versions of its cakes and pies.

While the bakery is known for its sweets, the café serves stellar lunch items. Most cold sandwiches come in whole or half portions on your choice of fresh, thickly sliced bread – such as multigrain or marble rye – with a bag of crunchy Zapps brand chips. The creamy bacon and egg-salad sandwich ($7.95/whole or $5.85/half) sports cayenne-pepper-spiked mayo and crunchy leaves of light green romaine lettuce. True to its Southern roots, the kitchen churns out one hell of a pulled-pork BBQ sandwich. The pork is brined for a day, slow-cooked for eight hours and then served on a pillowy bun with a liberal douse of bourbon barbecue sauce and sharp pickled slaw ($7.95). Sweet.